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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 24
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 24 |
Some of the similies like as swift as an arrow or as clean as a whistle are more common than others...
Recently i heard someone say .... as serious as dead man .....
is this is a classical simile or just a interesting invention....
i have also heard the usage ...dead serious...what about this phrase?
Thanks in advance...
tuhin
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Joined: Sep 2005
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2005
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Quote:
Recently i heard someone say .... as serious as dead man ..... [...] i have also heard the usage ...dead serious...what about this phrase?
I've never heard serious as a dead man before, but it's obviously a (very bad) play on dead serious (where, by the way, dead means not deceased but complete; absolute re "we sat in dead silence.")
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Joined: Jun 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
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I've never heard that expession, either. I've heard "as serious as a heart attack", though.
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
> not deceased but complete Not sure about that - I think the latter is just a connotative abstraction drawn from the original meaning, which was clearly related to death. fwiw, the phrase deadly serious is almost as common as dead serious - 528 gitz against 583 gitz (YMMV). I too have not previously heard the 'dead man' expression - seems a little laboured in its extension of the metaphor.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
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Joined: Aug 2005
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
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And, I have heard: "as serious as cancer."
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,773 |
I get only two hits on "serious as dead man walking"
...two on "calm as a..."; 13 on "wired as a..."; 21 on "good as a..."
1040 without "serious," only a few of which preceded by an adjective
While it's slightly OT, over a million hits on just "dead man walking"
Last edited by dalehileman; 12/13/2005 3:14 PM.
dalehileman
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
Quote:
Quote:
Recently i heard someone say .... as serious as dead man ..... [...] i have also heard the usage ...dead serious...what about this phrase?
I've never heard serious as a dead man before, but it's obviously a (very bad) play on dead serious (where, by the way, dead means not deceased but complete; absolute re "we sat in dead silence.")
Or was it, "as serious as dead, man?" Your post, tuhin, is ambiguous.
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Joined: Sep 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
yeah, sorry Dale, I should have made my comment more explicit: I am also very familiar with the 'dead man walking' construction, but not with the 'as... as...' phrase using 'dead man'. There are also other such general constructions, notably to do with dead men on pirate's chests!
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,773 |
Mav, no need for an apology, my followup was in no way intended as a criticism
dalehileman
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