To have completely misunderstood the meaning of some sayings?

'Heavy' refers to 'Heavy machinery' (diggers, dumpers, lorries, cranes etc...)

'Plant' refers to an 'industrial work zone' (like how you have 'nuclear plants' etc...)

'Crossing' refers to 'pulling out on the road to cross' (like a pedestrian crossing etc...)

It basically means 'WARNING: look out for massive machines that could crush you but might not see you due to being massive and having blinds spots because they are driving around here'.

The most irritating one for me is 'the proof is in the pudding'. Apart from the fact it's wrong, it makes no sense.

I thought a social butterfly was someone who flitted about in lots of different social groups and had lots of friends. Possibly not deep friendships. But lots of them.

Actually lol’ed at this and now I so want a dance settee in my house!

Don't get me started on not comdemning a whole group because " it's just a few bad apples". The saying is "one bad apple spoils the whole barrel" - meaning that yes, you must indeed chuck the whole lot because they are ALL contaminated.

I'm with you on this @PuggyPuggyPuggy

A social butterfly is the big colorful attention stealing person in the room, its the same as 'peacocking' both phrases refer to how noticeable the creatures are for their markings in relation to how noticeable the person is in the gathering.

I have never heard the phrase Spendthrift, actually wouldn't know what it meant.

I still think 'tender hooks' makes sense, like the S shape hooks butchers hang meet on to tenderize it (which are now very popular in homes now for hanging things, we have several on our clothes rail so we dont have to faff with hangers), where as whose ever heard of, or used the very outdated item of a 'tenterhook'. Both do essentially a very similar job of hanging and stretching things (just one uses gravity). I would be much more scared of being hung on a butcher 'tender hook' than on a wood frame to stop washed material shrinking.

Oh I love it! I think that actually works quite well!! 🤣

A friend always said if people were giggling "Oh, they're in cahoots! " or "Sue was in cahoots when I told her that funny story! "

"Hoist by your own petard" is from Hamlet

I’ve never heard of the word hegemony before - I’ve just had to look it up. That sounds like a very hard exam indeed - sorry you couldn’t get the support 💐

I blame donny osmonds song with one bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch for this . I grow apples and can confirm one bad apple will rot the rest

I still dont know what 'heavy plant crossing ' means....

You're right @CryMyEyesViolet , in my dictionary it lists both meanings earthquake start point and the central point of something

Reading property details I was delighted to see some houses had plant rooms. How lovely I thought a room just for house plants, like a craft room for crafts. Nope it's where your heating boiler is housed. A bit like this.

Its a dark haired man regardless of race, think Tom selleck he's tall dark and handsome 💋

@Butteredtoast55 I work in healthcare and a colleague actually wrote “rest bite’ in a communication about a patient fairly recently.

Yes and it drives me nuts when people say "the proof is in the pudding" because what!? Is this a reference to a Poirot I don't know, where the vital clue has ended up in some kind of dessert?

Don't get me started on not comdemning a whole group because " it's just a few bad apples". The saying is "one bad apple spoils the whole barrel" - meaning that yes, you must indeed chuck the whole lot because they are ALL contaminated.* *

I've only ever heard "it's all downhill from here" used as a negative @LilyCanna

Every day is a school day

But they wouldn't genuinely be a true "friend indeed"; they would be acting as though they were.
So your reading is the 'sarcastic' reading, as someone said earlier.

But the sincere non-sarcastic sentiment is that a friend who is there for you when you are in need really is a true friend.

I don't think anyone would think anyone stupid for using the sarcastic way, as it would usually be obvious what is meant by the context (not sure I've ever said it, myself!)

Isn’t the epicentre effectively the source/centre point of an earthquake? The epicentre of the drug trade makes perfect sense if so because it’s a metaphor for the strongest point that then has ripple effects much further out?

Or have I also misunderstood epicentre?

This thread is really showing what an utter f-wit Ive been all my life. There's LOADS of sayings I've got completely wrong. I thought I was pretty clued up and well-read and that turns out to be complete piffle.

Just shows though how amazing the English language is. So many wonderful and confusing expressions.

Another one that irritated me is the misuse of 'epicentre'. "This is the epicentre of the drug trade" etc🙄. It used as a faux intellectual expression to make some more dramatic. It is not a synonym for 'centre'

What can I say?

Not having it. That's what it means and that's how Ive used it for my whole life and I would prefer not to have to think of what a twit I have made of myself during that time.

well, edibles meaning drugs is a colloquialism.

your friend is correct. edible really just means something that cab be eaten. it has just become accepted as shorthand for "edible drugs".

It's always annoyed me a bit, to be honest. In the same way that hen do / hen party / hen night seems tovhave beeh replaced with just "hen".

"what are we doing for Janet's hen?" etc.

Hate it. Hen do / hen night / hen party are all fine. dont like hen.