Needs must
There’s a wonderful British expression: Needs must.
Basically, to explain it to my fellow American friends: to make ends meet, sometimes one has to do unpleasant but necessary things. But what an elegant, two-word way to explain this!
Times are tough. Perhaps they didn’t want to rent out their house, or a room, or the field outside their stately mansion to someone, but needs must. Or my hobby is not something I want to make a living at, but I lost my job, and needs must.
It is also something I use for the ego and selfishness to get the hell out of my way. Hey, I don’t want to get out bed to pee, but needs must. I still don’t have that maid I’ve been asking about for years. Laundry must be done, the house isn’t going to dust itself, that chicken isn’t going to cook itself, etc., etc. — so, needs must.
Taken to an absurd degree, it can also apply to a mystery book and the killer. She didn’t want to kill, but the compulsion was strong — needs must!
Of course, that is the stuff of better movies — who wants to go into that intergalactic cantina, that wretched hive of scum and villainy, to hire a brash, arrogant (but excellent and good-looking) pilot, who can make the run in under 12 parsecs? Well, needs must!
Who wants to assemble a rag-tag team of ronin samurai to teach a poor and meek group of…
