The point of no return. The point at which something tips over into a new state, or something becomes dramatically more common - 'something has reached the tipping point'. The idea started in physics where a small amount of weight added to an object in a balance causes it to topple over, you know, add a little bit and it's alright, add a bit more and it's alright, add a bit more and it's alright, and then suddenly, whomph! - over it goes. That is the tipping point.
So it started in hard science, but then it was taken over by sociology and popular psychology. Malcolm Gladwell wrote a bestseller in 2000 called 'The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference'. And it became a very attractive notion and everybody suddenly started using this phrase. And you hear it a lot in the news now, when suddenly something causes a fuss. For instance, people talk about the build up of immigrants in a country being steady and then suddenly, there's some panic because there's trouble somewhere, and they say 'we've reached the tipping point'.
I guess I've heard it most often recently in relation to global warming. Global warming seems to have reached 'the tipping point', at least as far as the mind set of many people is concerned. In fact, it's used so often these days that it's almost a cliché. It's as if 'tipping point' has reached its tipping point!
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