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Posted By: belMarduk which death is it - 11/04/03 12:51 AM
Is it dead as a doorknob or dead as a doornail

Since both a doorknob and a doornail can in no way be dead, the answer isn't obvious.

Posted By: Jackie Re: which death is it - 11/04/03 12:57 AM
I've never heard the -knob version, Belle. :-)

Posted By: wwh Re: which death is it - 11/04/03 01:17 AM
Dear belMarduk: Dead as a doorknob is a poor copy of dead as a doornail, which is very old. Here is URL to Quinion's discussion of it:
http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-dea1.htm

Posted By: Buffalo Shrdlu Re: which death is it - 11/04/03 01:22 AM
I have heard tell of people being called doorknobs...

Posted By: Jackie Re: which death is it - 11/04/03 01:29 AM
Oh yeah, eta--dumb as a doorknob. I'd forgotten that.

Posted By: belMarduk Re: which death is it - 11/04/03 01:31 AM
Hmm, thanks for the link Bill and the answers all.

I have heard tell of people being called doorknobs... but not here

And maybe you're right eta, I have heard that expression also..maybe that's why I mixed it up.

Posted By: Father Steve dumb as a doorknob - 11/04/03 01:41 AM
dumb as a doorknob

There was a guy in my fraternity pledge class who we all called Stump ... because he was as dumb as a stump. One suspects this to be a localism.

Posted By: belMarduk Re: dumb as a doorknob - 11/04/03 01:48 AM
I would think so. Usually, that is the nick-name given to somebody who's missing a limb. Stumpy. It's a guy thing from what I can see.

Posted By: Jackie Re: dumb as a doorknob - 11/04/03 01:49 AM
There was a guy in my fraternity pledge class who we all called Stump
Gee, I wonder who that could have been, S... I mean, Father Steve.

Posted By: Father Steve Re: dumb as a doorknob - 11/04/03 02:42 AM
Gee, I wonder who that could have been, S... I mean, Father Steve.

Nope. It wasn't me. It was a guy from a small town in north central Washington where the high school graduated maybe ten students at a time. Stump was a wonderful character, who did our house grade point average a lot of damage. He joined the Marines without receiving his degree and we never heard from him again.





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