Page 23 | To have completely misunderstood the meaning of some sayings?

KermitTheToad · 2025-11-18T20:53:28+00:00

I only found out today that the term Social Butterfly refers to someone who is outgoing and loves social events. I thought it meant you didn't like social events, as in you would fly away and avoid them. I also until recently thought that a Spendthrift is somebody who is frugal in their spending. I assumed that as thrifty meant not being wasteful, that Spendthrift meant being careful in what you spent. YANBU..I see where you are coming from. YABU.. You are a wally, go back to school!

QuornAgain · 19/11/2025 03:12

Charlize43 · 18/11/2025 23:42

Clearly you are not one who knows how many beans make five...

2 beans, a bean and a half, half a bean and a bean 😉

realsavagelike · 19/11/2025 03:07

maralagagirl · 19/11/2025 02:19

Hoist by your own petard is pretty common, particularly with comedians. It's from Hamlet.

Show quote history

Whoops. Studied Hamlet for either GCSE or A Level and didn't know this!

DiaryofaProvincialLady · 19/11/2025 03:05

manineed · 18/11/2025 21:12

Or put on a pedal stool

Show quote history

I'm on tender hooks to find out, and "woah" is me

Heidi2018 · 19/11/2025 02:37

BoringOregon · 18/11/2025 22:58

Now my mind is blown!
Which is it? They both make sense.

Show quote history

The way you quoted doesn't make sense, because they wouldn't be a friend at all if they were using you.

IfIHadAHeart · 19/11/2025 02:27

Until recently I thought shanks pony was a real pony.

maralagagirl · 19/11/2025 02:19

Titasaducksarse · 19/11/2025 00:52

I've been educated. I thought I had a pretty good grip on the English language but I'd never heard of 'hoist by your own petard' before. All the others I had heard of and understood the correct meaning.

Edited

Hoist by your own petard is pretty common, particularly with comedians. It's from Hamlet.

maralagagirl · 19/11/2025 02:15

BootMaker · 18/11/2025 22:39

A poker face is one that doesn't show emotion, so they're very good a poker as they never betray their hand by their expressions.

Show quote history

Yes!!!!! So if you watch a poker game show zero emotion on their face and the amateurs can't help but look a bit happy or sad. To make money from poker, you need a damn good poker face ( reveals nothing to your opponents)

maralagagirl · 19/11/2025 02:08

BungledBundle · 19/11/2025 01:19

Free rein.

Show quote history

That's correct, sorry I don't know if you are correcting someone else! Reign is the royals; rein is what you put on a horse to control it so if you have "free rein" you can do what you like.

maralagagirl · 19/11/2025 02:05

TheIncredibleBookEatingManchot · 18/11/2025 21:53

I thought the saying "when the going gets tough the tough get going" meant when things are hard the so-called tough scarper. Actually it means they spring into action.

And "a friend in need is a friend indeed" I thought was a kind of sarcastically saying when someone needs something from you they act like a really good friend. Really it means if someone's your friend in your hour of need they're a true friend.

You've got the first one right and the second one wrong.

realsavagelike · 19/11/2025 01:41

RedBullBlood · 19/11/2025 01:01

More a mishearing than a misunderstanding but a recent MN poster complained about her touchy friend and said she was a real ‘Jacqueline High’. Up there with another poster who read a book that was so good it should win a Pullet Surprise. Winner, winner, chicken dinner?

Jekyll and Hyde I'm guessing?! Took me a minute to understand what she had possibly meant to say.

StruggleFlourish · 19/11/2025 01:31

Nanny0gg · 18/11/2025 22:01

That's not a triffid

That's Audrey

Show quote history

Oh, I know, I couldn't find I already made GIF of a triffid though... But I appreciate your attention to science fiction botany :-)

Chairity · 19/11/2025 01:22

We should've stuck with spend-all centuries ago for spendthrift - much less confusing!

There used to be somewhere called Salubrious Passage where I grew up. It most definitely wasn't so for years I thought salubrious meant the opposite of what it actually does.

LucyLoo1972 · 19/11/2025 01:21

Makeitstop2025 · 18/11/2025 21:12

Tall, Dark and Handsome. I always pictured that to mean a white man and that the "dark" was in reference to features such as black/brown hair or brown eyes. A friend told me that the dark was in reference to skin colour and that it basically meant a person of colour.

Before anyone comments that it shows my bias, I am a person of colour!

I think your understanding is correct tbh

BungledBundle · 19/11/2025 01:19

Hellohelga · 18/11/2025 23:00

Horses for courses

Show quote history

Free rein.

RedBullBlood · 19/11/2025 01:01

More a mishearing than a misunderstanding but a recent MN poster complained about her touchy friend and said she was a real ‘Jacqueline High’. Up there with another poster who read a book that was so good it should win a Pullet Surprise. Winner, winner, chicken dinner?

Willyoujustbequiet · 19/11/2025 00:58

Makeitstop2025 · 18/11/2025 21:12

Tall, Dark and Handsome. I always pictured that to mean a white man and that the "dark" was in reference to features such as black/brown hair or brown eyes. A friend told me that the dark was in reference to skin colour and that it basically meant a person of colour.

Before anyone comments that it shows my bias, I am a person of colour!

Your friend is wrong sorry. Its just means dark hair and isn't related to skin colour.

WhyCantThingsJustBeEasy · 19/11/2025 00:53

I only learned recently that, "you're a sight for sore eyes" does not mean you look a mess!

Titasaducksarse · 19/11/2025 00:52

I've been educated. I thought I had a pretty good grip on the English language but I'd never heard of 'hoist by your own petard' before. All the others I had heard of and understood the correct meaning.

SouthernNights59 · 19/11/2025 00:44

soupyspoon · 18/11/2025 22:44

I think its a cockney thing that bomsitit, is a word for mess, rather than a comparison with a bomb has hit it.

So my mum and dad, and wider family would say 'thats a bomsitit', meaning thats a mess

Show quote history

I live about as far from anything cockney that you can get and people here say "it looks like a bomb's hit it" to describe a mess.

Mama2many73 · 19/11/2025 00:40

CurlyhairedAssassin · 18/11/2025 21:10

Heavy plant crossing. I was flummoxed by that one for years. Always thought of triffids when I was a kid. Knew it couldn't be that but it was years into adulthood before I knew for sure what it meant. (probably when Google was invented so I could look it up without embarrassing myself by asking an acutal human).

Made me laugh! Im 54 and ALWAYS think 'ooh watch out for triffids' when I see heavy plant crossing!
Also getting an education tonight. Ibe never really thought about spendthrift but would totally agree with OPs definition! It really doesn't make sense!

AutumnLeavesFallingFast · 19/11/2025 00:37

Chiseltip · 18/11/2025 21:13

Road Works Ahead

No it fucking doesn't!

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

ForHazelTiger · 19/11/2025 00:37

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

I have seen positions where they ask for a full transcript

AutumnLeavesFallingFast · 19/11/2025 00:35

Makeitstop2025 · 18/11/2025 21:12

Tall, Dark and Handsome. I always pictured that to mean a white man and that the "dark" was in reference to features such as black/brown hair or brown eyes. A friend told me that the dark was in reference to skin colour and that it basically meant a person of colour.

Before anyone comments that it shows my bias, I am a person of colour!

I hate to break it to you, but you were right in the first place!

MO0N · 19/11/2025 00:31

GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut · 18/11/2025 22:21

I don't understand this either.

It means you don't / can't know if the thing has worked / is good until the very end, surely?!

So you don't know if the pudding is any good until you eat it - there's no way to tell before that.

Show quote history

Isnt it more like, you cant properly assess something until you use it for it's intended purpose?
In this case the pudding is intended as a source of gustatory pleasure and so the ultimate test of it's merit, the proof of how good it is, will be when it is consumed.

Moveoverdarlin · 19/11/2025 00:25

jamcorrosion · 18/11/2025 21:20

Is that true?! I still to this day thought it was about hair/eye colour

Show quote history

It is.