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?

'porridge is thicker than blood. Does that mean I can prioritize getting my oats over dealing with an infuriating family member?'

I like "under the hospital"
I always imagine the wicked witch of the East under the hospital, ruby slippers etc.

DGM used to say "I've reached Stokes' bridge" when she was eating and feeling full. Googled it once and Stokes bridge is on a canal somewhere in the midlands i think. No canal folk in our midlands ancestors, so God knows where that came from !

I think the phrase to clean up, meaning to make lots of money is odd.
I suppose it could be from a casino where someone wins all the money on the table? But still an odd way of phrasing it.
Does anyone know it’s origins?

I love threads like these.

For those who question why “I couldn’t care less” became “I could care less,” and blame it on America, I can assure you ‘couldn’t’ is still known as being correct. It’s the younger generation changing it, though I’ve no idea why.

For “butter wouldn’t melt,” I’ve seen two opposing definitions; one meaning someone frosty/cool, another meaning warm/lovely (hence the use with babies).

Sometimes, as with the case of ‘literally’ now being accepted by the OED to mean ‘figuratively,’ words change meaning or, rather, become accepted to mean something else.

Particularly with English, which is so widespread and therefore develops (or retains) variations of meaning, there’s great confusion. Which is marvellous, really.

Here’s one: going to hell in a hand basket. You wot?

You can fight a fire with a fire - not a house fire, but a forest one - a controlled fire can be lit by firefighters.

Thank you floraloctopus - it's bugged me for years!

Butter wouldn't melt in their mouth - somebody who is a bit cheeky but looks innocent?

Grandmothers not only had experience but no/few teeth so sucking eggs was much easier for them!

When someone wants a slither of cake. Surely it’s a sliver.

'don't look a gift horse in the mouth' what is a gift horse and why can't you look at its mouth? I know the context of how to use the expression but have absolutely no idea why!!

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth - when you are buying a horse you inspect it's mouth to see what the teeth are like. If you are given a gift horse it'd be rude to do that so you don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
Basically it means be grateful for what you are given.

You can tell the age (and therefore value) of a horse from its teeth. The idea is to be grateful for the gift of a horse and not calculate the value.

I don't understand why the good folk of the USA changed 'I couldn't care less' to 'I could care less'. It makes absolutely zero sense at all.

We didn't change it; it's just that some people don't use correct grammar. Just like in the UK. It's considered incorrect here, too.

If the Trojans had looked a gift horse in the mouth, they might have won the war...

Not a phrase but something people say - ‘needs done’ / ‘needs vaccuumed’ / ‘need washed’ etc. Don’t get it.

Re the earlier post of ‘its black over will’s mother’s’ is apparently a cricketing thing. Some cricketer or other called Will something had a mother who lived close to Headingly cricket ground. The commentator suggested it was looking like it would raid as he could see dark clouds over her house.

It has been taken to mean that if you see dark clouds in the distance, it looks like rain!

One my mother used if we didn’t scrape the last of the butter from the dish or the last jam from the jar ‘you’ll ask for that before you die’. As a small child I imagined this meant literally ‘just’ before I died. Like on my deathbed I’d say ‘oh, I’d really like that bit of jam’. Rather that I’d be sorry I’d run out of jam at some point in my life!

My mother had a saying for every eventuality and I miss her.

Ah but gift horses have nothing to do with Troy. If you buy a horse you check it’s teeth for an idea of age. If that horse is a gift it’s bloody rude to check it’s age, you should accept it for what it is. So never looking a gift horse in the mouth means just be grateful for the gift.

Oops - cross posted about gift horses. Soz.

Re the earlier post of ‘its black over will’s mother’s’ is apparently a cricketing thing.

I always thought it was a Midlands thing - it's black over Stratford upon Avon.

Oops - cross posted about gift horses. Soz

I don't mind - you confirmed what I was saying

I love being proved right even if I'm not

"The menopause"

Surely it should just be "menopause"? You don't say someone "Has the depression" you say they "have depression". I'm probably totally incorrect but "the menopause " just sounds totally wrong to me

Also when people say they made/ate "one/two rounds of sandwiches"

Wtaf is a round of sandwiches? Is this an English thing?? (I am a foreigner ) why not just say "I made two sandwiches"! Saying rounds of sandwiches makes me think of people doing a boxing match or another sports event with their sandwiches

Wtaf is a round of sandwiches?

Foreigner here I always have to confirm with dp how many slices of bread I want when he asks how many rounds

Horses for courses

Wtf does that phrase mean

Always wondered about getting sacked. It apparently goes back to the days when you kept the tools of your trade in a sack - so to get the sack you were given back your sack of tools therefore being let go from your job.