Sayings you dont understand

[breadsammich]

"A bird in the bush is worth two in the hand."

What?

If you've already got something, don't try to risk losing it to get more: You already have the bird...don't risk it getting away by going for the two that are in the bush.

 

[thylasos]

"Break a leg!"

Makes no fucking sense. Breaking a leg is not fun nor is it something that one usually has a good time doing.

It's a result of a belief that wishing an actor good luck in a performance would jinx them, as such saying "break a leg", is an understood replacement for wishing good luck without literally doing so.

 

[Caveworm]

I find the saying 'You will always have these moments and that's something they can't ever take them away from you'.

Who or whom exactly are these moment stealer's?

*glances around suspiciously*

 

[Brittain95]

"it's raining cats and dogs" never made a lick of sense to me. anyone care to explain?

Actually that is a very very long story but long story short a along time ago a life form living in the sky carried objects including people into the sky until they would pass out of the lack of oxygen before carrying them across a distance then setting them swiftly but safely on the ground leaving the person or in this case cat or dog extremely disorientated as you could imagine while there is no hard evidence supporting this theory i am however open to theories such as this, hence the raining of the cats and the dogs.

 

[fenrizz]

"At the wrong place at the wrong time"

Never really got it. If your at the wrong place at the wrong time then you should be fine because its the wrong time. What it should be is,

Wrong place at the right time.

or

Right place at the wrong time.

A tourist at the top of The World Trade Center, 9/11 2001.

Wrong place at the wrong time.

 

[BigDeadMushy]

"Break a leg!"

Makes no fucking sense. Breaking a leg is not fun nor is it something that one usually has a good time doing.

It's a result of a belief that wishing an actor good luck in a performance would jinx them, as such saying "break a leg", is an understood replacement for wishing good luck without literally doing so.

I was ninja'd a little,but will build on it from my own knowledge bank.


this one is based in superstition,the idea is to ward off the eyes of the evil spirits with reverse parapsychology.

even if we're not superstitious in normal life,we actors can be a superstitious bunch at showtime,which is why we never mention the name of the cursed play backstage.even when the show IS the cursed one,to the point of only mentioning the lead actor by his name,rather than the role he is playing.the same goes for the actor playing his wife.

that particular one comes from the first ever time it was performed,when the lead actor (according to legend,I wasn't there) literally died onstage opening night for unknown reasons.allegedly on the next performance when his understudy took his place,he overstepped the mark,fell off stage and broke his leg.

 

[NeutralMunchHotel]

"The exception that proves the rule". What the fuck does that mean? If its an exception, it doesn't prove anything!

A while ago "prove" meant the same thing as "test" (hence, "proving ground"). This phrase was never really updated. Therefore, "the exception that proves the rule" means "the exception that tests the rule". Doesn't make the rule any more valid as a result, only that it's being tested (and most likely is wrong).

 

[rje5]

I've never understood what it meant to "have one's cake and eat it too". I mean, what else are you going to do with a cake? A cake is functionally useless if you can't eat it. Unless, of course, you're going to throw it at someone, and I'm sure not going to do that. It's my cake! I have it and I'm going to eat it, too!

This makes the most sense when you say it in reverse. "You can't eat your cake and have it too"

 

[Outright Villainy]

"The exception that proves the rule". What the fuck does that mean? If its an exception, it doesn't prove anything!

This. Jesus I hate this. "There's an exception to every rule" I kind of get, since that can be true enough (not in science), but proving the rule? Wat?

Also, "Begging the question."
No, not its current usage, its original use, as a device to point out circular logic. The phrase makes no sense.

I can certainly see how people mixed it up anyway.

 

[thest3alth]

When something can't 'cut the mustard'. What the fuck man? You.. spread mustard. It's a liquid, sorta. Anything can cut it, or nothing, depending on how you look at it. Either way, it's either impossible or too easy to 'cut the mustard'.

 

[fenrizz]

"It's better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all."

Sorry hon, but I've seen what happens to people who love and lose. It ain't pretty!

Thoroughly agree. Worst saying ever. Honestly, since when has getting your heart broken been better than not having it broken at all?

Because it is better to have experienced love, and then had your heart broken, than to never have experienced love at all.

 

[Jason Danger Keyes]

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Well, yeah you would, since you'd be me and make the same decisions I do.

 

[Empyreal EoV]

Exceptions exist because rules are in place. You can't have one without the other.

 

[Sizzle Montyjing]

Shut up, sit down and be quiet.
I seriously have no clue to what that means, but it usually is said halfway through one of my riveting speeches.
Can anyone explain?

It means close your book/laptop, sit down, and stop making noise. It's an order to listen.

Either you didn't get my sarcasm, or i'm not getting yours.

 

[Alon Shechter]

"I don't know nothing."
I don't get it.

 

[Quite Interesting]

Exception the proves the rule comes from the old meaning of prove which was the same as test

 

[tigermilk]

"Greatest thing since sliced bread." What the hell's so great about bread slices???

I always thought the person/people who split the atom must hate that phrase! "FUCKING HELL I SPLIT THE ATOM AND STILL SLICED BREAD IS THE MEASURE OF BRILLIANCE!!"

 

[MetalDooley]

"I don't know nothing."
I don't get it.

Bad grammar.People use this to imply that they have no knowledge of a particular subject.It's a double negative though so it in fact means that they do have knowledge.The proper thing to say would be "I know nothing"

"less haste more speed"
wait, what?
or even better:
"i dont know 'im for a bar 'o soap"
serously...why?

"Less haste,more speed" - this means that the faster you try to do something the more likely you are to make mistakes which may cause you to have to redo it.Therefore it's better to take your time and do something properly as it ultimately may end up being faster that way

"I don't know 'im from a bar 'o soap" - this just means that you have absolutely no knowledge of a person.No idea what the reference to soap means though.I've heard variations on this one such as "I wouldn't know him from Adam" or "I wouldn't know him from a hole in the ground" both of which mean the same thing but neither makes a whole lot of sense

OT: "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer" -I get the idea that if your enemy is close you can keep an eye on them but surely you would want your enemies as far away as possible

"The dog's bollocks" - I know it means something is exceptionally good but I'd love for someone to tell me why.What's so great about a canines testicles?

 

[ChippedShoulder]

This is more just a mistake rather than an actual saying, but I *really* don't understand why some people feel that the phrase "I could care less" (rather than "I couldn't care less") actually makes sense.

David Mitchell explains it better than I.
<YOUTUBE=om7O0MFkmpw>

I hope you're happy, I was getting ready to go to sleep until you showed me that vid. Now I can't stop watching them.

Same friend, this video was posted in another thread. I'm now fully up to date with them and a good few hours deprived of sleep. Love David Mitchell

 

[Ironic Pirate]

"Same difference". Huh?

This one, along with "I could care less," drive me insane. Why? Because they're not the actual sayings - they've somehow been twisted into what they are now, and what they are no makes no sense whatsoever.

"Same difference" is a combination of "same thing" and "big difference." I have no idea what smacktard decided that it was a good idea to go around saying it, but I do know that I first began hearing it several years ago and had never heard it beforehand. Somebody started it, it spread like the plague, and that person needs to be backhanded.

"I could care less" also originally was "I couldn't care less" but likewise some monkey decided to remove the negative in the sentence and yet retained its current meaning. Everyone uses it to convey "I couldn't care less" but the statement itself doesn't actually say that. Whoever first said that should be smacked as well.

Except that "I could care less" still makes sense as a saying, just a different meaning. It's for when you have a tiny little bit of caring, but not much. For example, a tv show you watched a couple times and moderately enjoyed gets cancelled. You care very slightly. You could care less, but not much.

No, it isn't. I could care less could be any amount of caring >0. You could care a great deal and care less, or you could care a tiny bit and care less. It's a saying that only tells us that you do care about something, but not how much you care.

But it's the emphasis on could. I could care less, it's entirely within the realm of possibility, but I already care so little that it is an unlikely eventuality.