the.com/groundbreaker
The one who takes the first hit so everyone else gets a map.
means A person or thing that does something first — pioneering a method, project, or idea that others then follow.
from A literal compound from 'ground' + 'breaking' — originally the actual act of turning soil with a plow or shovel to start construction or farming on unused land. Ceremonial groundbreakings (shovels, hard hats, a ribbon of dirt) became the ritual marking the start of a building project, and by the 19th century the word had already started shifting toward the figurative sense: anyone who breaks new ground, literally or metaphorically, going first so the path exists for others.
- etymology
- literally from breaking ground before construction begins
- the catch
- pioneers get arrows, successors get real estate
- myth
- rarely the most talented, usually just the most stubborn
- irony
- often credited only after someone else cashes in