Xing asks:
"In your last column (Gazza is 'showing her up'), in the sentence - Gazza called her 'his "rock"' - does 'rock' mean cocaine? Just a guess."

My comments:
A wild guess, I suppose.

Let's see: Rock is a type of stone that forms part of the Earth's surface. Mountains are made of rocks. Rock is solid, strong, stable and usually tough to crack. We hence see phrases such as "rock-solid", "as steady as a rock."

Have you ever heard of anyone say, "I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place?" That's it. It means they have a choice between two things or two courses of action to pursue, both of which are tough and unpleasant.

When Gazza said Adele was "his rock", he means that the woman was so strong, steady and stable that she became someone he, Gazza, could always count on, depend on, lean on (after a few mugs of beer, perhaps) and fall back on (after going out on a binge and coming staggering back home to her, if he could manage that).

These are logical extensions, no? When crack (cocaine) is involved however, relationships often turn "rocky". Drugs have done many a few celebrity couples in (By the way, Gazza have had his share of problems - booze, marriage breakup, depression and indeed drug abuse - but there's no evidence to suggest that he got dumped by Adele, his girlfriend, on the strength (or weakness) of drugs.

Anyway, a rock may be steady and solid, a rocky relationship is anything but, English being such a curious language. Instead of being stable, a rocky relationship is one that's difficult, bumpy, volatile and generally tough to maintain. Imagine traveling with someone down a "rocky road" or trying to steering a "rocky boat".

A rocky boat is a boat that rocks (moving backwards and forwards and from side to side) - From this meaning comes the popular music term "rock and roll".

A boat that rocks gently is a nice experience to have in. But when a couple is described as struggling in a rocky boat, that boat rocks too much to be comfortable in.

In short, it's great if you call someone your rock - that's when the two of you rock. It's not so good if that relationship turns rocky. That's time, perhaps, to break up.

Curious is the English language. It's insane, and we're not talking about cocaine.

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.