Sayings that make no sense!

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Asp-Z
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09 Jul 2010, 1:04 pm

"Never say never" - you just said it twice!

CockneyRebel
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09 Jul 2010, 1:56 pm

The cat's out of the bag, now.

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luvmyaspie
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09 Jul 2010, 2:24 pm

I'm sitting on the fence...

If your neutral, just say "I'm neutral". Firstly, it's quicker and secondly why bring the fence into it?

I usually imagine who ever has said this sitting on a fence, shrugging their shoulders, with eyes shut & eyebrows raised... and it makes me laugh out loud... :lol:

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09 Jul 2010, 2:56 pm

'Dead as a door-nail'

A door-nail is inanimate, rather than dead, as it has never lived :!:

There is an explanation on www.phrases.org.uk which seems plausible (particularly as it involves Shakespeare)

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09 Jul 2010, 3:00 pm

'That's about the size of it'

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book_noodles
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09 Jul 2010, 5:38 pm

CockneyRebel wrote:

The cat's out of the bag, now.

Ha. If you have ever put a cat in a bag, you know exactly why that is a bad thing :lol:

When people try to make me decide something and say "just sleep on it." How could I possibly make a decision whilst sleeping?

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book_noodles
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09 Jul 2010, 5:38 pm

CockneyRebel wrote:

The cat's out of the bag, now.

Ha. If you have ever put a cat in a bag, you know exactly why that is a bad thing :lol:

When people try to make me decide something and say "just sleep on it." How could I possibly make a decision whilst sleeping?

Valoyossa
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09 Jul 2010, 5:47 pm

Irulan wrote:

In Poland we have this saying "as healthy as a fish" which is our equivalent of "as fit as a fiddle" - I keep fish and I can tell you they are delicate and get ill often.

That's right. I keep fish too and I often have problems.

We have also sayings like as ugly as a night (very ugly) - I find nights beautiful.
Other versions: as ugly as November night or as beautiful as five to midnight (very ugly too).

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Moog
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09 Jul 2010, 6:24 pm

eagletalon86 wrote:

"Takes one to know one", which implies that the person saying it is just as much one as the person whom he/she was talking to.

I think that one makes sense. I've noticed that people often take greatest offence to traits or behaviours in others that they themselves display. Often they are completely unaware that this is the case. See also "the kettle calling the pot black".

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OneStepBeyond
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09 Jul 2010, 7:15 pm

Blindspot149 wrote:

I am always amused by British buildings where it is necessary to go up a flight of stairs to get to the FIRST floor (when you walk in at street level, you are on the Ground floor)

I can sympathize with calling the street level floor (which is actually THE first floor) the ground floor; I have just never understood why they don't just call the floor above that one the SECOND floor (so that Ground floor is just an alternative to First floor) instead of messing up the counting for the entire building (and confusing Autistics who take things literally) :!:

i get confused by this too. im not even sure which floor i live on sometimes

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09 Jul 2010, 9:40 pm

CockneyRebel wrote:

The cat's out of the bag, now.

That comes from the days when people would sell a pig in a poke, which was a bag of sorts. However, some people would substitute a cat. People who knew of this practice would open the bag and the cat would come out of the bag- i.e., the secret would be out, which is how we have the present meaning of the saying.

Quote:

Apple in my eye.

It's apple of my eye. Here is a link about its origins.

On the subject of links, why do people not look up the sayings that are puzzling them so much? The internet makes it so easy to find information...

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09 Jul 2010, 10:35 pm

book_noodles wrote:

When people try to make me decide something and say "just sleep on it." How could I possibly make a decision whilst sleeping?

I know people have had the solution to problems they'd been working on that day come to them in a dream later that night. It happened with me all the time when I did web design especially, as I'd work on them non-stop, often forgetting to eat and taking no breaks. I'd be having an issue with something not working out, would spend hours trying to solve it, and when I finally gave up and went to bed, the answer would come to me in a dream. Love it when that happens.

Irulan
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10 Jul 2010, 3:58 am

Valoyossa wrote:

Irulan wrote:

In Poland we have this saying "as healthy as a fish" which is our equivalent of "as fit as a fiddle" - I keep fish and I can tell you they are delicate and get ill often.

Other versions: as ugly as November night or as beautiful as five to midnight (very ugly too).

These ones weren't known by me - maybe I happened to hear the former one (only sometimes in novels but never live) but the latter one wasn't ever heard by me.

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