Down pat or Down packed?

[Crawl1025]

My husband and I are discussing this phrase, which is it? I say pat, he says packed.

[Jabba]

If you mean as in to have mastered something, it is "down pat" or, more usually in British English, "off pat"

[Quizmonster]

Since the 1500s, 'pat' has meant correctly/precisely/exactly to the purpose etc. One of the earliest uses, for example, was an author writing of his surprise that his doctor had described his disease "so pat".

Today, we use it in exactly the same way when we say proudly of our children/grandchildren that they "got their lines down...(or off, as Jabba says)...pat during the school play."

I'm not sure where your husband got the 'packed' idea other than just mishearing it for 'pat'.

[neuroswipe]

Down pat is correct. It means it is some response (audible or physical) that is done without having to think about it. (ie. a "pat answer"). Down "packed" is what "axed a question" is to "asked a question".