Meaning of Idiom ‘Your Mileage May Vary’
1. Your mileage may vary is used to say that someone might get different results or have a different experience in a certain situation.
2. One person may enjoy or appreciate something more than another;
3. Something might work better or differently for different people.
This idiom has its own abbreviation or initialism, YMMV.
Sentence Examples
“Some people feel ill and fatigued after their vaccine, but your mileage may vary.”
“I love going to Ocean City but your mileage may vary depending on which end of town you stay in.”
“The drinks are cheap but I only go there during happy hour. Your mileage may vary, of course.”
Origin of ‘Your Mileage May Vary’
Your mileage may vary originally referred to the gas mileage of U.S. vehicles. During the 1970s and into the 1980s, U.S. vehicle manufacturers competed in regard to how much gas their cars used or their ‘gas mileage.’ Therefore, they would advertise the average gas mileage of a vehicle as a selling point, the lower the better.
However, since a person’s mileage may be different depending on their driving habits and the areas they drive in (highway driving burns less fuel than city or town driving, for example), the manufacturers could not guarantee that any particular person would get the gas mileage they claimed. They, therefore, had to include a disclaimer on their advertisements and ‘your mileage may vary’ became a standard statement.
The idiom was seen so often in vehicle advertisements, it eventually passed into general use to refer to different products or different situations.
