druthers

have (one's) druthers

To have one's choice or preference; to have things the way one would like them to be; to have one's way. Usually formulated as "if I had my druthers…." Primarily heard in US. I tell you, if I had my druthers, I'd spend the rest of my life living in Paris. If the president had his druthers, we'd be paying taxes for the privilege of breathing!
See also: druthers, have
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

have one's rathers

 and have one's druthers (More informal with druthers.)
to have what one prefers; to have one's way. If I had my rathers, we'd go out every Friday night. I suspect that if Joe had his druthers, he'd be taking Mary to the dance instead of Jill.
See also: have, rather
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

have one's druthers

Have one's choice, as in If I had my druthers I'd go to London first. The noun druthers is a contraction of "would rather." [Slang; late 1800s]
See also: druthers, have
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
See also:
  • at doorstep
  • at (one's) doorstep
  • at (one's) expense
  • at expense
  • at somebody's expense
  • at someone's expense
  • be remembered as (something)
  • be remembered as/for something
  • be in (one's) good graces
  • be in somebody's good graces
References in periodicals archive
If I had my druthers, my family and I would be on a plane this summer to Tuscany, where we went once in less-busy, more-solvent times.
Domestic travel advisory: can you get a vacation high without going anywhere?
Had he had his druthers, Greenberg, this hero who did not want to be one--as Kurlansky calls him--unquestionably would have played and done his best on the field and at bat.
HANK GREENBERG: THE HERO WHO DIDN'T WANT TO BE ONE
If Audi had its druthers, organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDs, would migrate from high-end televisions to passenger cars.
This bold experiment in OLEDs from Audi could lead to fewer accidents
Turk is intrigued to see how the Beirut audience will react to "Rebecca Griffiths." Given her druthers, she would have debuted in Lebanon with "Of Laughter and Forgetting," a piano concerto for qanoun, darbuka, nai and orchestra that she wrote and debuted in early 2012.
At home with a madwoman's ghost
If we winemakers had our druthers, we would not always cold stabilize our wines.
Need cold: a low-cost solution for cold stabilizing small lots
And I would pay these families so they can give us the data to show us what they would do if they had their own druthers to get their own lives together."
Family independence initiative
If I had my druthers, I'd talk with you about this content before the campers arrive and then re-visit the message about a week after they've been with us to see if my letter's content made it from being understood by you to being implemented by you.
A letter to camp staff
The owners know that Bud can't last forever (although as I wrote in the BP article, "If the owners had their druthers, Bud would be stuffed, propped up in a chair, a seance would be held, and Selig would run the league from the afterlife.
Bud Selig Not Retiring, As It Should Be
IF TIM GUNN HAD his druthers, he'd spend most of his time alone: "I'm one of the biggest introverts you could ever meet." But the 58-year-old fashionista rarely escapes the spotlight these days.
Top Gunn Project Runway's main man on revolutionary fashion, the "It Gets Better" campaign, and why you're never too smart for style
"But in the engravings," he wrote woefully, "there was no desolation; no dirt; no rags; no flies; no ugly features; no sore eyes no stench of camel." Given his druthers, the celebrated American writer much preferred the imagined Holy Land to its real-life, fly-specked, odiferous counterpart.
Photographic Memories
If I had my druthers, I would tinker the shape into more of a gothic arch with about a three-foot straight side at the bottom.
Salvage broken handles, bend conduit, & tinker with greenhouse shapes
If the performance artist turned soap star had his druthers, he would have jumped up and down and squealed with joy.
Soap dish: in venues from soap operas to major museums, conceptual artist Kalup Linzy is making a name for himself even without the aid of collaborator James Franco
Given my druthers, I'11 take red meat and spuds for most of my meals.
Ruger's LC9: the .380 LCP's big brother
"Obviously my druthers is that this bill gets taken care of by the Legislature.
Perry: Special Session on Congressional Maps Possible
Considered to be basically a moral/ morale hazard, given its druthers, ISO would never pay for workmanship.
Care, custody or control, Part 2: besides specific claims, learn about overall context