#72455
06/15/2002 4:04 AM
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 184
member
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member
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 184 |
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#72456
06/15/2002 4:19 AM
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 148
member
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member
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 148 |
And another: someone can be referred to as "not as green as they are cabbage-looking"!
Although I'm not sure which I prefer - looking like a cabbage, or being naive...
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#72457
06/15/2002 6:18 AM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819 |
"not as green as they are cabbage-looking"!
"My salad days,/ When I was green in judgment, cold in blood." Shakespeare, Tony & Cleo
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#72458
06/15/2002 12:51 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
and a biblical (well King James's writers way of putting it)
Harsh words from a child to a parent, are
as sharp as a viper's tooth
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#72459
06/15/2002 2:14 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819 |
as sharp as a viper's toothMy car has a pair of vindshield vipers, or snakes in the glass. 
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#72460
06/15/2002 4:34 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 275
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 275 |
as vigilant as Cerberus[
Just learned of this yesterday.
I googled Cerberus and found this: "in Greek mythology, a three-headed, dragon-tailed dog that guarded the entrance to the lower world, or Hades . The monster permitted all spirits to enter Hades, but would allow none to leave. Only a few heroes ever escaped Cerberus's guard; the great musician Orpheus charmed it with his lyre, and the Greek hero Hercules captured it bare-handed and brought it for a short time from the underworld to the regions above. In Roman mythology both the beautiful maiden Psyche and the Trojan prince Aeneas were able to pacify Cerberus with a honey cake and thus continue their journey through the underworld.
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~tim/cerberus/
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#72461
06/16/2002 12:19 AM
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Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 74
journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 74 |
"I beg your pardon, monsieur. I did not mean to do it."
- Marie Antoinette, after she had accidentally stepped on the executioner's foot while mounting to the guillotine
The Lone Haranguer
The Lone Haranguer
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#72462
06/16/2002 12:49 AM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819 |
"Might I point out, sir, that there are too many "o"s in your name?"
Geoff, upon getting down to snot's level
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#72463
06/16/2002 12:50 AM
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
Ah, snoot. I love this "Famous Last Words" theme you've got going here. 
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#72464
06/16/2002 12:53 AM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
Might indeed be an interesting new thread. A "new" thread of "last" words?
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#72465
06/16/2002 12:55 AM
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
Keiva, go away. You are not welcome here.
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#72466
06/16/2002 1:00 AM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
The person know as Keiva, who recently posted on this thread, was banned, for flaming.
He forced his way back into this forum by making implied threats to Anu Garg, the founder of AWAD. This same person has also been know, for certain, to post under the aliases AphonicRants and KeivaCarpal.
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#72468
06/16/2002 1:23 AM
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
Keiva, go away. You are not welcome here.
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#72469
06/16/2002 2:26 AM
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 148
member
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member
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 148 |
Consuelo, I don't think Mr Guthrie would like you quoting him like that.
Anyway - back to the matter at hand - I spent most of my childhood in lovely tropical Darwin. We had mango trees in our backyard, and as a consequence we had a lot of fruitbats in the yard too (they're also known as flying foxes). The point is, another variation on 'mad as' is "Mad as a fruitbat;" I'm not sure whether this was meant to mean angry or crazy, but when they're squabbling over fruit, they certainly sound annoyed... Might also be a play on the idea of 'batty' meaning crazy.
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#72470
06/16/2002 7:55 AM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
A common expression where I came from (Zild) and one which seems to be understood where I am now (Here There Be Dragons), is "as mad as a meataxe".
Speaking of which, "shambles" comes originally from the Latin scamnum, scamni, a footstool. Pre-Conquest, it became the ME word (sceamol I think) for a butcher's block and got reduced, over time, to shambles.
It became applied to, of all things, bishop's palaces during one of Christianity's greater periods - burning of heretics and witches. Doncha just luuurve that ol'time religion? This usage occurred because it became the norm to carry out this form of quasi-legal death by torture in the courtyard at the bishop's palace. It also became the common word for a slaughterhouse, probably about the same time (15th-16th C). Willy-nilly, and for obvious reasons, it also became used to refer to battlegrounds immediately after the fight and before the bodies were carted away.
It was still being used in that sense in the 19th century when an area in Southwark in London was called The Shambles because the tenements there were built over the remains of an older slaughterhouse. Because the area was such a mess (more so than usual for that time), it came to mean any kind of a mess, hence our usage today.
I did have to look up the last part of this!
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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#72471
06/16/2002 11:52 AM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 275
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 275 |
As pliant as a bamboo
When you see bamboo poles used for fencing or flooring in remote villages in undeveloped countries, you wouldn't think them pliant but while they are still growing they sway with the gentlest of winds.
It is an Oriental saying that in a storm it is better to be
a slender, pliant bamboo than a big, massive Acacia tree.
I guess bamboos "go with the flow" to survive.
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#72472
06/16/2002 2:19 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
Just finished a lighthearted book called "Farm Fatale" by Wendy Holden. Two disparate couples seek relief from hectic city life by moving to the country where they run up against the eccentric residents of Eight Mile Bottom among which are a reclusive rock star' a nosy postman, a studly farmer and a mysterious millionaire! Good fun with some snappy puns dropped in willy nilly. It's very clever and quite naughty  ISBN0-452-28302-7 (Putnam Penguin Publishers)
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#72473
06/16/2002 2:30 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Go away, Keiva. You are not wanted here.
You raped my identity with your faux handle 'AphonicRants.'
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#72474
06/16/2002 2:36 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 275
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 275 |
Hi wow, I can see you are enjoying your retirement, but still immersed in words, right?
That is a very hilarious title. And from your report it is that. I will be sure to look it up come winter time, which is my reading time.
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#72475
06/16/2002 2:54 PM
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
"Farm Fatale" does sound like a terrific book to read. Hope my brain remembers it the next time I check into Barnes and Noble... Does it come in paperback?
WW
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#72477
06/16/2002 4:43 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 13,858 |
Keiva: go away, you are not welcome here.
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#72478
06/16/2002 4:45 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
the person know as Keiva, who recently posted on this thread, was banned, for flaming.
he forced his way back into this forum by implied threats. this same person has also been know, for certain, to post under the names AphonicRants and KeivaCarpal.
The truth is not a flame, the truth is not spam
Go away, Keiva. You are not wanted here.
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#72479
06/17/2002 4:17 AM
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 184
member
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member
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Posts: 184 |
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#72480
06/17/2002 4:24 AM
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
Keiva, go away. You are not welcome here.
Can you at least take this to I&A?
Answer: Nope. It belongs on all threads.
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#72481
06/17/2002 7:42 AM
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 148
member
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member
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 148 |
AnnaStrophic, I'm sorry, but no matter how much it hurt to have Keiva use the name AphonicRants, I refuse to believe that the pain comes anywhere near the pain of being raped. As a woman, I take offence, and so should you.
And now, can we please get back to the words? I'm done with wrangling and powerplays for the day; I'd be as mad as a hornet's nest , except that I'm as hungry as a bear and feeling daft as a dingbat after a day at work!
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#72482
06/17/2002 10:02 AM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
actually we could make it stop. here a plan, Nancy UNPLUG the computer, remove the modem. or better yet, get it out of your house. when he stops posting, we will stop pointing out he was banned and doesn't belong here. he forced his way back with threat.
he is behaving like a willfull spoiled child. treat him like one.
it is not our fault he lied and you lied. don't blame us. we are not the problem.
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#72483
06/17/2002 10:44 AM
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 148
member
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member
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 148 |
I've never entirely understood 'as safe as houses'. Yes, houses are meant to be stable and all that, but they do sometimes fall down. Guess it's just talking about as safe as can reasonably be expected.
How about "as cool as a cucumber" (was it here or somewhere else I read that it's been shown that the insides of cucumbers are always cooler than the ambient room temperature, at least until it gets stinking hot; that's way cool). And it has that lovely lilting alliteration.
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#72484
06/17/2002 1:28 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
As important as a fart in a firestormreminds me of: Lost as a fart in a thunderstorm(the "in a thunderstorm" bit is optional but effective  ) I'm amazed that this appears tyo be a new one! Fisk
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#72485
06/17/2002 1:38 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
Only a few heroes ever escaped Cerberus's guard
Just occurs to me that this is probably why Kerberos (Greek) is the name of a pretty effective computer security system.
Cerberus was the original Hellhound, but who was the original Hellcat? The Sphinx? Another jealous guardian of a pathway, as I recall, but beaten by wit rather than charm.
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#72486
06/17/2002 1:48 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 1,346 |
dancing a merry tangentHeck, that almost never happens here, alexis  a shambles, to me, is a mess, a cock-up, close to a disaster sometimes. Yes, this is another situation where the Aussie (prob. meaning Australasian here, eh CapK? ) meaning of old slang is almost exactly the same as the Brit meaning. The stuff about butcher's and/or fishmonger's benches was to do with supposed origins of the word. For a disaster we'd talk about an " absolute shambles", though it would still be more like a huge cock-up than a genuine disaster. Thinking about it, "shambles" rarely relates to a physical mess, it's more of an organisational/administrative mess. Does that apply elsewhere? Fisk
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#72487
06/17/2002 2:02 PM
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 43
newbie
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newbie
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 43 |
If you can't have your way, you'll interrupt to poison
any other discussion on this board. Spamming.
Ha, ha. There he goes again. This could easily be applied to you you little toad. You've been guilty of this on innumerable occasions and yet you will never admit to being wrong. Absolute denial is a mental illness, Kenny boy. Get some help. You are getting worse and worse every day.
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#72488
06/17/2002 2:05 PM
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 43
newbie
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newbie
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 43 |
and there you go again, Consuelo, repeating verbatim below what you said just above. Repetitive interruption.
How perceptive of you Kenny boy! And do you notice anything else? The content man! Read the words! What do they say? Or can you not understand them? I think people are trying to tell you something but you just don't get it. Well, it'll just have to go on like this forever, won't it Kenny babes?
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#72489
06/17/2002 11:26 PM
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833 |
Geoff made me laugh out loud! "a pair of snakes in the glass" indeed! Sighhh....I miss him. Let us go in peace to love and serve the board.
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#72490
06/18/2002 8:22 PM
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 39
newbie
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newbie
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 39 |
In response to FishonaBike's clarification of "Mancunian"
I see... But I still say you would have to be as mad as a hatter to say mad as toast or cheese or eggs...
Incidentally, which of these expressions is equivalent to "mad as a hatter" (crazy), and which is equivalent to "mad as a hornet" (angry)?
Robert
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#72491
06/18/2002 10:39 PM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
I've heard "Strong as an ox" but I'm sure there must be more strength-type expressions.
How about for weakness - anybody know expressions?
Dumb as a box of hammers.
Red as a tomato
White as a ghost
Silent as a mouse
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#72492
06/19/2002 1:44 AM
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833 |
Dunno about weakness, bel, but one "as...as" I enjoyed when I came across it in Giovanni Guaresci's Don Camillo books was "full as an egg."
The problem, of course, is dealing with absolutes: something is either full, or it isn't - kinda like being a little bit pregnant or a little bit dead...! but I still really like "as full as an egg." In fact, maybe I'll read the Don Camillo books next - once I finish Lucy Carmichael. (That will be a sad day, indeed - I wish all books could be this good!)
Let us go in peace to love and serve the board.
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#72493
06/19/2002 1:58 AM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 13,858 |
Dear MG: Full as an egg is not really an impressive metaphor. Have you never noticed the rather large air sac in one end of the egg? At the moment I can't remember which end for sure, but I think it is the big end.
If an egg has about thirty cc. of contents, almost two cc is in that little sac. I suppose it is necessary so that rise in temperature which cause liquid volume to increase can't cause rigid shell to break open.
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#72494
06/19/2002 2:01 AM
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 833 |
Ah, Bill - but the rigid shell DOES break open if, for example, you boil it without puncturing it first.
I thought the air space in an egg was much smaller? and contained between the shell and the membrane? maybe the phrase should be, "as full as an egg membrane"??!!
Let us go in peace to love and serve the board.
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