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Strange Sayings...
Strange Sayings...
Every now and again I catch myself saying things which make no literal sense at all without even thinking about it. I love these sayings which have obviously had some meaning in the past, but which have been incorporated into every day use despite making no sense to me.
For example:
On leaving the table at lunch the other day
"Sorry guys - I'm going to have to shoot the craw" (WHAT? What crow and why would I shoot it?)
Or when I was asked yesterday whether I got anything for being in work a wee bit late.
"Nope - just brownie points" (I was in the Brownies, but I don't remember getting 'points' that weren't worth anything!!)
Anyone know where these come from? Or do you have anything else that you say automatically, but which doesn't make literal sense?
Makes you feel really sorry for poor foreigners trying to learn our language!
For example:
On leaving the table at lunch the other day
"Sorry guys - I'm going to have to shoot the craw" (WHAT? What crow and why would I shoot it?)
Or when I was asked yesterday whether I got anything for being in work a wee bit late.
"Nope - just brownie points" (I was in the Brownies, but I don't remember getting 'points' that weren't worth anything!!)
Anyone know where these come from? Or do you have anything else that you say automatically, but which doesn't make literal sense?
Makes you feel really sorry for poor foreigners trying to learn our language!
I am not sure where the saying 'brownie points' come from but a very old memory - which is possibly totally inaccurate - was stirred when I read your post, which tells me that brownies were mischievous spirits which used to do people's housework whilst they were asleep so they'd wake up and find a miraculously clean house. Which might, I would guess, be where that saying comes from - and probably where the name for the troop of girl helpers comes from too.
One saying that I've often wondered about doesn't appear to be considered strange by anyone except me.
"It's a good job (I did whatever)"
A good job? Why 'job'?
I often reply with something like "Yes, it's a marvellous job" and people find this amusing but I don't see why it should seem any funnier than saying "good job" in the first place.
"It's a good job (I did whatever)"
A good job? Why 'job'?
I often reply with something like "Yes, it's a marvellous job" and people find this amusing but I don't see why it should seem any funnier than saying "good job" in the first place.
According to Dictionary.com, well down the entry for job:Moonbeam wrote:One saying that I've often wondered about doesn't appear to be considered strange by anyone except me.
"It's a good job (I did whatever)"
A good job? Why 'job'?
Job # Informal A state of affairs: Their marriage was a bad job from the start. It's a good job that we left early to avoid the traffic.
It doesn't really answer your question though, Moonbeam.
What about the wee boy who jumped on the back of the milk float and was told by the driver
Come oan, get aff!
Clippie too, Alan. It was first pointed out to me as being silly by someone (my German teacher I think) who used the milk float example.Alan H wrote:I thought it was said by a clippie?lewist wrote:What about the wee boy who jumped on the back of the milk float and was told by the driver
Come oan, get aff!
Clippie's easy. He clips your ticket. I suppose a milkman who drives a milk float could a' bin called a "floatie", but I never heard that!
What about "harping on". I said somewhere about people always "harping on" about something. Harping? Why harping?
Donkeys years - that's a corruption of donkey's ears (very long).
What about "harping on". I said somewhere about people always "harping on" about something. Harping? Why harping?
Donkeys years - that's a corruption of donkey's ears (very long).
Fell means evil and menacing. Tolkien used the word quite a lot in The Lord of the Rings. I have always taken one fell swoop to liken some act to the swoop of a bird upon its prey.Fred wrote:"fell swoop" has always puzzled me - the adjective fell is never used with any other noun.
One that I've inherited from my father and passed on to my kids is the phrase for exasperation when they're being slow or dim about something...
"You're like a fart in a bottle painted green"
The fart in a bottle I had not heard but in Fife we have an abusive little epithet as thick as sh** in a bottle which is similar.
Does it not come from the theatrical superstition that it's bad luck too wish someone 'good luck' before a performance. They therefore convey their empathy and best wishes in code. Breaking a leg is a fairly blatant calamity, so seems more a more obvious parady than, say, "I hope your headache gets worse and worse all the way through the performance".
But shake a leg is an interesting nautical expression. It came from the times when ships would be in port and the sailors on shore leave might bring back persons of the opposite sex to warm their hammocks.Autumn wrote:Anyone know where the expression 'break a leg' comes from?
It's always seemed weird to me. Once I tried to use it but got muddled and said 'shake a leg' instead?
The response came, 'Why? I haven't peed down it!'
In the morning the officer in charge of getting up the next watch needed evidence of which of the sleeping people were crew and which were visiting. He therefore encouraged all to show a leg from under the covers so he could see the hairy masculine ones and the smooth feminine ones. Owners of the former would be made to rise and shine; owners of the latter would be allowed to stay whre they were.
It wouldn't be anything to do with the Harpies of Greek Mythology would it? Did they not chase someone (Oedipus?) around, screaming in his ear for the rest of his life, following his liaison with Mommy?What about "harping on". I said somewhere about people always "harping on" about something. Harping? Why harping?
Maybe?