Lately I've heard that caption phrase quite a lot. As in "One mistake and the Boss was on me like white on rice."
I tried a search but got bogged down in that dratted *other mode ... "Like white on rice..." What does it mean? Why not "like white on mashed potato?" Or "Like white on snow?" Or "Like red on beets?"
My favorite variation on this is "like stink on a monkey"... since you asked for an explanation, I'd just say it's a way to say "The boss was all over me" with the opportunity for showing off how clever one can be.
No! No! you all are going off on tangents ... something I never do .... forget about the boss and noodles and all that... Just tell me what "Like White On Rice" means. Please!
I've always been partial to "like a cheap suit". Usually used about overly-affectionate members of the opposite sex -- "Did you see them at the bar last night? She was on him like a cheap suit."
I also had never heard the expression, and when I first read it - esp. in conjunction with the expression "stink on a monkey" - I got the impression that the boss was picking on you for no good reason. Like, rice is already white, so does not need to have mpre white put on it?
Saying that your boss was on you "like white on rice" implies two things:
1. your boss unmercifully had hounded you from 9 to 5; and 2. you wouldn't have been able to escape his vise-like grasp even if you had tried (just like you cannot "escape" the whiteness of white rice, no matter how hard you wash it or how long you cook it).
Unfortunately, the exact origins of this phrase are beyond me ken.
Speaking of variations on this theme, I've run across "like flies on a horse" and "like a dog in heat." I have also seen/heard "like flies on ****."
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.... forget about the boss and noodles and all that...
