Sayings that don't make sense.

Neeson

--Kaiser-- wrote: »

'The head on you and the price of turnips'

Anytime someone says this I ask them what it means, and they always say 'I dunno'......I can't understand using an expression that you yourself don't understand

Hardly difficult now..

http://www.funtrivia.com/en/subtopics/Irish-Sayings-287466.html

--Kaiser--

Neeson wrote: »

Hardly difficult now..

http://www.funtrivia.com/en/subtopics/Irish-Sayings-287466.html

OK I didn't make myself clear, that doesn't explain the expression. It explains what it means (which I knew) but it doesn't explain WHY the expression means what it means. What has the price of turnips got to to do with the appearance of a hungover individual?

Neeson

His head is so bloody ugly. Turnips cost money but aren't really expensive either.

For this ugly man's head you wouldn't pay anything for it and you'd have yourself a free turnip.

Tim the Enchanter

Nil aon tintean mar a thintean fein.

Neeson

Tim the Enchanter wrote: »

Nil aon tintean mar a thintean fein.

How does it not make sense?

Yours could be the same as others but it's a sort of personal feeling that yours is better.

AnonoBoy

Tim the Enchanter wrote: »

Nil aon tintean mar a thintean fein.

I can imagine that one would be tricky if you don't speak Irish alright.

--Kaiser--

Neeson wrote: »

His head is so bloody ugly. Turnips cost money but aren't really expensive either.

For this ugly man's head you wouldn't pay anything for it and you'd have yourself a free turnip.

'I dunno' would have sufficed.

A friend of mine is English and never heard it before but offered this explanation
"You look really hungover and therefore spent lots of money on drink - whilst food is so expensive!"

Bad Panda

--Kaiser-- wrote: »

Not as illogical as you think. It's 'Expect the unexpected' not 'Expect the unexpectable'. Basically it means 'Expect plans to go belly-up'
(Oh no, I just explained a phrase with an even more esoteric one)

But 'unexpected' by it's definition means 'unforeseen'/'unpredictable'.

It's mental!

--Kaiser--

Bad Panda wrote: »

But 'unexpected' by it's definition means 'unforeseen'/'unpredictable'.

It's mental!

Unexpected is not entirely synonymous with unpredictable.
If you look about it another way 'Expect the unexpected', once you have expected it, it's no longer unexpected

Conall Cernach

CJC999 wrote: »

Why should you never look a gift horse in the mouth? Will it bite you????

When buying a horse it is common practice to check its teeth as this will tell you the age of the animal and also give you some idea as to its condition. If someone gives you a free horse you shouldn't really worry about that as it's free.

Feisar

I'm sure it's been mentioned but "What's for you won't pass you"

Such a self fulfilling pile of crap! Said to me by a teary eyed ex as we parted company. Why the hell did you leave me so! Grrr!

Eoin

Bad Panda wrote: »

But 'unexpected' by it's definition means 'unforeseen'/'unpredictable'.

It's mental!

It makes sense though. If you're driving, you should expect that something could happen (a car could pull out, a kid could run out, a stone could shatter the wind-shield), but you don't know what will happen, or when it will happen or if it will. But you should anticipate that it could.

It's not as confusing as Donald Rumsfeld's quote:

[T]here are known knowns; there are things we know that we know.
There are known unknowns; that is to say there are things that, we now know we don't know.
But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know, we don't know.

Dun laoire

"He wears his heart on his sleeve"

Mr.Applepie

NegativeCreep wrote: »

"Might aswell be hung for a sheep as a lamb." I don't get it

If you're going to be hung it may as well be for something big rather then something small (lamb being a small sheep)

NegativeCreep

Mr.Applepie wrote: »

If you're going to be hung it may as well be for something big rather then something small (lamb being a small sheep)

Thanks for clearing that up..

Pumpkinseeds

'What's that got to do with the price of turnips'

'9 while 5', was one I heard in Yorkshire, I had no idea for ages what the 'while' bit was about. Can't people just say 9 til 5?

'Do you want me to take the legs from under you'

'Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick'

Eve_Dublin

"Maaaam can I've a can of Coke?"


"I'll can-of-coke you now if you don't stop whinging".

Diapason

TAlderson wrote: »

Actually a frequently misunderstood but quite useful saying. Essentially, the "exception that proves the rule" means that if there is a specific exception stated, the rule must be in effect for all other cases besides that exception.

The most common example used is a parking sign. A sign says "No parking (except Sundays)." The fact that they've explicitly given an exception means that there are no other implicit exceptions. So unless it's Sunday, you can't park there.

It's useful in legal arguments, because if you have a document that says "no tenants may have a pet in the building, unless that pet is guide animal," no one can argue that they misunderstood any sort of "implied" exception ("but turtles don't really count!").

Now, if we could just get people to stop misusing "begs the question."

-Tyler

I heard a different explanation for this one. As mentioned upthread "prove" is an archaic word for "test" (as you can see in various biblical quotations if you're into that kind of thing). The idea was that an exception from the norm might test the rule BUT THE RULE SHOULD STILL HOLD! (So we're using the expression incorrectly these days).

In your parking example it would be
- No parking
- "But Sundays aren't like other days, surely I'm allowed to park on Sundays?"
- Didn't you hear me, I said no parking.

Sunday "proved" (as in tested) the rule, but the rule still held.

(This was the QI explanation, so it may or may not be accurate.)

CruelCoin

"eat your dinner, there's starving kids in africa"

Pure balls, the food i didn't eat was never going to ever feed african children so the comment was redundant.

By the same logic i could say "Finish your beer, there's sober kids in africa!"

Kev_2012

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63Y5XjlO4vk

I didn't do Naaaaaatin!!!

later12

"Dismissed out of hand" is one whose etymology and meaning I still don't understand.

'Out of hand' is supposed to have come from 'out of control', but I'm not sure what this has to do with rejecting something completely or absolutely.

ash23

You're growing turnips in your ears. I get that ear wax is the same colour as cooked turnip, but is it any wonder that hardly anyone likes turnip, given the mental imagery instilled in us as children....

Boombastic

ash23 wrote: »

You're growing turnips in your ears. I get that ear wax is the same colour as cooked turnip, but is it any wonder that hardly anyone likes turnip, given the mental imagery instilled in us as children....

Where I'm from, it was potatoes we grew behind our ears and it meant we were so dirty there was enough muck behind our ears to grow the spuds in.

Jarren

You are what you eat ?

Who am I ?

A chicken fillet ?:pac:

sebastianlieken

"I slept like a baby"

babies dont sleep deeply throughout the whole night .... They wake up screaming after having pooped themselves silly.

fishy fishy

when I heard what she did I "ate the face off her"

I mean c'mon.....:D

Quorum

"The more things change, the more they stay the same."

Nobody has ever been able to give me a satisfactory explanation for this saying.

Priori

Ron Burgundy: "When in Rome".

hairyprincess

Don't throw the baby out with the bath water......no idea what this means!