Sayings you dont understand
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Saying it backwards or in original context makes it make a lot more sense.elbrandino said:
"Eating ones cake and still having it"
or
"wolde you bothe eate your cake, and have your cake?"(John Heywood's 'A dialogue Conteinyng the Nomber in Effect of All the Prouerbes in the Englishe Tongue'). It first appeared in 1546 so it is older English.
I think this one comes from the middle age's when animal buggery was punished by hanging, thus getting caught screwing the pooch or donkey or whatever was a really bad thing.ERS86 said:
Edit - Nope I'm wrong about that I just looked it up.
The term was first documented in the early "Mercury" days of the US space program. It came there from a Yale graduate named John Rawlings who helped design the astronauts' space suits. The phrase is actually a bastardization of an earlier, more vulgar and direct term which was slang for doing something very much the wrong way, as in "you are fucking the dog!" At Yale a friend of Rawlings', the radio DJ Jack May (a.k.a. "Candied Yam Jackson") amended this term to "screwing the pooch" which was simultaneously less vulgar and more pleasing to the ear.
Aww well I kinda like my version better
It's from an earlier time when the scientific method wasn't as common as it was today. In a more philosophical context, a rule would be something that pretty much always happens, except when something really fucking strange happens, and that really fucking strange thing may be an exception, but it doesn't mean that the thing that pretty much always happens doesn't pretty much always happens. In fact, the lack of a gradient between the aforementioned things that pretty much always happen and the aforementioned exception serves as a stark contrast, making the exception one that reinforces, or proves, the rule.TheDarkEricDraven said:
It's a double negative, and this usage is quite common to exaggerate the negativity of the subject matter.Tdc2182 said:
"Irregardless"
I know it's not a saying, just a word, but I hate when people use it. One - it's not a word. Two - if it were a word, it would be redundant. Regardless is already a negative term, so to put "ir", a negative prefix, on it, you've made it a double negative. Which makes it a positive. Which makes (the way people use the word) pointless. Three: the fact that most people who use the term "irregardless" are those people who want to appear smart, and since its a pointless, non-existing word, they look even dumber.
Stop saying it. NOW.
I know it's not a saying, just a word, but I hate when people use it. One - it's not a word. Two - if it were a word, it would be redundant. Regardless is already a negative term, so to put "ir", a negative prefix, on it, you've made it a double negative. Which makes it a positive. Which makes (the way people use the word) pointless. Three: the fact that most people who use the term "irregardless" are those people who want to appear smart, and since its a pointless, non-existing word, they look even dumber.
Stop saying it. NOW.
No. Actually, the original meaning comes from an obsolete meaning of prove, as in "test." As in Aberdeen Proving Grounds, where the military tests things, or the Provings of Dragon Age: Origins. As this meaning of prove has become more obscure, the saying's meaning is changing.conflictofinterests said:
Edit: That's US military.
Hey ma! Don't disprove this saying I'm living by it right now! My girlfriend is going off to college in two months and I'd rather get a little time with her than having never told her how I felt, I'll take a little loving over none at all any day of the week.shadyh8er said:
Eric Ninja'd me there, and even after your explanation, it still seems incredibly stupid, to my way of thinking. "The rule" obviously encompasses a wide range of possible outcomes, whether the people who accept it realize such or not... but the exception in no way reinforces said rule... it disproves the rule in any discipline outside of statistics.conflictofinterests said:
But, like you said, that was before the scientific method was very widespread... I can only call the people who accept such a thing ignorant at this point.
Vangaurd227 said:Good idea...heres some OKGo insteadKing Toasty said:
Mmmmm, music to my ears.
STILL OFF TOPIC. Quick, the mods are looking!
OT: Replace any phrase with "lion". Makes more sense.
Example: Don't look a gift lion in the mouth. Common sense!
Actually, I'd earlier pointed out the original meaning was based on a secondary definition of prove. Prove is also synonymous with test or challenge, as in the Provings of Dragon Age: Origin.loc978 said:
As in the proof (test) of the pudding is in the eating.
As in Aberdeen Proving Grounds, a site used to test military hardware.
The meaning used to be, "this is the exception that challenges the rule," but as this secondary definition of prove is becoming more and more obscure, the meaning of the saying is changing.
This one should be, "cat's out of the bag." I've heard this one comes from the Middle Ages, when it was a common con to sell a suckling pig in a bag (a pig in a poke) and conmen would swap that bag for one with a much less valuable animal, a cat. So, cat's out of the bag meant the secret is out, with an implication someone has egg on their face.captaincabbage said:
Same source for "bought a pig in a poke," bought the merchandise without eyes on and inspecting the goods and screwed as a result.
This saying originates in medieval Europe, specifically in the peasant villages. Roofs were made of thatch, which was apparently quite attractive to pets, such as cats and dogs, who liked to lounge on the low roofs, presumably sunbathing. (Or maybe the dogs were chasing the sunbathing cats. Sunbathing seems like more of a cat thing anyways.) When it rained hard enough, any significant weight on the thatch would fall through, hence "raining" cats and dogs. Hope that helps.Akytalusia said:
OT: I'm head over heels. Umm... aren't we all? Unless we're laying down, of course, but still. Being deeply in love should not have to share a qualifier with, say, walking. Or perambulating, if you're feeling fancy.
y-yeah, you completely missed the joke, didn't you?thedoclc said:
I understand the sayings themselves. The joke is the my mate mixes two sayings together to make one that is completely retarded.
"Sleep like a baby."
What the shit? Most of the people I know that have kids describe in painful detail how horrible their life was until they could finally get their kid to sleep through the night, so apparently babies don't sleep very well.
What the shit? Most of the people I know that have kids describe in painful detail how horrible their life was until they could finally get their kid to sleep through the night, so apparently babies don't sleep very well.