“What's with all the dry cleaning?”

English Lesson: What's with all the dry cleaning?

When you come home, there are a lot of dry cleaning bags hanging in the closet. You wonder why your husband cleaned so many things. You ask:

What's with all the dry cleaning?

What's with (something)?

"What's with ___?" is a casual way to ask why something is happening. For example, if one of your coworkers is yawning a lot, and you want to know why, you can ask:

What's with the yawning?

This means "Why are you yawning so much?"

"What's with ___" is used in informal spoken English and when chatting online. It doesn't have any strong positive or negative associations.

dry cleaning

"Dry cleaning" is a type of cleaning process for clothes like suits and sweater. You don't do this at home; you take your clothes to a "dry cleaner", which is the name of the business. 

The phrase "dry cleaning" can mean the process of cleaning clothes:

Conventional dry cleaning uses a lot of nasty chemicals that are harmful to the environment.

It's also what you call the clothes that have been cleaned. For example:

Can you pick up my dry cleaning on your way home?


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