How Do You "Sow Your Wild Oats"?

This expression is becoming rarer now, perhaps because the underlying idea is less important to our way of life. It used to be said that a young person (a young man, in fact) needed to sow his wild oats before settling down and raising a family. At a time when double standards of behaviour were the norm, it was quite common for families to be very indulgent towards their sons if they, for instance, drank a lot, slept around and avoided work and responsibility. The idea was that such behaviour was part of the "wild oat" phase of youth (wild oats are no good to eat, so the saying implies that you won't achieve anything during this phase of your life, but later you will settle down and sow "real" useful crops.) Daughters were not encouraged to sow wild oats, however.

Apart from the greater gender equality today, we tend not to feel that everyone needs to settle down at the same time nowadays, though there is probably still a feeling that youth is the best time for real excesses.