Idiom of the day :- Catch someone on the hop

Usage, examples and definition of the Idiom :-

Catch someone unprepared/ surprise someone A : Debble had a baby a week after marrying Derek Dim. Derek didn’t even know his wife was pregnant. B : Yes, the baby caught him on the hop — he thought Debble was just very fat. The hop is a flower which is used in the brewing of beer and is traditionally grown in the county of Kent in south-east England. Just after the second World War, hop-picking was a popular holiday for working-class Londoners as it was often the only chance they had to enjoy the countryside. It was a cheap family holiday which lasted the whole summer. Unfortunately, most men worked in jobs which gave only a few days holiday a year, and so they had to invent an excuse in order to go hop-picking. Sometimes the employer discovered the truth and caught a man on the hop, or in other words, caught him picking hops. It is very common to use this expression in the passive. For example, Make sure everything is ready well in advance otherwise you will be caught on the hop.