Prodigiously Prodigal

Be Word Wise

You often read, or hear in films, the phrase ‘The prodigal returns’.

It’s an overused and predictable expression.

It usually goes like this:

A person comes back after a long time away, or perhaps someone is welcomed home after a family falling-out. Almost inevitably, someone talks about 'the return of the prodigal'.

You might even hear it when someone comes to a social event after being out of circulation for a while.

The problem is that, almost always, people tend to use the word wrongly.