Back to the Grindstone
I certainly wouldn't want to put my nose to one of those. It'd shave off the already tiny portion of a nose I do have! Some of the other members of my family, on the other hand....might not mind so much. Of course we all know that putting one's nose to the grindstone is a figure of speech, an idiom, meaning to work diligently at something. Because, by working diligently at something, you sharpen your skills, you become more efficient, you gain more knowledge, you have a better understanding: you become a better tool or a finer piece. That's what a grindstone does. By rotating and applying a metal to the surface of the stone (usually sandstone), a chisel can be sharpened, for example, as in the above picture provided by google images. So when we say we're "back to the grindstone" we mean we're back to working diligently. Or rather, that the children are back to working diligently (we hope) at school. But how many adults really and tr