this post was submitted on 22 Mar 2025
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Asklemmy

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When examined, or just because it's weird on its own.

Example: Beat a dead horse

  1. You whip a horse to go faster
  2. It dies from being whipped too much
  3. You still want the horse to go faster
  4. You continue to whip it
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[–] weeeeum@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Break a leg

How does telling someone to sustain serious injuries imply you want them to succeed?

[–] pleasegoaway@lemm.ee 2 points 1 day ago

“Run like you’ve never ran before” suggests that you’d probably suck at running.

[–] Crotaro@beehaw.org 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

"Break a leg" (or "Hals und Beinbruch" in German, which is "Neck and leg fracture").

I don't even know what the logic could be. Is it supposed to be some sort of reverse psychology?

[–] rarebreed@lemm.ee 2 points 1 day ago

This is a theatre term as “Good luck” is supposed to bring bad luck. Therefore, you wish someone the worst luck possible in order to bring them good luck.

[–] krinks73@lemm.ee 8 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Head over heels.

So... Standing?

[–] MrKurteous@feddit.nu 2 points 1 day ago

I've read that it used to be "heels over head" as in upside-down, but then somehow the words got switched around (I found this page that claims the same thing: https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/head-over-heels.html ).

[–] Lennnny@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

No I think it refers to the motion of the head going over the heels. Not being positioned in a static frame over the heels.

[–] ace_garp@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

As happy as Larry.

Now... who is Larry, why is he happy, how happy, like a little bit or ecstatic?

Be like Larry.

[–] Doctor_Satan@lemm.ee 17 points 2 days ago (1 children)

"Quitting cold turkey" - I never actually thought about this one, but apparently it's directly related to addiction (which seems kind of obvious now that I do think about it). When you quit an addiction abruptly, you sometimes get that cold goosebump skin like a cold turkey.

[–] Blaiz0r@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Goosebumps like from a goose? Why isn't it called 'going cold goose' then?

[–] Doctor_Satan@lemm.ee 1 points 1 day ago

I don't know, but it just doesn't roll off the tongue the way "cold turkey" does.

[–] spittingimage@lemmy.world 53 points 3 days ago (3 children)

"I'm not here to fuck spiders" - said by Australians who want to drop the preamble and get down to business.

[–] feral_hedgehog@pawb.social 15 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

And here I was, just assuming that to be true about most people...
How inconsiderate of me.

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[–] tias@discuss.tchncs.de 41 points 2 days ago (1 children)

"There's more than one way to skin a cat."

  1. You have a cat.
  2. You wish to remove its skin.
  3. You realize there's more than just one method to accomplish this unusual task.
  4. You state this proudly as a metaphor for problem-solving flexibility.
[–] letsgo@lemm.ee 2 points 1 day ago

Related: a small room that "doesn't have enough room to swing a cat".

[–] DarkDarkHouse@lemmy.sdf.org 10 points 2 days ago (2 children)

"You get what you pay for" - the words of a simpleton (or lying salesperson).

[–] ArsonButCute@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I had to explain that "you get what you pay for" to a disgruntled (and later banned from my store) customer years ago.

At the time I was selling eyewear for Red Eyewear Giant (now owned by Blue Eye-care Giant™) and a guy orders the absolute cheapest product for his quite strong prescription. The RX was roughly a -7 on each eye, not huge but definitely significantly thicker than average. The gentleman wanted LARGE eyewear. The man did not want to spend much.

I offered a quote for the ideal product for his vision, which is a 1.7 index lens with scratch resistant non-glare and a hydrophobic coating (well get to why thats important). The man declines and decides he wants the absolute bare minimum, cool, cr-39 plastic lenses, uncoated. No amount of education on the products would change his mind, I chalked it up to a budget thing, explained the downsides of his choice (to absolve myself of liability for the issues I knew he'd have) and allowed the oirchase to go through with confirmation he understood the issues.

Now, what we've just done here is gone from a very lightweight, low thermal mass product that repels water, to a HEAVY, High mass product with absolutely no water repellant properties. This is in Houston, TX - a literal swamp, and the Air conditioning capital of the US.

Man enters grocery store, man buys groceries, man leaves grocery store, man's glasses immediately are coated in a thick fog which is dense enough that evaporation does not occur quickly (or at all honestly with that humidity) and they need to be wiped up.

That man screamed at me about how I ripped him off for over an hour.

Now, I'm not telling this story to say you're wrong, I think this might be an "exception that proves the rule" situation. But yes, you get what you pay for, and no, it's not always said by scummy salespeople, sometimes we just want you to have the right product the first time.

[–] Steven@lemmy.studio 3 points 2 days ago

We all have experience with buying a premium product and thinking “wow, that’s nice” just like we’ve all had the experience where we bought the cheapest option and though “this is pretty good”.

The rule is as follows: “it depends”.

It’s just that our monkey brains don’t like those kinds of generalization.

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[–] Diddlydee@feddit.uk 16 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Hoisted by my own petard (to be foiled by your own plan), is a nice flowery one, although it actually makes sense. The bee's knees (for something excellent) is a good one that makes no sense. Wet behind the ears (inexperienced) is another cool one.

[–] Achyu@lemmy.sdf.org 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Is 'Wet behind the ears' a comparison to a newborn baby?

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[–] Darleys_Brew@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 days ago

“The dogs bollocks” is another, same as bees knees.

[–] wuphysics87@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

"Hoisted by your own petard" is from Hamlet. Equivalent to "It blew up in your own face" but with more of a cause of hippocracy

[–] filtoid@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago

The french used to use an explosive device called a "petard" (old french for a fart), that was used to breach doors. However these would sometimes blow back and kill the user rather than breach the door. This was the original intention for the Shakespearian phrase. One was Hoisted (old verb* not used anymore but essentially blown off their feet) by their own Petard (or door breaching bomb).

More information is here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoist_with_his_own_petard

*Unrelated to hoist as in to lift, despite similarities

[–] Grimy@lemmy.world 24 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

"It's raining cats and dogs."

Somehow, heavy rain is represented by a downpour of household animals.

[–] ace_garp@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

It's previously rained frogs or fish from clouds, at certain times throughout history.

So, cats and dogs is an even more intense version of that maybe.

[–] bremen15@feddit.org 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The household animals are not pouring down. This saying describes rainfall that is so powerful that it washes away the dead cats and dogs lying in the gutter in medieval cities.

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[–] Darleys_Brew@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 days ago

This one is because when houses had straw roofs, cats and dogs would sit up there, and come down in the rain.

[–] vortexal@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Whenever my dad is being lazy or doing something too slowly, my mom says he's "dicking the dog". Whatever that means.

[–] feral_hedgehog@pawb.social 25 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Does the pope shit in the woods?

[–] Sadbutdru@sopuli.xyz 29 points 2 days ago (4 children)

A humerous combo of 'Do bears shit in the woods?' and 'Is the Pope Catholic?' Which are two jokey ways of saying 'Yeah, obviously, duh'.

[–] Perhapsjustsniffit@lemmy.ca 15 points 2 days ago (2 children)

My wife used to work in the backcountry. Lots of unpaved remote roads. Bears apparently do not shit in the woods. They shit on the road.

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[–] AFC1886VCC@reddthat.com 13 points 2 days ago (2 children)

In Northern Ireland (Belfast especially), we sometimes say "bout ye?" as a greeting. It's just "what about you?" but actually meaning "how are you?"

Often it's just used as an alternative to "hello" or "hi", and you're not actually asking the person how they are.

[–] Darleys_Brew@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 days ago

“Reet” in Yorkshire.

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[–] Kurtagag@lemmy.ca 15 points 3 days ago (3 children)
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[–] hallettj@leminal.space 9 points 2 days ago (2 children)

My wife has worked with lots of people who are not native English speakers who are sometimes taken aback by the idioms. One colleague flat out refused to accept that "FOMO" is a word.

I suggested that she is in a position to make some up, like "Let's not put fish in the milk bucket." But she didn't go for it. I guess she's not an agent of chaos after all :/

[–] untorquer@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

You've got to mold that silicone or you'll never be fulfilled.

[–] comfy@lemmy.ml 8 points 2 days ago

“Let’s not put fish in the milk bucket.”

Honestly better than many other common sayings.

[–] treadful@lemmy.zip 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)
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