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Rodent related saying was wonderful.. How about some body parts saying.
Out to lunch to day, late (2pm) and still it was a mob scene, even though I am in a dull boring part of Manhattan–the civic center. Close to city hall, and courthouse, and immigration. No shops or special tourist sites. (Unless you consider city hall a tourist site)
Who would have expected that I needed to sharpen my elbows before venturing out?
That, I think, is special to NY– any other things we do with or use our body for? (or do any of you also sharpen your elbows to fight through a crowd?)
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The lovely Ms. Ledasdottir asks: Who would have expected that I needed to sharpen my elbows before venturing out?
Never heard that one, but I like it. Then there's always the perennial arm and a leg that you need to pay for things. Or, if you're really in NYC it's a nominal egg
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My mum used to tell me to "sharpen my eyes" when she wanted me to search for something. Odd.
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"sharpen my eyes" ..OddI don't find this all that odd: a focused picture is also "sharp", and in order to see something well-hidden, you have to focus on the spot 
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On the subject of rip-off prices, in French they have: ça vous coûte la peau des fesses.. Translation will be given on demand 
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How about 'keep your eyes peeled' or 'keep an eye out' when keeping a look out for something - both strike me as fairly morbid!
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Welcome, rkay, she sang note-ably.
Father Steve, I was told to sharpen my ears, and I've heard the expression look sharp--interestingly, both as a command and a description. (Look sharp when you cross the busy intersection. He looks sharp in that new suit.)
Also, I have sniffed out that Anna and wow have a nose for news.
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>arm and a leg
Another leg: "Are you pulling my leg?"
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toe the line bosom buddies nose to the grindstone  (in cheek)
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and do you non americans have drivers with lead feet? (lead=metal)
Ive seen enough britcoms to know you also, sometimes have two left feet
I've been known to have a lead foot-- once getting up to 95 m/p/h on a highway posted for 55!
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My mother-in-law used to say that when she first went out on a date, her mother told her to keep her legs crossed and her mind on God.
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Hope I don't kill your thread stone dead, Helen, but the scope's pretty wide. I got to 60 sayings pretty quickly before deciding to try a Google search for a list. It took me to the excellent Phrase Finder site, where I found more than 400 body-part-related phrases using the query (anyone who wants to keep playing don't click on this link!): http://www.shu.ac.uk/cgi-bin/tp_post2.cgi?w=body(although at least 10 of mine weren't on the list.) For anyone wanting general phrase searches in the future, just use: http://www.shu.ac.uk/web-admin/phrases/p.s. added later - eg try "rat"
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Here's a pet-peeve of mine...
When (and why) did the term buck-naked devolve into butt-naked?
And also the same might be asked of boat-load to butt-load.
Butt-naked is actually pretty funny, but(t), butt-load?
Curious.
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You should check out the mondegreen thread in the archives to see a whole pile of expressions that have been skewed.
One thing though...I know the expression "buck-naked" is the correct one but why does that expression make more sense? At least in the wrong "butt-naked" the expression is pretty self-explanatory.
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the AHD has this for 'bare-naked' - The chiefly Northern U.S. expression bare-naked illustrates the linguistic process of redundancy, not always acceptable in Standard English but productive in regional dialect speech. A redundant expression combines two words that mean the same thing, thereby intensifying the effect. The expression buck-naked, used chiefly in the South Atlantic and Gulf states, is not as clear as bare-naked with respect to its origin; buck is possibly an alteration of butt, “buttocks.” If so, bum-naked, heard in various parts of the country, and bare-ass(ed), attested especially in the Northeastern U.S., represent the same idea. if this supposition of buck-naked being a euphemism for butt is correct, then we've come full circle. here's one professor's viewpoint on pc-ness: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/butt.html
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According to my dad, some people have their heads screwed on right ... and some don't.
Debbi Richard
Assistant Professor, Library Science
Dallas Baptist University
Debbi Richard
Assistant Professor, Library Science
Dallas Baptist University
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some people have their heads screwed on right ... and some don't.I tried to think of a subject header but the various combinations of "head" and "screws" gave me the vapours! Mercy !  You have to be careful when screwing on your head not to cross the threads! There's the old one about keeping an eye on the goal, a shoulder to the wheel, an ear to the ground, a hand to the wheel and then trying to work in that position. wow
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How about something costing "your eye teeth" to mean that it is too expensive. In French we also say "ça coûte les yeux de la tête" - it costs the eyes out of your head.
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Well i an not sure its not a bad idea to have your head screwed on--in our house it was just tied on-- when ever we carelessly misplaced something, the responce was, "You'd loose your head if it wasn't tied on".
Which reminds me: Of all the things i have lost, i miss my mind the most...
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We often talk of a person who has her/his head screwed on meaning that they are sensible. I didn't realise that this was a local idiom.
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We use 's/he has his/her head screwed on' for sensible, and 'is a screw loose' for the opposite ...
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Musick:
I think it's derived from the thought that to actually wish someone luck causes bad luck for the recipient. Rather than say nothing, I guess you just wish them the opposite.
How about hamstrung? As in "I feel hamstrung from all my responsibilities". I'm guessing it's orignal use came from the barnyard, like pinioning.
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Here are a few more:
Give someone a good ribbing. Poking in the ribs?
Hipster, hippie, hip, hepcat. Is this a body reference?
Ladies and gentlemen, give them a hand. Why not hands?
And a curious regional one:
An old girlfriend from Pittsburgh used to say someone was being "nebby" when she was sticking her nose in someone else's business.
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Doug:
Hamstringing is a form of mutilation where the hamstring (a tendon in the back of the thigh above the knee) is severed. Dogs and wolves instinctively go for the hamstring when attempting to bring down large prey, since no matter how formidable the prey is when uninjured, after hamstringing they are dogmeat so to speak.
TEd
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One body part expression I never understood was "keeping your nose to the grindstone" to mean work hard to succeed. It sounds so painful; why would that be the best means to the end? It is also so close to the “biting off your nose to spite your face” expression. I don’t understand why it is something to strive for.
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Howsabout "pin your ears back" (ie prepare to go fast).
Also - when a group of people are extremely busy, it's a case of being "all elbows and a...holes around here"
stales
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Oooo Stales...my mom would be washing your mouth out with soap right about now . I have never heard that expression. Can I assume, by the tone of the thing, that it is used when people are extremely busy but not in a productive fashion and everybody is getting in each other's way?
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In reply to:
pin your ears back
My grandfather used that expression, but it meant to cut someone down to size, or something like that.
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if you were verbally cutting someone down to size (and i expect your grandfather wasn't jack the ripper, or the man behind the "texas chain saw .." )-- it would have been cuffed or boxed your ears-- though it wasn't unknown for a mother to suggest you should listen to her, and to make her point--she would grab you by your ear lobe.. Never happened to me, but i have seen it done...
We keeped our ears "pinned" for news...
and one cousin with "jug handle ears" was once found in his early teen with scotch tape on his ears, trying to make them lie a bit closer to his head.. he would have been quite happy to pin back his ears...
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Poster: Bobyoungbalt
In reply to: pin your ears back
My Grandfather used that expression, but it meant to cut someone down to size, or something like that.
I've heard "He got his ears pinned back!" meaning someone was told off in no uncertain terms.
Also : "I'll pin your ears back for you.." when threatening bodily harm.
wow
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Wow says : "I'll pin your ears back for you.." when threatening bodily harm, a more violent form of "you're giving me GBH of the ear'ole". I love that phrase!
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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lso - when a group of people are extremely busy, it's a case of being "all elbows and a...holes around here"
Having worked in an environment wherein this expression was common, it appeared to indicate that one was so busily bent over one's work that an observer would only see these particular parts of a worker. It did not indicate that one was attending an after Christmas sale with a group of jerks.
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Which reminds me: Of all the things i have lost, i miss my mind the most...
How about that Poe boy (he wasn't rich) who said, "Quoth the raven, never mind" Or the United Negro College Fund slogan, "A waist is a terrible thing to mind?" Or, speaking of "tie one on," the bar on Formosa called, "Taiwan on?" And did we get the hard-driving, all work and no play personality trait from them? Why else call it a "Taipei personality?"
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a "Taipei personality?"Oh, Geoff, that's great!  Ranks right up there with a Grade A gray day. Makes me want to Singapore boy a song.
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Makes me want to Singapore boy a song.
Are you planning on a singing korea? I assume you must now work as a milk maid, since you do have a whey with words.
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I assume you must now work as a milk maid
Ah, yet another role assigned! Squirt, squirt. I do try to whey my words carefully. And, no, I do not wish to
have or cause St. Vitus' Dance.
Whoa! Gurunet is good! I clicked on St. Vitus' Dance, and it came up 'chorea'. I'm impressed!
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A friend of mine is called Tony Hancock. People regularly ask him whether he minds being named after parts of the body.....
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I've got a book called Psycho-Darwinism by Christopher Badcock. I'd have thought, me personally, that if your name was Bearer of the Murdered Father Figure the Penis is Evil, you'd steer well away from psychoanalysis as a career choice.
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i guess it okay if he is a commoner-- but if he were a peer-- he be noble and it would a case of a No-bal badcock!
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In reply to:
that Poe boy
This brings to mind 2 traditional stories.
1. In Baltimore, my fair city, the house where E.A. Poe lived for a time with his young wife/cousin and her mother is still standing and has been a sort of museum for many years. Sometime in the 1920s, a tourist, unable to find Amity Street (the location), asked a young man on the street for directions to the Poe house. Of course, he was directed to the nearest charity hospital.
2. About the same era, a tourist in Vienna looking for Sigmund Freud's house, and thinking he spoke German well, asked directions to "das Freudehaus" and was directed to the nearest house of joy.
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Our Balmerian notes, re Poe's wife: her mother is still standing
She is?
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Quoth Bobyoungbalt:
2. About the same era, a tourist in Vienna looking for Sigmund Freud's house, and thinking he spoke German well, asked
directions to "das Freudehaus" and was directed to the nearest house of joy.
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Do you suppose they used the aforementioned Dutch Glans soap there? Do you think that Freud's name was the least bit eponymous?
That reminds me of Romeo's famous line, "What's in a name? A nose by any other name would smell a sweet." Then he went and killed himself. Go figure. Maybe he didn't have any of that Dutch soap, and Julie got a whiff of him...
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of troy wrote:
i guess it okay if he is a commoner-- but if he were a peer-- he be noble and it would a case of a No-bal badcock!
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Did you hear about the pompous MP who considered The Bard to be a bawd? After a garrulous denouncement of Shakespearian innuendo (a word that he mistook for the Italian term for buggary) the tabloid headlines read, "William Shakes Peer."
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What about "button" or "zip" your lips.
And when our circulation has been cut-off to a limb we say that particular body part is "asleep".
"Adversity is the whetstone of creativity"
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There's also "Lend me your ears."
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Je vous bienviens, français31415. Je suis trés intéressée
dans votre nom! Il faut que vous parleraz á belMarduk--
j'ai oublié trop, le parler, vraiment.
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What about "hold on to your noses", meaning we're about to get in over our heads. Hey! that's two.
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Bonjour Jackie!
J'étais très heureuse de voir votre message! Je suis americaine, mais j'apprends le français depuis 3 ou 4 ans. Et vous, êtes-vous americain(e), ou français(e), ou canadien(ne), ou quoi?
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Notre chère Jackie est kentuckienne
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LOL!
I saw that on her bio after I posted the message, but I figured she could be a French person who moved to Kentucky.
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francais31415 - is that like beverleyhills91210?
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francais31415 - is that like beverleyhills91210?
I would guess that the 31415 signifies pi.
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JazzO replied: I would guess that the 31415 signifies pi.Yep, but I wasn't necessarily looking for a sensible answer, since it wasn't a sensible question in the first place ...
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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WOW! Very good, jazzoctopus, it is pi!
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Throw in some fabric reference, and you're French silk pi.
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Actually, my family and I thought of that, too! Let's see...francais-3.1415-du-soie (literally "French pi of silk").
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Pi
or if she's a French pi, does that mean her real name is Paté, as in Paté Page ?
This reminds me of the old joke about the not-too-bright boy who was in math class and heard that the area of a circle is pi-R-squared. He scratched his head and remarked, "That can't be right. Pi are not square; pi are round."
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And if you eat too many of them, your circumference and area increase!
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And if you eat too many of them, your circumference and area increase! ..which brings up right back to body parts I can't believe no-one has mentioned stiff upper lips yet. Or giving someone lip.
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>I can't believe no-one has mentioned stiff upper lips yet. Or giving someone lip.
Now, don't get lippy with me Bridget!
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My father used to promise me a thick lip if ever I put his nose out of joint. And when I piled my plate high it was a commonplace for the familyto introduce me as the boy whose eyes were bigger than his stomach.
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and if your father had to lecture you on your misbehavior, he would give you an earful and you might get a snootful for having a bellyful.
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I love the expression "don't give me GBH of the ear'ole", one of my favourite lines from TV. Jo and co. will, I'm sure remember The Sweeney, and they were always telling people this. (For our benighted across-the-ponders, "GBH" is British legal slang for "gross bodily harm".) The Sweeney was Lunnon slang, and maybe still is, for the Flying Squad, a fast-response police unit. I'm told that The Sweeney is Cockney rhyming slang for "Sweeny Todd" -> plod -> policeman, but that could be wrong.
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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"GBH" is British legal slang for "gross bodily harm".)
It's actually Grievous Bodily Harm.
And The Sweeney = Sweeney Todd = Flying Squad
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Maverick says: "GBH" is British legal slang for "gross bodily harm".)
It's actually Grievous Bodily Harm.
And The Sweeney = Sweeney Todd = Flying SquadAnd he's right, of course. I was very tired last night.
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Has anyone mentioned having a "heart-to-heart" or going "head to head"?
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Has anyone mentioned having a "heart-to-heart" or going "head to head"?Whereas the French 'tête à tête' is closer to 'heart to heart' than 'head to head'. Hardly surprising people have trouble with foreign languages. 
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I'm impressed that so far no one has been tempted to be vulgar. Let's see how long it takes for someone to elucidate phrase I heard in Michigan, that a gossip had been "hung up by the tongue."
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so far no one has been tempted to be vulgar.
Well, probably more than one person has, but so far here
we have managed to pretty much avoid being crass. I would
strongly prefer to keep it that way. Besides, subtle
allusions are so much for fun!
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In reply to:
Whereas the French 'tête à tête' is closer to 'heart to heart' than 'head to head'. Hardly surprising people have trouble with foreign languages.
While the Indonesian keras kepala means stubborn rather than the literal hard-headed.
Bingley
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do you also have a term for hard hearted?
In my family, when we spoke of a hard hearted person, we would say, "so cold, butter wouldn't melt in their mouth!"
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How about "cold as a witch's teat?"
wow
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"so cold, butter wouldn't melt in their mouth!"
That's interesting Helen; I think I've only heard that in a context meaning 'so innocent that even the natural laws are suspended!' Any other takes on that one?
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<Has anyone mentioned having a "heart-to-heart" or going "head to head"?>
Eureka! You've found a new seam!
Going at it toe-to-toe, seeing eye-to-eye, fighting hand-to-hand (mano a mano?) or nose-to-nose, marching shoulder-to-shoulder, having back-to-back hits, dancing cheek-to-cheek.
Any more?
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Now that's funny, my parents used to use the phrase "so sweet butter wouldn't melt in her mouth" - usually facetiously. (I'm not sure about the spelling there... )
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hand-in-hand, hand-in-glove
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Cold ...
as a landlord's heart. (my mother's usage)
as a stepmother's kiss. (my father's)
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Legs... __ that never stop  __ all the way up to her ass __ that just got off a horse Million dollar ____ (not really worth that much anymore...)
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I don't understand the legs that just go off a horse expression. Is it a compliment?
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"Legs for days" is a nice one.
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I hope they stay on the horse ... ... or am I just shooting a dead one? That would denote a bowlegged condition...not that there is anything wrong with that My great Uncle said that (he would be "at least 100" by now)...not that there is anything wrong with that...
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Two left feet...
By the pricking of my thumbs....
All thumbs...
Harmed not a hair on her head...
I'm all ears...
Bass-ackwards... (for those who want to be risque not risky)
etc.
Fun thread!
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This could easily turn into a discussion of sayings related to animals - beating a dead horse, dog tired...
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I knew SOMEONE would answer with the more popular version of "beating" over "shooting" a dead horse ...thank you francais-pi. I'm just a horse whipped, horse laughing horse marine .
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And there's also a saying that originally made no sense to me: "Never look a gift horse in the mouth."
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In reply to:
And there's also a saying that originally made no sense to me: "Never look a gift horse in the mouth."
Gven the historical context f that quote, ought not one always look a gift horse in the mouth? To listen to that advice, as the good citizens of Troy discovered can be simply suicidal.
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Even a city girl like me knows about "looking a gift horse in the mouth"-- it related to "getting long in the tooth"
Grazing animals (like horses) have teeth that grow forward not up-- so as the get older, their teeth get longer-- at some point they stop growing-- and just wear down.
You don't look a gift horse in the mouth, since to do so it to learn how old (and guess) how much usefull life it has left. We don't get old-- but at some point we decide that its time to stop reading serial novels...
as of the trojains-- they had Casandra-- and ignored her-- and failed to beware of greeks bearing gifts. (poor casandra-- her life didn't improve much after the war, did it?)
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or other animal saying--
In our house if something fell short of perfect alignment-- it was likely to be condemed as "Crooked as a ram's horn"
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[crooked]
We always refer to con men and other suspicious characters as "crooked as a dog's hind leg."
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Surely most of these sayings are "Tongue in cheek." wow
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um, i was kinda happy that this thread was dying. even with cable, it takes forever to load. thanks, wow. [ch*tongue*eek grumbling emoticon]
bridget=)
Ipsa scientia potestas est ~Bacon
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How about "gird your loins"....however, not sure what it means...maybe I wouldn't mention if I did????
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"Gird your loins" is nothing obscene... it admonishes one to prepare (mentally and emotionally) for a tough task at hand.
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And on the clothing theme we could speak of pulling onesself (one's self? oneself? ) up by one's bootstraps.
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In reply to:
"Gird your loins" is nothing obscene... it admonishes one to prepare (mentally and emotionally) for a tough task at hand.
Yes, I know that's what it means, but why does it mean that? It's obviously a metaphor, but what is the original loin-girding that gave rise the metaphor?
Bingley
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Actually, "to gird one's loins" originally meant to put on the accoutrement of war, the sword belt which hung low across the loins. I can't discover exactly how old it is, but I would suggest Anglo-Saxon or Norman. The meaning later drifted to the action itself. "Gird yourself for something." Now it just means, as has been said previously, to get ready to do something.
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Actually, "to gird one's loins" originally meant to put on the accoutrement of war, the sword belt which hung low across the loins. I can't discover exactly how old it is, but I would suggest Anglo-Saxon or Norman.
Older I think, CapK - the imagery is used in the Bible as well, at Ephesians 6:14, and 1 Peter 1:13, according to a interlinear translation I have.
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Just guessing here-- but gird and girdle have the same root- the idea of a belt or sash- and i suspect gird (ing) ones loins- was the equivalent of putting on a jock strap -- protective clothing --before going off to fight (or gallop away on a horse, or march off..)or face what ever adversary was in front of one.
In the past-- civilized people wore loose flowing clothing-- (and barbarians wore trousers!) girdle is still used in the sense of binding-- as in ivy girdling a tree and killing it.--and for us old ladies-- we still remember girdles (even if we don't wear them!)
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of troy wrote : and for us old ladies-- we still remember girdles (even if we don't wear them!)And may I note : the person who invented the panty girdle has a lot to answer for. Aloha, wow
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um, i was kinda happy that this thread was dying
I was going to bite my tongue and post no more here, but seeing others are continuing to do so, there's no need for me to go out on a limb.
(I know that last one is pushing it, but what the... (in deference to Jackie!) heck - I might as well stick my neck out!
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You seem to have a chip on your shoulder.
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How about the ads offering to enable males to have buns of steel?
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[blue}> How about the ads offering to enable males to have buns of steel?
Can't be as bad as the ad for Viagra...man doing two-handed push-ups on bathroom floor, then one-handed push-ups, then - ah the power of Viagra - no handed push-ups.
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Wait until the new orgasmatron gets on the market.
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Okay, that (and several recent posts) did it. The gutter is
getting too deep for me, and I'm officially climbing out.
(Though not necessarily permanently.)
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Remember when the Spanish diplomat rejected present of stockings for Spanish queen "because the Queen of Spain has no legs"? Dear Jackie, I hope you were not similarly handicapped in climbing out of the polluted drainage ditch that was not intended to offend you or anybody else.
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was not intended to offend you or anybody else.
It's medical humor! Nearly as truly and deeply warped as media humor!
wow
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One must be a contortionist to get along these days. You have to keep your back to the wall, your ear to the ground, your nose to the grindstone and your shoulder to the wheel. You have to keep a level head, both feet on the floor and at the same time have your head in the clouds so you can look for the silver lining.
Just thought I'd share too...
Satin
ps. Regarding the Bible, are the versus you mentioned referring to "putting on the armor of God"?
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