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Original poster

Phrases and sayings you just don't understand

415 replies

Remieatscake · 01/05/2019 10:28

Such as:

'Life isn't a bed of roses you know''
Well, yes I think it is really because roses have thorns - the tough bits of life but they also have the beautiful petals of the flower - the good parts of life...overly simplistic but you get my drift.....

''Oh, I slept like a baby'' - surely this is meant to mean I slept badly but people seem to say it wen they have slept well. Not a mum (yet) but I am an overnight nanny amongst other things so know that babies do not generally sleep well!

Will think of some more I'm sure but in the mean time anyone else think of sayings that don't really make sense?

OP posts:
TessieVanKendre · 02/05/2019 07:25

Going back to "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get" I always thought if it as, when you buy a unopened/sealed box of chocolates you don't actually know what you're going to get until you open it and see the menu. I think it's only lately that sometimes, if you buy a box of chocolates, they display the chocolates inside, on the back or underneath, but years ago they didn't, so you didn't know what you was going to get inside...Confused

Never understood "she's/he's the salt of the earth"

Always thought it meant someone who's awful, like if you have too much salt on something it's awful. I only realised a few years back, it actually meant someone who's really lovely- it doesn't make sense (not to me, anyway)

caughtinanet · 02/05/2019 07:25

The use of I could care less by Americans is also a pet hate of mine, I don't agree with the poster who said it's only wrongly said by the young, it's said by people of all ages in film and TV, why do the actors/writers not correct it if they know it's totally wrong?

Ladymargarethall · 02/05/2019 07:35

DD had a book as a child with a rhyme about someone who went to a fancy dress ball.
He thought he would risk it
And dress as a biscuit
But a dog ate him up in the hall.

In my mind risk it and biscuit are linked to this rhyme.

Ladymargarethall · 02/05/2019 07:45

'Salt of the earth's is Biblical.
In Matthew chapter 5 verse 13 Jesus says
'You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled by men.'
Salt was highly prized, as in a man worth his salt and the word salary.

Southwestten · 02/05/2019 08:33

Stick to your guns is, I think, originates in an armed services phrase.
In the thick of battle, however terrifying, you must stick to firing your guns whether on land, sea or air, and not run away.

NicoAndTheNiners · 02/05/2019 09:00

More haste less speed means that if you do something in a hasty manner you are more likely to make a mistake or do it wrong leading to you having to do it again or correct a mistake and therefore less speedy overall

But shouldn't it then be less haste, less speed....not more haste

caughtinanet · 02/05/2019 09:30

No, Nico, it means that the more slapdash (hasty) you are the slower you will get something done

Or alternatively - less haste, more speed but no one says that Smile

TessieVanKendre · 02/05/2019 10:48

Wow, definitely learned something new today. Thanks Smile

NicoAndTheNiners · 02/05/2019 11:05

Oh I get it now. I always thought the whole thing was an instruction. That my mum was telling me to be more hasty and slower.

But it's more of a warning. Makes sense.

Peregrina · 02/05/2019 11:10

A petard is a bomb. I always thought it was some sort of lance you were being hoist by and left dangling, so it would be better expressed as blown up by your own petard.

Lifecraft · 02/05/2019 13:15

Yes, but it's two different crimes- and sentences! If I'm caught red-handed shooting the sheriff, and they accuse me of shooting the deputy, which I didn't do, I'm not going to admit to it just because they have proof regarding the sheriff.

What does it matter. It's the Wild West, you're going to hang anyway, because you shot the sheriff. Why would you be so fussed about pleading your innocence over shooting the deputy, even going to the bother or writing a protest song about it.

Surely you'd just think "ah fuck it, let them do me for that too."

I also don't believe you'd ride all the way across the desert on a horse and not give it a name. You'd find out when you picked it up, and if you didn't know, you'd give it a name for your journey.

lookingelsewhere · 02/05/2019 13:51

I also don't believe you'd ride all the way across the desert on a horse and not give it a name. You'd find out when you picked it up, and if you didn't know, you'd give it a name for your journey

Grin
lookingelsewhere · 02/05/2019 13:52

Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak" has always irritated me. The lyric "There's gonna be a jailbreak somewhere is this town..."

Hmm...let me think...I would lay money down on that somewhere being THE LOCAL JAIL?!>!

Maraki12 · 02/05/2019 13:59

This reply has been deleted

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Lifecraft · 02/05/2019 14:15

Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak" has always irritated me. The lyric "There's gonna be a jailbreak somewhere is this town..."

Hmm...let me think...I would lay money down on that somewhere being THE LOCAL JAIL?!>!

Ralph McTell...The Steets of London.....yesterday's papers, full of yesterday's new.

Errr...NO. Today's papers have yesterday's news. Yesterday's papers had the day before yesterday's news, you fucking moron!!!

lookingelsewhere · 02/05/2019 14:18
Grin
caughtinanet · 02/05/2019 14:22

I think some of you have wondered in from the lyrics that make no sense thread Grin

DirtyDennis · 02/05/2019 14:30

Slightly different but I hate it when people say that school years are the best years of your life. I mean I get it because you're meant to be free from responsibility, have friends you can just muck about with, and be learning new stuff every day.

But I just think it's so pessimistic and implicitly suggests that adult life is completely fucking shit and that you won't be doing those things; basically you have about 16 years to enjoy yourself then it's all down hill from there.

I used to panic when my parents used to say this to me because I was really miserable at primary school (a bit at secondary but not so much) and I just assumed adult life would be awful if these days were the best ones.

ChopinIn10Minuets · 02/05/2019 14:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TinyMarie · 02/05/2019 14:32

'Believe you me' Hmm

JustHereWithMyPopcorn · 02/05/2019 15:58

*No, Nico, it means that the more slapdash (hasty) you are the slower you will get something done

Or alternatively - less haste, more speed but no one says that *

The saying is less haste more speed and everyone says it that way that I've ever heard. it makes no sense the other way. Confused

Omzlas · 02/05/2019 16:17

"It'll be in the last place you look" - I always took this as "once you find it, you'll stop looking" and therefore it IS in the last place you look

caughtinanet · 02/05/2019 16:30

The saying is less haste more speed and everyone says it that way that I've ever heard. it makes no sense the other way

No it's not. Maybe you say it but the generally accepted saying is definitely more haste less speed.

dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/more-haste-less-speed

Usuallyinthemiddle · 02/05/2019 17:45

tiny that one!

dollydee · 02/05/2019 17:53

No good deed goes unpunished...never really understood what that means.