Sayings/phrases/idioms which make no sense

GM228

I'm curious, are there many sayings/phrases/idioms which actually make no sense whatsoever?

An example is "by the skin of his teeth", yes I know it means barely or narrowly in modern use, it originates from Kings James "Book of Job", but it actually makes no sense (although there have been some theories) in reality as teeth have no skin.

demanufactured

Anything travellers say on their call out promos .

"Didn't I bate you, adin in it"

begbysback

"God bless you" after sneezing

Who? and why!

Lorelli!

You can't have your cake and eat it!

Mutant z

Its on the house.

begbysback

Mutant z wrote: »

Its on the house.

Depends on the context - are we talking about a chimney here?

galvo_clare

begbysback wrote: »

"God bless you" after sneezing

Who? and why!

Comes from the time of the great plague apparently. If you sneezed it was a sign you had the plague and were not long for this world.

locum-motion

GM228 wrote: »

... in reality as teeth have no skin.

Which is kinda the point, isn't it?

It's a phrase used to describe a situation where the margin between success and failure is really thin.

What could be thinner than a skin that is sooooo thin that it actually doesn't exist?

Chancer3001

Lorelli! wrote: »

You can't have your cake and eat it!

That makes perfect sense if you understand it properly.

You can either eat your cake. Or keep on to it for later enjoyment.

But you can't have both.

You can't have/hold your cake and also eat it too

locum-motion

Lorelli! wrote: »

You can't have your cake and eat it!

That one makes perfect sense!!

Lorelli!

Chancer3001 wrote: »

That makes perfect sense if you understand it properly.

You can either eat your cake. Or keep on to it for later enjoyment.

But you can't have both.

You can't have/hold your cake and also eat it too

What if you only eat half of the cake?

kiffer

Mutant z wrote: »

Its on the house.

I assume it comes from when people had tabs in their local drink supplying establishment.
Rather than the mark being made on your tab... it's on the house's.

kiffer

Lorelli! wrote: »

What if you only eat half of the cake?

Then you only have half a cake and only ate half a cake...
So you haven't eaten the whole cake, and you don't have the cake.

Lorelli!

kiffer wrote: »

Then you only have half a cake and only ate half a cake...
So you haven't eaten the whole cake, and you don't have the cake.

So it should be "you can't have the whole cake and eat it all"

chicorytip

"Back in the day..."

Billy86

It's an Americanism and not heard often here but "I could care less" is the stupidest f*cking saying to ever be uttered.

Ten of Swords

The darkest hour is just before the dawn.


Em, no it isn't. The darkest hour is when the sun is directly opposite to your position on Earth, this occurs at midnight.

begbysback

galvo_clare wrote: »

Comes from the time of the great plague apparently. If you sneezed it was a sign you had the plague and were not long for this world.

They didn't have hay fever back them times?

uch

Did someone mention Cake ??

highdef

Ten of Swords wrote: »

The darkest hour is just before the dawn.


Em, no it isn't. The darkest hour is when the sun is directly opposite to your position on Earth, this occurs at midnight.

Except that it doesn't occur at midnight. In Dublin, it's usually between 01:15 and 01:30 during IST and between 00:15 and 00:30 during winter hours.

ixoy

Lorelli! wrote: »

You can't have your cake and eat it!

I'll always think of Ted Kaczynski now when I hear this.

setanta1000

State of the Art

As in: "That flanger wobbler 2000 is State of the Art; it even has a remote control mufter sprocket!"

.....I just can't get my head around that one

uch

setanta1000 wrote: »

State of the Art

I always say that when I'm in the museum of modern art in Dublin

Samuel T. Cogley

setanta1000 wrote: »

State of the Art

As in: "That flanger wobbler 2000 is State of the Art; it even has a remote control mufter sprocket!"

.....I just can't get my head around that one

The current state of the particular art to which is being referred.

To negative something - always though it should be negate.

williestroker1

'Back of the net' when talking about anything other than football.

Donald Trump

ixoy wrote: »

I'll always think of Ted Kaczynski now when I hear this.

Ted had it right though


And people try to say he was the mental one

Lyndsey3000

It annoys me when people say "my sloppy seconds" when talking about an ex boyfriend or girlfriend who has moved on.

sure, you're someone's sloppy seconds then too, are you not???

chakotha

Could care less.

I think that was just b@lloxed up in the US and it stuck.

aaronjumper

Head over heels is another one. Isn't it usually?

RebelButtMunch

Billy86 wrote: »

It's an Americanism and not heard often here but "I could care less" is the stupidest f*cking saying to ever be uttered.

What the hell? is abbreviated nowadays to "The hell?" - Arseh0les

Franz Von Peppercorn

Lorelli! wrote: »

You can't have your cake and eat it!

Of course you can’t. Problem there is people see the first “have” as eat when it means keep.

You can’t keep your cake and eat it.

Franz Von Peppercorn

RebelButtMunch wrote: »

What the hell? is abbreviated nowadays to "The hell?" - Arseh0les

I think “I could care less” is short for

“I could care less, but it would have to be something really trivial”.

topper75

Donald Trump wrote: »

Ted had it right though


And people try to say he was the mental one

But let's be clear, they didn't lock him up because he was right or mental.

What he wrote was right, but what he did was wrong.

setanta1000

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

The current state of the particular art to which is being referred.

Nerd Hat on:

I disagree - that is not a valid disambiguation of this phrase

In common parlance "State of the Art" is used to denote something as being "best in class" or more advanced that all others in its field - your definition does not explain how the phrase relates to common usage.

Nerd hat off.

The Crowman

chicorytip wrote: »

"Back in the day..."

I remember when the only time you heard that phrase used was in rap songs or the Wire. Now it's everywhere.

Are Am Eye

topper75 wrote: »

But let's be clear, they didn't lock him up because he was right or mental.

What he wrote was right, but what he did was wrong.

He was throwing those bombs away in the trash.
It's not his fault the mail boxes look like bins.

milehip

Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: »

RebelButtMunch wrote: »

What the hell? is abbreviated nowadays to "The hell?" - Arseh0les

I think “I could care less” is short for

“I could care less, but it would have to be something really trivial”.

I thought it was short for
"I could care less..... If I had a full frontal lobotomy"

Hammer89

I'm sure all of them make sense if you were to discover the context.

AllForIt

Billy86 wrote: »

It's an Americanism and not heard often here but "I could care less" is the stupidest f*cking saying to ever be uttered.

That expression was widely used where I grew up in Ireland.

However at least we used it correctly because it's not could it's couldn't.

Ficheall

"What's for you won't pass you."


So stay in bed all day, and someone will headhunt you for that dream job you aren't remotely qualified for.

Hector Bellend

" I could care less "

ambasite

"A day outside West Limerick is a day wasted."

Surreptitious

williestroker1 wrote: »

'Back of the net' when talking about anything other than football.

This has to be a wind up especially with the username.

Donald Trump

topper75 wrote: »

But let's be clear, they didn't lock him up because he was right or mental.

What he wrote was right, but what he did was wrong.

I was referring to the saying "have your cake and eat it"


Ted said "eat your cake and have it too"

Manic Moran

Pretty much anything in this Weird Al video. Word Crimes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gv0H-vPoDc