up to Idioms

Something in the water

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Something in the water means that many people are acting or changing in the same way in a place or group. It often suggests a reason, but nobody knows the real cause.

The phrase became popular in modern talk to explain social trends. Writers and speakers used it like a joke about an invisible influence that makes people behave differently, since the late 20th century.

There were so many pregnant women at work they said it must be something in the water.