Explain the phrase when push comes to shove. A push is a shove right? How can a push become a shove when a push is already a shove?
The phrase which means the point at which one must commit to action became popular in 19th century African-American slang eventually becoming universal. A good guess as to the genesis is a sentence from the United Methodist Free Churches’ Magazine in 1873 by Thomas De Witt Talmage in which Push is used as a proper noun: “The proposed improvement is about to fail, when Push comes up behind it and gives it a shove, and Pull goes in front and lays into the traces; and, lo! the enterprise advances, the goal is reached!”
Push comes to shove William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 8-30-18
