Phrases and sayings you just don't understand

[Remieatscake]

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?

Surely it's black over Bill's mothers, not Will's mothers. Although the confusion probably enforces the pps understanding that it's a certain commentators mother who lived by headingly cricket ground, because obviously Bill is short for William.

Gbtch
And what about” he’ll be laughing on the other side of his face”
What on earth does that mean?

That is an odd one but I've always understood it to mean that someone might be delighted when something happens to them that seems to be good - eg they get a new job or someone gives them a gift - but in time they discover that the supposedly good thing isn't so good after all....so they're soon 'laughing on the other side of their face' ie not happy after all.

I’m not british so have never really understood “kick into touch”. Can someone explain that one please?

I used to get confused with 'a stitch in time saves nine', thinking it meant a stitch in actual time, and saving nine what? It actually means getting something done before it's too late means you save more work on it later - so one stitch now means you don't have to do nine later. I think.

Round here people say they've been 'all round the Wrekin' when they've been on a long journey, or when they feel like they've been going round in circles, not sure which is the 'right' one.

And 'I'll eat my hat' - where does that come from?

I think ‘kick into touch ’ is an American football term?

Ah I always though 'kick into touch' was a rugby reference. Either way I think the saying has the same meaning

Laughing on the other side of his face

I always understood to be a threat, someone is laughing at something you don't like, so you're going to smack their face hard so it spins round.

"I'll eat my hat"
Surely is something someone will never do.
So you say if X happens, I'll eat my hat, confident that X will never happen.

'they wouldn't laugh if they saw a chair walking'

That reminds me of "she'd laugh to see a pudding crawl" which I think means she's easily amused and would laugh at anything.

But is it odd that she's laugh at a pudding crawling because it's unremarkable, or because it's fucking terrifying? I mean who has ever seen a pudding crawl?

The weather is ‘close’.
Close to fucking what?

In your grandmother's day (well, perhaps great grandmother) they did this. Sit with the chickens, poke holes in either end of an egg and suck out the inside.

OMGGGGGG... why? That’s disgusting!!!

The weather is ‘close’.
Close to fucking what?

Humid and stifling, like being closed in a room on a hot day.

Laughing on the other side of his face

I always understood to be a threat, someone is laughing at something you don't like, so you're going to smack their face hard so it spins round

Yep that's how I've always understood it,
but maybe more that, they are laughing at you, So you issue the threat.

I went to the wool museum once where I discovered what tenterhooks were. It's amazing what you can end up doing on a rainy holiday

Three sheets to the wind was a phrase my mum used to describe someone who either didn't get it or not with it. Bit like her daughter at times.....

Sheets refers to the ropes used to secure the sails on a ship, if three of them were loose then the sail would be flapping around all over the place and the ship out of control.

Thus the phrase can mean acting wildly or unusually whether due to alcohol or otherwise.

(s) he has got more of (x thing) than soft Mick.

Who was soft Mick and why has he got more sruff than anyone else?

Re no good deed goes unpunished, another version of that is ‘the road to hell is paved with good intentions’.

Hang on, I’ve just looked that up to see who originally said it and according to google it means ‘promises and plans must be put into action, otherwise they are useless.’

I didn’t know that.

@Madhairday - I think “a stitch in time saves 9” means deal with small problems promptly to stop them turning into bigger ones. A small hole can be mended with one stitch if you do it in time, otherwise the hole will get bigger and will require more (9) stitches.

That's right, a stitch in time ... means keep up with the maintenance so you don't end up with a much bigger problem, so, have you car serviced every year rather than waiting for the engine to seize up before you have it mended.

A bit like prevention is better than cure.

The weather is close isn't really a saying, it's just a word to describe a humid, oppressive kind of day. Possibly not used by young people nowadays.

A good day for ducks really means to shoot ducks???!! I just thought they liked rain!

You wouldn't jump in my grave so fast!

Said when someone gets into the chair you just vacated. Popular at family gatherings.

"Never mind the quality feel the width" Here "three sheets to the wind" means drunk.

I thought 'I shot the sheriff, I did not shoot the deputy' was a lament at his own stupidity - i.e. if only you'd shot them both, there'd have been no one to arrest you!

Maybe, but isn't the next line, 'I shot the sheriff, but I swear it was in self-defence'?