meaning - Is it okay to say "in their own terms"?


As far as I know, it is valid to say "they can produce music on their own terms" when you want to say that a group can produce music without having to answer to anybody but themselves.


Is it also valid to say "they can produce music in their own terms"? Does this convey the same thing? If not, what does it really mean?



Answer



“On someone’s terms” means according to the “terms”—stipulations or provisions—which that person sets. “We do it on my terms” means “We do it my way.” “We bought it on his terms” means “We bought it at a price he set.”


“In someone’s terms” means using the “terms”—the language, the categories, the concepts—which that person uses. “In Kant’s terms, this is the ‘categorical imperative.’”


I find it difficult to imagine a natural situation in which musicians “produce in their own terms”, or anybody else’s—perhaps Beethoven, when he abandoned allegro, andante, adagio and other Italian words in favor of metronome markings, and started using Hammerclavier instead of pianoforte?


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