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.
I've never heard the -knob version, Belle. :-)
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
I have heard tell of people being called doorknobs...
Oh yeah, eta--dumb as a doorknob. I'd forgotten that.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.