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Sayings/phrases you never understood or that annoy you

24567

Comments

  • #32
    whirlpool
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,574 ✭✭✭whirlpool


    The King of Moo wrote: »
    "Eh no, what does that even mean?" in your original post and the thread title "Sayings/phrases you never understood or that annoy you" suggests the possibility of a lack of comprehension.

    Fair enough.


  • #33
    johnnyskeleton
    Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Politics Moderators Posts: 14,566 Mod ✭✭✭✭johnnyskeleton


    endacl wrote: »
    'Smoke me a kipper. I'll be back for breakfast'

    Makes no sense.

    It's a quote from red dwarf, which was a "programme" on "television" that people used to watch before they had the Internet on computers. You might have heard your parents or grandparents talking about it.


  • #34
    mattjack
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,389 ✭✭✭mattjack


    Oneiric 3 wrote: »
    'Get (or take) the finger out'

    Never understood what that actually meant, either in the context it is used in or just literally.

    Ah I know what that means.It an old navy term from when ships
    used gunpowder in cannons.To stop the powder getting wet from seaspray and rain the gunner used stick his finger in the little hole where the powder was poured in.Just before action yhe gunnery officer used shout GET YER FINGER OUT.

    You may bask in my refelected glory.


  • #35
    johnnyskeleton
    Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Politics Moderators Posts: 14,566 Mod ✭✭✭✭johnnyskeleton


    whirlpool wrote: »
    stupid as f***.

    I don't really get this phrase. I don't know how you could measure the intelligence of a f***.


  • #36
    EchoIndia
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,638 ✭✭✭EchoIndia


    cabledude wrote: »
    That phrase should read 'I couldn't care less.' You know, even if I tried, I could not care less for him/her/them/it etc.

    The "I could care less" version is the US usage.


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  • #37
    bogwalrus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,456 ✭✭✭bogwalrus


    Too Tough To Die wrote: »
    Doesn't annoy me but taking the piss? How did that one originate?

    Me and my friend tried to work out the Etymology of this.

    We figured the origins of "getting pissed" was when you would go to the pub and get so drunk that you were pissing every half hour. So Pints and alcohol seem to go hand in hand hence "pissed".

    If we move on to the whole "Taking the piss" in relation to drinking if someone says you are "taking the piss" then your obviously not sober enough to make sense and pissed. So "taking the piss" is saying you are taking the drink.


  • #38
    cabledude
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 842 ✭✭✭cabledude


    EchoIndia wrote: »
    The "I could care less" version is the US usage.
    Sure them lads have everything backwards. They even drive on the wrong side of the road FFS...:)


  • #39
    apollo8
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 349 ✭✭apollo8


    A friend in need is a friend indeed:confused:


  • #40
    The King of Moo
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,207 ✭✭✭The King of Moo


    apollo8 wrote: »
    A friend in need is a friend indeed:confused:

    It's a confusing shortening of "A friend (when you are) in need is a friend indeed."

    Basically, it means someone who sticks by who when you need help is a true friend.


  • #41
    LordSutch
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,069 ✭✭✭✭LordSutch


    whirlpool wrote: »
    "when you're ready" isn't a question.

    They're just being polite. There is a certain breed of customers who get offended by slightest, most meaningless things, so I imagine the checkout girl/guy is just trying to overcompensate as a preventative measure.

    But I guess they've offended you in the process. Can't win!

    Thing is whirlpool, the bloody phrase only popped up about six months or a year ago! and its not polite, its just so silly when uttered in a parrot like fashion. I remember well hearing it my local Tesco and thinking to myself, well that's new - fast forward one year to last week, & its now spread to my local Lidl.

    Phrases/catch words come and go, and hopefully this one will wear off sometime soon :))


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  • #42
    seosamh1980
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,126 ✭✭✭seosamh1980


    LordSutch wrote: »
    Thing is whirlpool, the bloody phrase only popped up about six months or a year ago! and its not polite, its just so silly when uttered in a parrot like fashion. I remember well hearing it my local Tesco and thinking to myself, well that's new - fast forward one year to last week, & its now spread to my local Lidl.

    Phrases/catch words come and go, and hopefully this one will wear off sometime soon :))

    Ah no, I've heard that for years working in retail, it's not 6-12 months old.


  • #43
    Sonics2k
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,037 ✭✭✭Sonics2k


    "It's always in the last place you look."

    That ones pissed me off since I was a child.

    Who the hell keeps looking after you've found it!


  • #44
    LordSutch
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,069 ✭✭✭✭LordSutch


    OK fair enough, so maybe its spread more in the last year (and reached my local shops), but being an ex retail man myself, I just don't remember it being around until relatively recently, either way, it irks me :)


  • #45
    hairyprincess
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,300 ✭✭✭hairyprincess


    happy out/tired out/busy out; get the **** out of my life with that nonsensical shiite!!


  • #46
    Vito Corleone
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,753 ✭✭✭Vito Corleone


    "Cheer up, it might never happen."

    I understand it, but I hate it. Whenever someone says this it makes me want to tell them that I'm terminally ill just so they'll feel bad.


  • #47
    Annasopra
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 41,236 ✭✭✭✭Annasopra


    "It's their culture"

    It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be. I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We're always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things.

    Terry Pratchet



  • #48
    bogwalrus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,456 ✭✭✭bogwalrus


    "Say a prayer to saint Anthony"


    What?

    I mean WHAT?


  • #49
    hairyprincess
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,300 ✭✭✭hairyprincess


    Don't be away til you're back


  • #50
    Cee-Jay-Cee
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,234 ✭✭✭✭Cee-Jay-Cee


    Too Tough To Die wrote: »
    I still don't know if that means a good sight or a bad sight.

    They mean 'site' as in website such as specsavers.com


  • #51
    Cee-Jay-Cee
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,234 ✭✭✭✭Cee-Jay-Cee


    "There wasn't room to swing a cat"

    Why would anyone be swinging a cat at all?

    "A watched kettle never boils"

    Bullsh*t, of course it does...unless there was a power outage or something. I've often switched on the kettle to make tea or coffee and stood there watching it till it boiled and switched off. It never failed to boil, ever.

    When someone replies 'Divil, the hate' when you ask them 'what's happening' or 'what's going'...what the hell does that mean? Can't you just say 'Not much' or ' Not a lot'


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  • #52
    Zirconia
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 386 ✭✭Zirconia
    Boycott Israeli Goods & Services


    A friend in need is a friend indeed
    The King of Moo wrote: »
    It's a confusing shortening of "A friend (when you are) in need is a friend indeed."

    Basically, it means someone who sticks by who when you need help is a true friend.

    It means the opposite of this actually; Someone you'd barely regard as a friend will become much more friendly with you when they need you to get them out of a jam.

    It's a warning to beware of false friends who are only out to use you.


  • #53
    bogwalrus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,456 ✭✭✭bogwalrus


    CJC999 wrote: »
    "There wasn't room to swing a cat"

    Why would anyone be swinging a cat at all?

    Its a very visual phrase that is to make you visualize a space thus giving a good idea of size.
    CJC999 wrote: »
    "A watched kettle never boils"

    This just means staring at the clock makes time slow down. Like in school when its almost lunch and it seems like forever. Same.


  • #54
    The King of Moo
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,207 ✭✭✭The King of Moo


    Zirconia wrote: »
    A friend in need is a friend indeed



    It means the opposite of this actually; Someone you'd barely regard as a friend will become much more friendly with you when they need you to get them out of a jam.

    It's a warning to beware of false friends who are only out to use you.

    Very few people accept that interpretation. It's generally accepted to mean "someone who helps you when you need help is a true friend."


  • #55
    token101
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,050 ✭✭✭token101


    Has the phrase 'calm down' ever calmed anyone down?


  • #56
    constance tench
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 862 ✭✭✭constance tench


    Dead ringer [?]


  • #57
    KERSPLAT!
    Closed Accounts Posts: 31,152 ✭✭✭✭KERSPLAT!


    What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.


  • #58
    constance tench
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 862 ✭✭✭constance tench


    Princess Petulia Pissy Pants wrote: »
    What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.

    ..means, one can put up with a lot of sh!t...if one has been through the mill


  • #59
    joeguevara
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,419 ✭✭✭joeguevara


    constance tench wrote: »
    Dead ringer [?]

    Ringer is usually used in horse racing when you put a great horse in place of a poor one to get better odds. But hey look exactly the same.

    Dead is used as a stress word. Such as dead last or dead late. So in this context it means exact duplicate.

    Some people say that origins are from a rope tied around dead people's hands connected to a bell which they would pull if they were buried alive.


  • #60
    constance tench
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 862 ✭✭✭constance tench


    joeguevara wrote: »
    Ringer is usually used in horse racing when you put a great horse in place of a poor one to get better odds. But hey look exactly the same.

    Dead is used as a stress word. Such as dead last or dead late. So in this context it means exact duplicate.

    Some people say that origins are from a rope tied around dead people's hands connected to a bell which they would pull if they were buried alive.

    :pac:


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  • #61
    Kettleson
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,047 ✭✭✭Kettleson


    "What's for ya won't go by ya".

    Typical Irish non-logic to excuse any amount of sh1t situations. Particularly used to a great extent in the mad dash for over priced houses during the tiger.


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