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10-28-2005, 06:03 AM
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#1 |
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Pump my ride!
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Deep countryside of Surrey , England
Posts: 1,890
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Wierd sayings
We were just discussing some of the stranger sayings we have (in UK which perhaps have travelled to the USA), such as;
'I know that place like the back of my hand' - when very few of us know the backs of our hands that well, and where would such a saying have come from anyway?? Equally 'that would be like teaching your granny to suck eggs' - did granny suck eggs? Is it some obsure reference to her absence of teeth thereby rendering egg consumption a sucking affair??? All very confusing. Any suggestions as to their derivation? Any more that confuse? A sure sign it's Friday and winding down time....
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Always sufficient hills - never sufficient gears |
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10-28-2005, 08:48 AM
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#2 |
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polaroid of perfection
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: West Yorkshire
Posts: 24,185
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I don't know the origin of those with googling, and somehow that seems like cheating, so I'll just answer questions with more questions if that's ok.
I'm still trying to find the origin of the phrase "More [insert item] than you can shake a stick at" I'm not satisfied by the answers I've found on the internet... Another stick related query: I've always assumed the carrot & stick approach referred to a system of motivating by reward. In other words the carrot is dangled in front of the donkey via a long stick, and it strives to reach it. Recently the phrase seems to imply its either carrot OR stick. So that the donkey is rewarded with a carrot or punished with a stick. Has the phrase become misunderstood? |
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10-28-2005, 09:01 AM
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#3 |
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Radical Centrist
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Cottage of Prussia
Posts: 31,423
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Jesus H. Christ on a pogo stick.
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10-28-2005, 09:28 AM
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#4 |
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I can hear my ears
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 25,571
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i actually heard an explanation of the term 'sucker' as being derived from old women stealing food from markets by poking a hole in an egg shell and sucking out the contents. it was during a lesson about the great depression, but it may have translated to the UK?
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This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality Embrace this moment, remember We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion ~MJKeenan |
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10-28-2005, 09:32 AM
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go ahead, abbrev. it
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Posts: 2,623
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Quote:
I'm having kittens here waiting to find out... 
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10-28-2005, 09:34 AM
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#6 | |
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Pump my ride!
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Deep countryside of Surrey , England
Posts: 1,890
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Quote:
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Always sufficient hills - never sufficient gears |
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10-28-2005, 09:38 AM
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#7 | |
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Pump my ride!
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Deep countryside of Surrey , England
Posts: 1,890
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Quote:
I thought the 'H' was for Hova as in J.Hova (Jehova) Christ. Probably wrong (wife insists I usually am).
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Always sufficient hills - never sufficient gears |
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10-28-2005, 09:46 AM
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#8 |
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Blatantly Homosapien
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 6,200
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happy as a lark...are larks really that happy?
open up a can of worms...and then what happens? quiet as a mouse...I hear them all the time.
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Please type slowly. I can't read very fast............... and no holy water, please. |
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10-28-2005, 09:54 AM
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#9 | |
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go ahead, abbrev. it
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Posts: 2,623
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Quote:
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10-28-2005, 10:19 AM
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#10 | |
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Pump my ride!
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Deep countryside of Surrey , England
Posts: 1,890
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Quote:
open up a can of worms - and that will attract a lot of larks who once they have consumed the worms will be as.... happy as a lark - but all this feeding activity will likely attract other predatorial birds like hawks, kestrels and falcons who are particularly fond of those small furry creatures known as mice, so if the mice want to have a chance to survive they will need to be.... quiet as a mouse - which as you say isn't that quiet, hence a lot of them still get eaten... Natures way of balancing the species, I suppose (BTW, wife says I'm wrong.....)
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Always sufficient hills - never sufficient gears |
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10-28-2005, 11:08 AM
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#11 |
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Pump my ride!
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Deep countryside of Surrey , England
Posts: 1,890
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Sick as a parrot ( pre-dates avian flu so what caused the saying in the first place?)
Cuts the mustard - meaning: comes up to scratch (which could be another one except I think it has connections with golf and being a scratch/zero handicap player, but it may pre-date this)
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Always sufficient hills - never sufficient gears Last edited by Cyclefrance; 10-28-2005 at 11:17 AM. |
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10-28-2005, 11:36 AM
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#12 |
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dar512 is now Pete Zicato
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Chicago suburb
Posts: 4,968
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It is carrot and stick. The phrase implies reward for doing well and punishment for doing poorly.
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"Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain." -- Friedrich Schiller |
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10-28-2005, 11:37 AM
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Breathing into a paper bag
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Ohio
Posts: 334
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Hopping.
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Taking up smoking to lose weight. |
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10-28-2005, 12:00 PM
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#14 |
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Constitutional Scholar
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Ocala, FL
Posts: 4,006
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Jesus Harold Christ
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"I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death." - George Carlin |
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10-28-2005, 12:27 PM
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The future is unwritten
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 71,105
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Quote:
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...the H is added to skirt taking the name of the Lord in vain.Quote:
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The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump. |
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