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I'm still scratching my head over "as keen as a whistle", noted above. What's keen about a whistle?
The sound! From my trusty, never dusty Webster's:
keen adj. 1. Very sharp, as a knife. 2. Cutting; piercing, as wit. 3. Vivid; pungent. 4. Having or exhibiting sharpness or penetration. 5. Acute: keen sight. 6. Exceptionally intelligent. 7. Characterized by intensity; a keen appetite. 8. Informal impatient; eager: keen to be off.
Based upon these definitions, I would clearly say that keen as a whistle refers to the sound a whistle makes. [plugging my ears-e]
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And here I always said it was as clean as a whistle.
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newbie
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I seem to remember one that goes something like
Flatter than a fritter (flitter?).
Does anyone know this one? I may be as dumb as a post, but
I suppose it is the same as saying
Flat as a pancake.
(Or Flat as an armadillo on I-20!)
Robert
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Clean as a whistle for me too.
Anyone who has tried to whistle (which I can't!) knows what it's like when the whistle comes out clean (keen!) and what it's like when it comes out (with other things) messy!
Robert
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old hand
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old hand
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ewein, I've heard "as mad as a wet hen" before, too - and the "mad as a cut snake" mentioned above (though I've heard that less often).
What on earth does a wet hen do, to make her an exemplar of madness/anger?! one wonders.....
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Clean as a whistle is my understanding, too.
I like as thick as two short planks, too... not very nice, of course...
alexis
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Carpal Tunnel
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as busy as a cat on a marble-topped table
as busy as a one-armed wallpaper hanger with the hives during strawberry season
as busy as a pregnant squirrel in a forest fire
as busy as a one-legged man in an ass-kickin' contest
as busy as a bee in a basin
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