Common sayings which don't make sense

[nevernotstruggling]

Dd1 (11) has just said 'mummy you know how you don't like it when people say ATM machine??? Because the M is for machine?? Well what about baby chick? Chick is the baby version of chicken so you are just saying oh look a baby baby!'

She's right. Any more like this?

I give you

Old. Aged. Pensioner

Saying the same thing not twice but thrice

In Australia a pensioner is anyone in receipt of social security, eg elderly, unemployed, disabled, not just older people.

Pre order.

@ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba

"it's always the last place you find it"

well, just what idiot would keep checking more places AFTER they found it???

I thought this was just people being 'funny'?

@ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba

"a new beginning"

well, can it ever be an old beginning?

But you can begin again... Same thing?

@Knittedfairies

Pre order.

@Knittedfairies?

what's wrong with that?

When the Americans say "I could care less" instead of "I couldn't care less"

@FourTurnings

Personally speaking - there’s no other way to speak!!

On behalf of someone else

‘No smoke without fire’. In a hotly contested category, this is without doubt the most moronic idiom in the English language.

@permanentlyexhaustedpigeon

"It's always in the last place you look". Well of course it is, if you've lost something, you're hardly going to keep looking for it when you've found it, are you?

I hate this expression. It makes no sense.

The saying to “do a 360” when used to mean someone has changed their mind and decided to do the opposite of something. That would be doing a 180, if someone was to do a 360 they’d end up in the same place as they started.

zing
There's apparently no difference between pre-ordering and just ordering something.

However, I think the distinction is "fair". Pre-order implies the item isn't available/finished for a while. So you're prepaying for an item that may not be launched for a few months. Where as ordering something implies it's in circulation already.

If that makes sense?

(But it's still the same thing)

What is your name called?

As opposed to what is your name? or What are you called?

@00100001

zing There's apparently no difference between pre-ordering and just ordering something.

However, I think the distinction is "fair". Pre-order implies the item isn't available/finished for a while. So you're prepaying for an item that may not be launched for a few months. Where as ordering something implies it's in circulation already.

If that makes sense?

(But it's still the same thing)

@00100001

I know what pre-order means.

A pre-order is often only available to VIP customers or for a limited time, so it usually implies exclusivity and/or guaranteed availability.
definitely not the same as regular order.

I'm not going to blow smoke up your ass" why would you want anyone to, why would this be good thing?!

@millenialblush

Hell for leather - wtf does that even mean?

I think it originally referred to a walk that was so long and difficult that it would be hell on your shoe leather and wear it out. So going hell for leather means going all out/to extremes.

@PhannyPharts

I give you

Old. Aged. Pensioner

Saying the same thing not twice but thrice

You win the thread!

“What makes you so special/she thinks she’s so special”

See this a lot on here and always think it makes no sense/is a terrible comeback. Everyone has done selfish stuff at some point and I’m sure no ones thought process has been “oh I’m so special this rule doesn’t apply to me”. That’s just not how human psychology works surely.

But an OAP is just someone in receipt of an old-age pension, i.e a pension for their old age. So the O and the A in OAP are describing the pension, not the person iyswim

I’ve never understood spendthrift. I always assumed it meant someone who is mean with money, a scrooge but it means the opposite.

It just sounds wrong.

Not a saying, but TSB Bank = Trustee Savings Bank Bank

I agree about spendthrift. ‘Thrifty’ means mean or economical so it follows that spendthrift means the same.

Oh and "10-year anniversary" annoys me. The "anni" bit already means year!

And don't get me started on "6-month anniversary"...

@FourTurnings

I agree about spendthrift. ‘Thrifty’ means mean or economical so it follows that spendthrift means the same.

I thought that was because someone who is thrifty stores up their money, whereas a spendthrift spends it. So it does make sense

Lake Windermere. “Mere” means lake. No need to say it twice