Common Sayings ...

[Nathan Caroland]

There are some comments or common sayings out there that seem to pop up in conversation from time to time that you just take for granted but might not really think about until it is brought to your attention.

For example, in another thread I was recalling a saying that we use here in America, 'the rule of thumb'. I've used this in conversation more than once, particularly at work while training someone, etc.

The Rule of Thumb apparently is an old law way back in the day where a man could beat his wife if she was misbehaving (heh, I'm NOT opening up the conversation over this matter, please) and could use a stick/switch no bigger than his thumb. Thus the Rule of Thumb. Damn odd how it has changed over the years to mean something else.

What other sayings out there do you use, in any country, and how have they changed from what they might have once meant to something new today?

Some of them that I can recall right off the bat (hey, there is another one),

Right off the Bat (where the heck did that one come from?)

You made your bed, now lie in it.

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

Too many cooks spoil the broth.

Where there's a will there's a way.

[Mosch]

German has some really strange ones....

"That's where the hare lies in the pepper" for example. This one seems to be based on a cooked hare in a pepper sauce. Don't ask me, I have no idea who came up with that one. It is, for example, used to refer to a core problem that causes other problems.

"Something swans me" is really, really stupid too. It menas "I anticipate something" and is based on "olet mihi" which has been turned into "olor mihi". Incredibly stupid, if you ask me.

"To be at the end with my Latin" means I have no idea anymore. I suppose that's because in the middle ages Latin was the language for the educated people...

"His ass is on ice" is a really great one, no idea about the source though It sounds even better in German: "Dir geht wohl der Arsch auf Grundeis!" Bwahaha. Love it.

That's really all I can think of right now.

[EricJ]

Never look a gift horse in a mouth

I'll be a monkeys uncle

son of a gun

[sebrushworth]

Hmm... some Swedish ones:

"If you get in to the game, you must accept the consequences of the game"

"Life plays".

Can't think of any more at the moment but in Sweden we have a word "lagom", which is very difficult to translate in to any other language as noone else has a single word for it, but roughly it means "not too much, and not too little".

[green stuff]

It doesn't break three legs to a duck : nothing new, nothing important.

I said that, but I didn't say anything : only suggesting.

[wiccanpony]

:explode: ..if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

dutch uncle<--------- now I had to look that one up to understand it.

Dutch uncle is a term for a person who sternly lectures, comments or criticizes with unsparing severity and blunt frankness, to educate, encourage or admonish someone, often with benevolent intent, as though an elder relative or "uncle."

Originating in the early 1800s, this expression, often put as talk to one like a Dutch uncle, presumably alludes to the sternness and sobriety attributed to the Dutch. Some, though, have speculated that it may allude to qualities attributed to the Deutsch (Germans).

Example: "When I was late for class, the teacher talked to me like a Dutch uncle."

[Nathan Caroland]

Huh, never heard that one before WP. Now a Dutch Oven, that's a whole different matter ...

[Mosch]

I only know the term "dutch wife".

Also, the first thing I associate with the Dutch is "cheese"

[Brimshack]

I've a;ways wondered about "One leather monkey don't stop my show."

..admittedly a little archaic.

[Duende]

"Cute as a button"

"Quitting cold turkey"

"There's more than one way to skin a cat"

"Here's mud in your eye!"

And people can ask to give you a "penny for your thoughts" but if you say what they are, then you're giving "your two cents worth".

Silly slang! :tongue2:

Well, that's all I can think of "off the top of my head"

[Klute]

Theres a guy who lives in our town who had an unfortunate accident with a cement mixer which left him quite brain damaged. He is OK but could quite possibly look like the most eccentric person in the world.

Great guy, always chatty and very quick witted, albeit VERY odd.

Anyway one day me and my mates (yes I did have some) were walking down the street and Ronnie ( the odd guy ) walks past and says hello. So I say "alright Ronnie hows things" and he replies.

"Better than a sharp stick in the eye. Not that Ive had a sharp stick in the eye. But I can imagine."

[Duende]

I think I remember Foghorn Leghorn (of the Looney Tunes cartoon) once saying, "I say, that boy's about as sharp as a sack of wet mice."

:loco:

[praetorian0_1]

...back to the rule of thumb, my Grandfather said it was used by carpenters to estimate an inch since the time of his Grandpa and before. That would put that info from in the 1800's for sure, and I have never seen that law in print, though I've heard FF's explaination too. My thought is that there individuals (stressing not FF- he's magacool) that have twisted an innocent saying to their own ends like so many things. I think its not the saying furthermore, its the intent behind them. I mean there are some things that are outright racist, but I think this has none of that connotation.

OK- here is one of my own sayings, why the heck do we say HELLO- when we answer the phone. Monty Burns says HOYHOY. I think that was an option of greatings. I'll have to consult my bathroom reader for some facts on that lol.

I also like" not the sharpest tack in the board"..or,"knife in the drawer"

[green stuff]

...back to the rule of thumb, my Grandfather said it was used by carpenters to estimate an inch since the time of his Grandpa and before.

In french, we don't say "inch", we say "pouce" wich translates to "thumb" .

[praetorian0_1]

You could come up with a pun with right or right hand and thumb in French n'est pas. "Les driots des pouce ou ta pouce droit...?" (One of my Grandpas was at least part Englis, though they both spoke French, and I came out Metis, go figure.)

Sorry cheap joke in French no less.

And... my personal saying, "can't be built with a chainsaw, can't be built."

[Art-de-Vivre]

I actually prefer :

"where there is a will, there is a won't"

[vincegamer]

For example, in another thread I was recalling a saying that we use here in America, 'the rule of thumb'. I've used this in conversation more than once, particularly at work while training someone, etc.

The Rule of Thumb apparently is an old law way back in the day where a man could beat his wife if she was misbehaving (heh, I'm NOT opening up the conversation over this matter, please) and could use a stick/switch no bigger than his thumb. Thus the Rule of Thumb.

I have to step in and correct this.

One judge once in England said in a case that he would apply a "rule of thumb" and defined it as above. He was making a joke or pun because rule of thumb is a phrase that goes way back further than that. It was a common saying at the time.

Rule of thumb has both a metaphysical meaning: the thumb is the ruler of the other fingers as it stands alone and it alone allows gripping etc.

It has a physics meaning the ancient Greeks came up with. Take your right hand thumb out. Curl your fingers. A cylindar spinning in the direction you are culring your fingers will generate momentum in the direction of your thumb.

There are many such misunderstandings of language that are abused by people trying to be over-PC. Another example is the school that banned the term picnic for an annual function because it came from white supremicists "picking" a "nigger" to lynch. Total BS as it's from the French for eating outdoors!

For when it's icy:

Slicker than snot on a doorknob

[praetorian0_1]

Cool man, that cleared it up for me too. :thumb: I agree that PC just goes nuts sometimes. Now if the wolfcriers applied those imaginations for something good...

[supervike]

Hmm...that sharp stick in the eye one gets used over here quite a bit...I guess Ronnie wouldn't be odd over here at all!! :tea:

Weather related ones...

"Colder than a well digger's a$$"

"Colder than a witches tit"

"Raining cats and dogs"

"you could cook an egg on the sidewalk"

Here is another weather related one, although not very common...My dad would say this when a bad storm was coming...its a bit rough, sorry.

'Its gonna rain like a two-pussied cow pissing on a flat rock'

I just love the imagery of that one.... :vb_tongue

[green stuff]

"Raining cats and dogs"

We have "It's raining ropes" over here .

[praetorian0_1]

We have "in a pickle" for being in trouble. Where the heck does that come from? That's always been a weird one.:vb_tongue

[Jabberwocky]

We have "It's raining ropes" over here .

Being "on the ropes" is to be in a bad condition oir state. My guess it is drawn from boxing, when if you are on the ropes you are likely getting the crap knocked out of you.

[Duende]

I once described my daughter as being "happy as a clam", which made me wonder about just how happy are clams anyway?

:loco:

[Nathan Caroland]

Heard one on the radio talk show today that I've heard before but didn't really think of. 'Beyond the Pale'.

Ok ... what the hell is that?

[green stuff]

'Beyond the Pale'

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-pal2.htm