Meaning of Well Known Phrases

pitythefool · 05-04-2013 02:18PM #1

All over the shop

it came from messy work places

it is simply an expression for disorganised.

the shop in question may be work-shop rather than retail outlet

Korvanica · 05-04-2013 02:20PM

"Thanks Captain Obvious"

sarcastic remark aimed at a person who just said something that was already understood by everyone. Ever.

pitythefool · 05-04-2013 02:22PM

Korvanica wrote: »

"Thanks Captain Obvious"

sarcastic remark aimed at a person who just said something that was already understood by everyone. Ever.

That is brilliant on so many levels in relation to my post

Thanks Captain Obvious

summerskin · 05-04-2013 02:22PM

The Whole Nine Yards

Not an American sports reference as many believe, but a reference to the "belt" of ammunition used by airforce gunners in WW2, which were nine yards long. Giving them "the whole nine yards" meant basically trying to blast the enemy to smithereens.

neil_hosey · 05-04-2013 02:22PM

dont look a gift horse in the mouth..

some one please explain

summerskin · 05-04-2013 02:24PM

neil_hosey wrote: »

dont look a gift horse in the mouth..

some one please explain

you can tell a horse's age by it's teeth, so if you are given one as a gift, don't look at it's teeth in case it lessens the value of the gift horse in your mind.

pitythefool · 05-04-2013 02:26PM

neil_hosey wrote: »

dont look a gift horse in the mouth..

some one please explain

Don't be ungrateful when you receive a gift.

As horses develop they grow more teeth and their existing teeth begin to change shape and project further forward. Determining a horse's age from its teeth is a specialist task, but it can be done. This incidentally is also the source of another teeth/age related phrase long in the the tooth

The advice given in the 'don't look...' proverb is: when receiving a gift be grateful for what it is; don't imply you wished for more by assessing its value.

Two birds with one stone there

hyperborean · 05-04-2013 02:26PM

neil_hosey wrote: »

dont look a gift horse in the mouth..

some one please explain

"Equi donati dentes non inspiciuntur."

some latin rubbish from the bible about horses teeth,

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/don't_look_a_gift_horse_in_the_mouth

pitythefool · 05-04-2013 02:26PM

summerskin wrote: »

you can tell a horse's age by it's teeth, so if you are given one as a gift, don't look at it's teeth in case it lessens the value of the gift horse in your mind.

damn you summerskin

Cliona99 · 05-04-2013 02:28PM

This is a bit of a guess...

You tell the age of a horse by its teeth, so if someone gives you a horse as a present, don't try to figure out how old it is, or how much it might be worth. Don't nitpick presents, basically.

Edit: missed the boat

Fratton Fred · 05-04-2013 02:30PM

Cliona99 wrote: »

This is a bit of a guess...

You tell the age of a horse by its teeth, so if someone gives you a horse as a present, don't try to figure out how old it is, or how much it might be worth. Don't nitpick presents, basically.

Edit: missed the boat

Dont you mean the horse has bolted?

fishy fishy · 05-04-2013 02:30PM

going forward

We've turned a corner.

strikes rage into the 99 percent of Irish adults.

fishy fishy · 05-04-2013 02:31PM

a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Take whatever meaning you want from that. :pac::pac:

Matt_Trakker · 05-04-2013 02:32PM

......Jesus wept.....

I care not.

summerskin · 05-04-2013 02:32PM

fishy fishy wrote: »

going forward

We've turned a corner.

strikes rage into the 99 percent of Irish adults.

for fúck's sake, can we not have one single thread without references to politics, recession etc????????

some of us are better off than ever, not everyone is unhappy and fúcked!

stmol32 · 05-04-2013 02:33PM

neil_hosey wrote: »

dont look a gift horse in the mouth..

some one please explain

Everyone is wrong it's actually from the Trojan horse story.

If you want to check if there's loads of Greeks hiding inside the don't look in the mouth end because there will be a fella waiting with a spear for your eyeball.

You're supposed to look underneath for the trapdoor.

summerskin · 05-04-2013 02:34PM

fishy fishy wrote: »

a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Take whatever meaning you want from that. :pac::pac:

simple really, better to actually own one item of something, than to potentially own two

summerskin · 05-04-2013 02:35PM

stmol32 wrote: »

Everyone is wrong it's actually from the Trojan horse story.

If you want to check if there's loads of Greeks hiding inside the don't look in the mouth end because there will be a fella waiting with a spear for your eyeball.

You're supposed to look underneath for the trapdoor.

Funnily, every single form of reference available would say that you are mistaken, and that this, as hyperborean commented, is correct... "Equi donati dentes non inspiciuntur."

some latin rubbish from the bible about horses teeth,

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/don't_...e_in_the_mouth "

05-04-2013 02:35PM

stmol32 wrote: »

Everyone is wrong it's actually from the Trojan horse story.

If you want to check if there's loads of Greeks hiding inside the don't look in the mouth end because there will be a fella waiting with a spear for your eyeball.

You're supposed to look underneath for the trapdoor.

Also the Trojan Horse story is the origin of the lesser-used but once common phrase 'Beware of Greeks bearing gifts'

antodeco · 05-04-2013 02:37PM

And where "the greeks invented gays"

Something to do with a load of loads being inside a horse.

Wait, thats beastiality..

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater · 05-04-2013 02:38PM

What the hell does the "Driving Miss Daisy" reference mean?

BillJ · 05-04-2013 02:38PM

"Taking the high road"

A term coined by hippies back in the 60's where they would smoke many many marijuana cigarettes before embarking on a journey

05-04-2013 02:39PM

BillJ wrote: »

"Taking the high road"

A term coined by hippies back in the 60's where they would smoke many many marijuana cigarettes before embarking on a journey

Usually followed by a period of abstinence, hence coining the phrase "Keep off the grass"

antodeco · 05-04-2013 02:40PM

deccurley wrote: »

What the hell does the "Driving Miss Daisy" reference mean?

Im assuming its from the movie? An old lad driving around an old woman, fairly lightly.

ScumLord · 05-04-2013 02:41PM

"Hand over fist", often heard as, making money hand over fist.

Comes from Roman times when two dies were used to mint coins. You'd hold the bottom die in your fist and hit the top die with your other hand, hand over fist.

Plazaman · 05-04-2013 02:42PM

In days of yore, most sailing ships had cannons and beside each cannon was a supply of iron cannon balls. These cannon balls were always stacked ferrero rocher style in a pyramid shape but at their base was a triangle made of brass, known as a monkey, to keep them in place.

In cold weather when the metal triangle contracted it caused the cannon balls to fall off.

Hence the phrase : "It would freeze the balls off a brass monkey".

Pompey Magnus · 05-04-2013 02:42PM

"To put the kibosh on..." means to put an end to something.

Most likely derived from the Irish "caip bháis", referring to the black cap a judge would put on before sentencing someone to death.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 05-04-2013 02:42PM

deccurley wrote: »

What the hell does the "Driving Miss Daisy" reference mean?

It's a film and stage play isn't it? Not sure if it has any special meaning.

3DataModem · 05-04-2013 02:43PM

My favourite misused one is "blood is thicker than water"... Most people assume it means family bonds are stronger than others but in fact it means the EXACT opposite.

It generally was a shortened version of "the blood of fraternity is thicker than the water of the womb"... friendships from the battlefield or similar are closer than those of your family.

cocobear · 05-04-2013 02:43PM

"Rule of thumb"

Originated with Miller's, they would take the ground flour between their thumb and index finger to test how coarse it was

--Kaiser-- · 05-04-2013 02:46PM

summerskin wrote: »

The Whole Nine Yards

Not an American sports reference as many believe, but a reference to the "belt" of ammunition used by airforce gunners in WW2, which were nine yards long. Giving them "the whole nine yards" meant basically trying to blast the enemy to smithereens.

That's a common but unlikely explanation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_whole_nine_yards

http://www.snopes.com/language/phrases/nineyards.asp

Meaning of Well Known Phrases

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