Pointless post
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Category: Just Chat
Forum Name: Just Chat - General Discussion
Forum Description: Forum for shootin' the breeze about subjects not relating to Flight Simulation or aviation
URL: http://forum.justflight.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=284
Printed Date: 16 Apr 2024 at 7:55pm
Topic: Pointless post
Posted By: Guests
Subject: Pointless post
Date Posted: 10 Apr 2008 at 1:59pm
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I was telling someone today that they could "talk the hind legs off a donkey", then I thought later what it actually meant. As Google is everyones smartes friend I decided to look it up.
It appears that when a donkey has had enough of something they collapse on their hind legs, which makes sense. Anywho just wondered if any of you have any other explanations of odd things we say, but don't actually think about the meaning.
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Replies:
Posted By: Rich
Date Posted: 10 Apr 2008 at 2:03pm
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I always liked "Undermine". Apparently it comes from an old practice of ended a castle siege by tunnelling underneath the castle walls.
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Posted By: MartinW
Date Posted: 10 Apr 2008 at 2:16pm
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I'm sure you've heard the expression... 'a sea change.' Apparently we have Bill Shakespeare to thank for that. It means a radical, and apparently mystical, change. Not so much mystical these days. Full fathom five thy father lies; Bill was responsible for more than anyone else apparently. Here’s but a few. A sorry sight. All that glitters is not gold. As dead as a door nail. [Donkins nicked that for ‘A Christmas carol' As pure as the driven snow. Eaten out of house and home. Fair play. Foul play. Green eyed monster. I have not slept one wink. And millions more. Here’s a nautical one. 'Between the Devil and the deep blue sea' Meaning In difficulty, between two dangerous alternatives. Origin The phrase was originally 'Between the Devil and the deep sea'. The sea turned blue much later and the phrase became well-known via the title of a popular song. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea was written by Ted Koehler and Harold Arlen, and recorded by Cab Calloway in 1931, although that version of the phrase may have been circulating earlier. |
Posted By: MartinW
Date Posted: 10 Apr 2008 at 2:20pm
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Cut and run Meaning... Run away. Origin This term is the shortened form of the earlier phrases 'cut and run away' and 'cut and run off'. It has been suggested that it has a nautical derivation and that it refers to ships making a hasty departure by the cutting of the anchor rope and running before the wind. That isn't absolutely proven although the earliest known citation does come from a seafaring context. Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, 1590 has this line: |
Posted By: Rich
Date Posted: 10 Apr 2008 at 2:35pm
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Cut and paste Meaning... Martin has been on Google again. Meaning... I've just guffed and I want you to enjoy it ------------- http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Just-Flight/15266573498" rel="nofollow"> |
Posted By: MartinW
Date Posted: 10 Apr 2008 at 3:28pm
Wrong!!! Dead wrong!
Martin has been on Yahoo again.
 Martin's Insomnia
Meaning... Beware he lacks patience today.
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Cheeky Boy Ras wrote:Posted By: Old Flapper
Date Posted: 10 Apr 2008 at 3:59pm
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'Raining cats and dogs' In olden times dogs and cats might sleep in the upper loft area within the thatch of the roof. When rain was heavy the thatch bacames slippery and the pets would sometimes fall into the thresh or straw on the floor. Hence raining cats and dogs. Incidentally, that thresh was kept from spilling out into the street by means of a bar running across the floor between the door-posts, hence the name "threshold". And in that house of old, on bathnight Fridays, the man of that house, dirty from his toils of the week would wash himself in the bathtub, then kindly allow his wife to bathe in those murky waters. She, having finished would allow the eldest child to partake of the bath and so on down the ranks until eventually the youngest offspring benefitted from the human soup of mud that ensued. The baby would have been well hidden in that murk, so hence the saying "Don't throw out the baby with the bath water". 'Freeze the balls off a brass monkey' Meaning the "monkey" or stand on which cannon balls were piled. As the temperatures dropped, the balls contracted (come on fellas we've all suffered that) and dropped from the monkey. There are a few more, but I cant remember them right now. ------------- Everyone's entitled to my opinions |
Posted By: VulcanB2
Date Posted: 11 Apr 2008 at 12:44am
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"Between a rock and a hard place" Meaning In difficulty, faced with a choice between two unsatisfactory options. Origin US origin. The earliest known printed reference is Dialect Notes V, 1921:
The 'recent panics' referred to in that citation are undoubtedly the events surrounding the Bisbee deportations of 1917. In Bisbee, Arizona, in the early years of the 20th century, a dispute between copper mining companies and mineworkers developed. In 1917, the workers, some of whom had organized in labour unions, approached the company management with a list of demands for better pay and conditions. These were refused and subsequently many workers at the Bisbee mines were forcibly deported to New Mexico. Best regards,Vulcan. |