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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:
RussellSprout · 01/05/2019 11:01

I lucked out

Does that mean good luck or bad ?

TheFastandCurious · 01/05/2019 11:02

“A friend in need is a friend indeed”

Why is a friend better because they need something?

SauvingnonBlanketyBlanc · 01/05/2019 11:03

You dont know what you've got til it's gone.Should be HAD not GOT.

Original poster
Remieatscake · 01/05/2019 11:03

I always used to think ''That girl is so clucky'' was strange

Meaning - ''that girl wants a baby a lot'' but I guess it's just the Australian version of our ''broody''

OP posts:
AllAboutMeAlways · 01/05/2019 11:04

Yeah...the cake one is misunderstood.

Have = keep.

So it’s you cannot eat the cake and keep it at the same time. Can’t have it both ways.

boringlyboring · 01/05/2019 11:06

Thanks captain

Butter wouldn’t melt is weird too! I just googled it and it means the person looks so ‘cool’ as in 😎, rather than temperature. Who’d have thought!

The world is starting to make sense...

AllAboutMeAlways · 01/05/2019 11:06

You’re looking at it the wrong way, Parrot

It means a friend who does a good thing for you is truly a friend.

The “friend in need” = a friend who is there when you are in need.

Tunnockswafer · 01/05/2019 11:07

Saying had changes the meaning though. As had refers to something already gone, the point being when you’ve “got” it you don’t appreciate it.

ZaZathecat · 01/05/2019 11:07

Parrot, it means 'a friend (in your time of) need'

Frangipane · 01/05/2019 11:07

A friend in need.... means when you have a friend when YOU are in need, ie, someone who helps you at your time of need. It doesn't mean the friend is in need!

bridgetreilly · 01/05/2019 11:08

“A friend in need is a friend indeed” Why is a friend better because they need something?

No, it means 'a friend when you are in need' - the person who stands by you when you really need help.

buttons101 · 01/05/2019 11:08

"She'd mind mice at a crossroad" apparently it means that someone is clever or sly.. I don't get it 🙈

TheFastandCurious · 01/05/2019 11:08

zaza

Why isn’t the saying “A friend in your time of need is a friend indeed then?”

Thanks though, that has bothered me for decades!

Raffles1981 · 01/05/2019 11:10

I once went out with a guy who hated the saying "we are where we are"

Frangipane · 01/05/2019 11:10

Why isn’t the saying “A friend in your time of need is a friend indeed then?”

Because that doesn't scan as well. It's all about rhythm, innit?

Tunnockswafer · 01/05/2019 11:10

I don’t really understand the “all fur coat and nae knickers” one, though I pretend I do Blush

Tunnockswafer · 01/05/2019 11:12

I love “it’s an ill wind that blows nobody good” especially as usually shortened to just it’s an ill wind, leaving it enigmatically open to misunderstanding Smile

00100001 · 01/05/2019 11:12

"butter wouldn't melt"

The full phrase would be something along the lines of "Butter wouldn't melt, but we know better" it alluding to someone being calm, and demure, or cool on outward appearances, an emotional coldness. being so cool that even butter wouldn't melt in their mouth.

DontMakeMeShushYou · 01/05/2019 11:13

“A friend in need is a friend indeed”

Someone who has been your friend when YOU have been in need, is indeed a friend. As opposed to fairweather friends who disappear when the going gets tough.

QueenKubauOfKish · 01/05/2019 11:15

“No, you’re alright”. :o I love this, it's common in Yorkshire and it feels just ever so slightly passive aggressive to me. It means no you don't have to bother yourself/it's OK you don't have to do something for me. But with the very slightest hint of "I wouldn't want anything from you" :o

The one that's always puzzled me is "She's no better than she should be". Why, what should she be, and how do you know what she should be? WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Original poster
Remieatscake · 01/05/2019 11:15

@Tunnockswafer - I always take that to mean that ''so you can spend your money on frivolous things (like a fur coat) but you never have enough money for the basics (like knickers!)

OP posts:
TheNoodlesIncident · 01/05/2019 11:15

“all fur coat and nae knickers” refers to choosing to buy luxuries but then being unable to afford the basics

Littlecaf · 01/05/2019 11:16

Fur coat and no knickers means that they are outwardly well to do, but common as muck underneath.

Common as muck....another one!

Theknacktoflying · 01/05/2019 11:17

If you can’t be arsed to do something....surely you can’t be unarsed to do it

TheNoodlesIncident · 01/05/2019 11:18

Ah thank you Binary, I've always wondered about "Butter wouldn't melt"...