Expressions That Don't Make Sense
- Thread starter B_Jennuine73
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I have always assumed it is the other side of a fence dividing two yards.
Here is an old-fashioned expression that always perplexed me: Tell it to the Marines! It is a way of expressing disbelief. Why tell something to the Marines?
A bit of Googling turned up this answer (from Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898)):
Tell that to the marines. Tell that to greenhorns, and not to men who know better. Marines are supposed by sailors to be so green that they will swallow the most extravagant story.
Tell that to the marines, the sailors wont believe it.Sir W. Scott: Redgauntlet, chap. xiii.
Tell that to the marines, the sailors wont believe it.Sir W. Scott: Redgauntlet, chap. xiii.
It's a play on the expression "my [his, etc.] Man Friday." "Friday" was the name that Robinson Crusoe gave to the savage whom he made his servant. (See Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe.) In 1939, Howard Hawks made a movie based on the play The Front Page in which the character of Hildy Johnson was made a woman instead of a man: the movie was entitled His Girl Friday. But I think the phrase is older than the movie.
Mr. Snakey
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How completely true.... Years ago my Mom had surgery, which was successful. When the surgeon told us, my Father thanked God, I thanked the surgical team that made it happen.
midlifebear
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¡Grácias a dios! que entiende como tonto es agradecer o dar gracias a dios cuando los cirujanos salvajarón la vida de su madre. Estoy de acuerdo.
And I have a bit of trouble with:
That dog won't hunt!
And I have a bit of trouble with:
That dog won't hunt!
crazy_one53402
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midlifebear
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In "the Real West" they say: Older than the hills and twice as dusty.
But I think that's rather more obvious hyperbole than some enigmatic saying.
Mr. Bungle
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I've heard several comic routines by the great George Carlin on this very topic. One of his favorite stupid expressions is - "the greatest thing since sliced bread"...
GEORGE: "So this is it, huh folks? You got a knife, you got a loaf of bread, SLICE THE FUCKIN BREAD!!!!"
"tell me in YOUR OWN words..."
GEORGE: "Our OWN words? Haven't we been using the same words everyone else has been using all this time? Next time someone asks me to phrase something in my own words, I'm gonna say 'nee fmep bardi quanloo FWOOOOOOO..."
GEORGE: "So this is it, huh folks? You got a knife, you got a loaf of bread, SLICE THE FUCKIN BREAD!!!!"
"tell me in YOUR OWN words..."
GEORGE: "Our OWN words? Haven't we been using the same words everyone else has been using all this time? Next time someone asks me to phrase something in my own words, I'm gonna say 'nee fmep bardi quanloo FWOOOOOOO..."
Phil Ayesho
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Have your cake and eat it, too
If you EAT your cake, you no longer HAVE it... its gone...
Ergo, to wish to have your cake AND eat it, too is, as stated, to want two mutually exclusive things... '
It would be like saying someone wants to save their money and spend it, too.
Straight from the horse's mouth...
When Buying a horse, you do not trust the seller as to the horse's age ... you look in its mouth for the truth of the horse's age and health.
Horse trading also gives us "you don't look a gift horse in the mouth"... in that you shouldn't criticize the quality of a gift.
And also " long in the tooth" how long a horse's teeth appear tells you its age... so a horse with long teeth is very old.
Here's a really obscure one...
to say some one is the "Spittin' Image" of their father or mother...
This actually is a miss-wording of the original phrase... that someone had the "spirit and image" of their parent.
If you EAT your cake, you no longer HAVE it... its gone...
Ergo, to wish to have your cake AND eat it, too is, as stated, to want two mutually exclusive things... '
It would be like saying someone wants to save their money and spend it, too.
Straight from the horse's mouth...
When Buying a horse, you do not trust the seller as to the horse's age ... you look in its mouth for the truth of the horse's age and health.
Horse trading also gives us "you don't look a gift horse in the mouth"... in that you shouldn't criticize the quality of a gift.
And also " long in the tooth" how long a horse's teeth appear tells you its age... so a horse with long teeth is very old.
Here's a really obscure one...
to say some one is the "Spittin' Image" of their father or mother...
This actually is a miss-wording of the original phrase... that someone had the "spirit and image" of their parent.
mista geechee
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ooooohhhhhhhhhh now i get the "spittin image" thing. everyone tells me im a spitting image of my dad so now i get it. but thats werid cuz my dad looked (rip) like kareem abdul jabbar(except the 7 feet tall part). seriously. so i could say im a spittin image of kareem abdul jabbar
