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 Author | Topic: Expressions you don't understand (Read 6,392 times) |
kimby
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|  | Re: Expressions you don't understand
« Reply #60 on Nov 24, 2009, 7:48pm » | ![[Quote]](http://images.proboards.com/buttons/quote.gif "[Quote]") |
Nov 24, 2009, 6:56pm, imec wrote:It would be so very cool if someone like kimby catalogued these for us  |
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how about someone like imec?
Here's how. Go back to OP, highlight first phrase, copy and paste into a new file on your computer, find next phrase repeat. Save the file and now and then copy and paste the whole summary into the thread. Reap endless gratitude.
Easy peasy!
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casimira
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| | Re: Expressions you don't understand
« Reply #61 on Nov 24, 2009, 9:04pm » | |
Don't go messin' wit' our 8 song fairy princess there fella. Every one has a chore on this port.
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casimec
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| | Re: Expressions you don't understand
« Reply #62 on Nov 24, 2009, 9:05pm » | |
imec?!? That deadbeat, do work? That'll be a cold day in hell!
1."to be given short shrift"
2. to be in a huff
3. clink
4. bedlam
5. make no bones about it
6. why a prison warden is called "a screw"
7. till the cows come home
8. donkey's years
9. when hens have teeth
10. second Tuesday of next week
11. a pig's age
12. I'm sweating cobs!
13. There's the rub
14. dodgy
15. dive
16. I don't give a hoot!
17. he could talk the hind leg off a Donkey
18. bum's rush
19. mankey
20. peeing hot conkers
21. minger
22. hard cheese
23. in its heyday
24. Make hey while the sun shines
25. make hay while the sun shines
26. halcyon days
27. Enjoy yourself
28. wholesome
29. at the drop of a hat
30. toothsome
31. long in the tooth
32. cold day in hell
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casimira
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| | Re: Expressions you don't understand
« Reply #63 on Nov 24, 2009, 9:18pm » | |
Maybe should be in a separate thread like Kimby's 8 song game key is,don't know. We can ask her advice on this. Good work there though Casimec,knew we couldn't count too much on that imec for this. Always full of helpful suggestions. 
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existentialcrisis
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| | Re: Expressions you don't understand
« Reply #64 on Nov 25, 2009, 9:09am » | |
Wholesome: In much literature wholeness and completion are associated with godliness. Something missing or lacking is an imperfection, and God is, of course, perfect. Humans, by nature, are imperfect, but are always striving for completeness and perfection. To be wholesome, would be a closeness with God. To be complete, is to be God.
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existentialcrisis
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| | Re: Expressions you don't understand
« Reply #65 on Nov 25, 2009, 9:22am » | |
George Orwell wrote of the dead metaphor, as being a metaphor that has lost its usefulness. A metaphor should be fresh and alive, not a repeated phrase that no longer conjures up images, but just nudges at an indistict familiarity of meaning. Commonly, these metaphors are still used, but since nobody knows how they originated or what they mean, they are characteristics of bad writing.
Example:
"Tow the line" or "Toe the line"?
Properly, it is "Toe the line", which suggests the image of a person boldly walking up to a line drawn in sand, daring to cross it. But when improperly understood, certain writers started writing "Tow the line" which suggests a person towing/pulling on a rope. This second image has nothing to do with the first, in terms of its meaning. So using such a dead metaphor simply leads to confusion and emptiness of expression.
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bixaorellana
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| | Re: Expressions you don't understand
« Reply #66 on Nov 25, 2009, 5:05pm » | |
Re: Replies #64 & 65 ~~ !
Good stuff, Existentia. Thanks!
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traveler63
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| | Re: Expressions you don't understand
« Reply #67 on Nov 25, 2009, 7:40pm » | |
Well, here is my list(some I do understand).
1. Don't get your panties in a twist.
2. Sweating bullets
3. Take a hike.
4. I don't give a tinker's damn
5. Go pee up a rope
6. Getting the short end of the stick
7. Til hell freezers over
8. More fun than a barrel of monkies
9. Crazier than a mad hatter.
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When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best...
And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life.
Monty Python's Life of Brian
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kimby
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| | Re: Expressions you don't understand
« Reply #68 on Nov 25, 2009, 7:52pm » | |
Need a list manager here!
Casimec's list ought to indicate which words/phrases still need "illumination" and which have been "solved".
It probably would be good to make a separate summary thread, but ask the admins to sticky it, so it doesn't get buried and unfindable.
t63 has given us a list to work with, instead of one at a time. This should either liven up the thread or totally kill it!
1. Don't get your panties in a twist = don't get your knickers in a knot, to some people
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kimby
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| | Re: Expressions you don't understand
« Reply #69 on Nov 25, 2009, 7:55pm » | |
Guess we haven't done "waiting with bated breath?"
I know a lot of people say "baited breath" but I believe it's actually a contraction of "abated" = "'bated".
Though some people do have bait-scented breath!
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imec
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| | Re: Expressions you don't understand
« Reply #70 on Nov 25, 2009, 9:39pm » | |
Nov 25, 2009, 7:52pm, kimby wrote:Need a list manager here!
Casimec's list ought to indicate which words/phrases still need "illumination" and which have been "solved".
It probably would be good to make a separate summary thread, but ask the admins to sticky it, so it doesn't get buried and unfindable.
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casimec, move your ass!
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paristraveler
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| | Re: Expressions you don't understand
« Reply #71 on Dec 13, 2009, 11:02pm » | |
I know about "long in the tooth" from being a dental hygienist. As people age, they often develop periodontal, or gum disease, which causes the gums (gingivae) to recede up the root of the tooth, which exposes the root and makes the tooth appear longer. So, "long in the tooth" simply indicates advanced age, e.g., "She's a bit long in the tooth to be wearing that miniskirt."
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kerouac2
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| | Re: Expressions you don't understand
« Reply #72 on Dec 14, 2009, 7:23pm » | |
Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle!
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paristraveler
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| | Re: Expressions you don't understand
« Reply #73 on Dec 14, 2009, 10:48pm » | |
When pigs fly!
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kerouac2
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| | Re: Expressions you don't understand
« Reply #74 on Dec 24, 2009, 10:42am » | |
Stop larding it on.
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kerouac2
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| | Re: Expressions you don't understand
« Reply #75 on Dec 24, 2009, 11:52am » | |
Bah, humbug!
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traveler63
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bixaorellana
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| | Re: Expressions you don't understand
« Reply #77 on Dec 28, 2009, 4:33pm » | |
And one for the season ...........
"Where you born in a barn?!" (usually said when someone fails to close an outer door)
Quickly, without thinking, name the most famous person ever who was born in a barn.
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paristraveler
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| | Re: Expressions you don't understand
« Reply #78 on Dec 29, 2009, 3:10pm » | |
Mr. Ed???????
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bixaorellana
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| | Re: Expressions you don't understand
« Reply #79 on Jan 1, 2010, 7:24am » | |
*snork!*
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paristraveler
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| | Re: Expressions you don't understand
« Reply #80 on Jan 1, 2010, 2:55pm » | |
Jan 1, 2010, 7:24am, bixaorellana wrote:
LOL bixa!
In my recent dealings with certain people in this building concerning the sale of my old computer, the phrase, "Were you raised by wolves?" came to mind yesterday.
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bixaorellana
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| | Re: Expressions you don't understand
« Reply #81 on Jan 2, 2010, 4:46pm » | |
I would laugh, but am shuddering over what incidents probably made you think that.
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lola
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| | Re: Expressions you don't understand
« Reply #82 on Jan 2, 2010, 8:22pm » | |
Don't know the answer to "born in barn" question, unless you count a stable with manger, Magi and whatnot.
Drafty barns: Sunday we attended what the hosts called a "Barn Mitzvah" for their 13 yo son's birthday, when the temperature was in the low 20's F.
They have a pre-Civil War barn from MI disassembled and put back together here. Horses and goats downstairs, a huge hayloft above with room for contra and square dancing, salsa, swing. Too cold for live musicians so they had a DJ/caller.
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bixaorellana
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| | Re: Expressions you don't understand
« Reply #83 on Jan 3, 2010, 4:28am » | |
Jan 2, 2010, 8:22pm, lola wrote:| Don't know the answer to "born in barn" question, unless you count a stable with manger, Magi and whatnot. |
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A big prize for the little lady! Really?! No one got that immediately? 
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bixaorellana
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| | Re: Expressions you don't understand
« Reply #84 on Jan 3, 2010, 4:29am » | |
But wait ~~ "too cold for live musicians" .......... but not too cold for guests shivering in rick-rack and pearl-buttoned shirts?
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kerouac2
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| | Re: Expressions you don't understand
« Reply #85 on Jan 3, 2010, 10:02am » | |
That's a hell of a note.
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lola
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| | Re: Expressions you don't understand
« Reply #86 on Jan 3, 2010, 2:10pm » | |
Shoot fire!
Fiddlers etc. play with bare hands while standing still, and can have trouble moving their fingers even if it's only chilly. The rest of us had many layers, long underwear, and were able to dance around and keep the blood moving. Nary a pearl button in sight. Some of the fashionable teenage girls were probably suffering a bit.
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paristraveler
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| | Re: Expressions you don't understand
« Reply #87 on Jan 4, 2010, 3:40pm » | |
"Nib shit"
As in, "Rather than actually wanting to buy my old computer, the inmates in my building were more interested in coming into my apartment to nib shit just to see what they could quietly steal."
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emm
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| | Re: Expressions you don't understand
« Reply #88 on Jan 5, 2010, 2:12am » | |
Jesus H. Christ. Any ideas on what the 'H' stands for?
Have often wondered if it might be 'Hughey', as in "Old Hughey" the personage accredited with extreme weather (common in rural NZ)
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bixaorellana
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| | Re: Expressions you don't understand
« Reply #89 on Jan 5, 2010, 2:55am » | |
Yeah, how did that H get there?!
For that matter: "Judas priest" ~~ 
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