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Ruh roh, somwon's getting powitical..
And who said "green behind the ears"? That's pretty funny...
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And who said "green behind the ears"?The POTUS-elect ( link).
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Read all the comments in Nuncle Z's link.
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MDWEU: "We have seen that there is no clear basis for the 'rule' at all. We suggest that you follow the writers rather than the critics: writers use enormity with a richness and subtlety that the critics have failed to take account of. The stigmatized sense is entirely standard and has been for more than a century and a half."
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Nemmine enormity. The important thing is how does he pronounce NUCULAR?
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Regarding enormity, this analysis from Language Log may be of some interest to the Defenders of the Language Against All Things Evil.
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And who said "green behind the ears"?The POTUS-elect ( link). Nice acronym. I like the sound of POTUS to describe a political figure. It's kind of like a cross between BOGUS and POTATO. "The POTUS today said that anyone who is green behind the ears should..." [complete the sentence]
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Regarding enormity, this analysis from Language Log may be of some interest to the Defenders of the Language Against All Things Evil. There's a language that is against all things evil?? Must be the language of heaven huh? 
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The POTUS article is interesting, and had me thinking about a couple of things:
greenhorn as the origin of "green". In checking this out, the etymology I found is Olde English, and referring to newly slaughtered animals. If anyone can clear that up a bit more for me, I'd appreciate it because it's not clicking in my brain...
The idea of "idiom blend", I suppose related to the mixed metaphor, is interesting. I love making combinations like this! One of my mother's favorite phrases was "Six of one, half dozen of another." I purposely "renew" that one when I use it, in different ways, but usually some variant of "Three dozen chickens, six dozen eggs". People usually just ignore it... But some of the examples given were:
It's not rocket science + It's not brain surgery = It's not rocket surgery
He's under the gun + He's behind the eight ball = He's under the eight ball
That's another kettle of fish + That's another can of worms = That's another kettle of worms
It might be fun to come up with a few, although I'm blanking at the moment... :0)
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The idea of "idiom blend", I suppose related to the mixed metaphor, is interesting. I love making combinations like this! One of my mother's favorite phrases was "Six of one, half dozen of another." I purposely "renew" that one when I use it, in different ways, but usually some variant of "Three dozen chickens, six dozen eggs". People usually just ignore it... But some of the examples given were:
It's not rocket science + It's not brain surgery = It's not rocket surgery
He's under the gun + He's behind the eight ball = He's under the eight ball
That's another kettle of fish + That's another can of worms = That's another kettle of worms
It might be fun to come up with a few, although I'm blanking at the moment... :0)
I'd contribute some but I'm not exactly the sharpest bulb in the six-pack.
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