"Wait...that phrase didn't make any sense!"

[octafish]

Jack of all trades Master of none,
though ofttimes better than master of one

Jack is like bloke, chap, fella, guy, it was a generic term for man.

Safe as houses, that comes from the (mistaken) belief that the property market is a very safe investment. Though it should be taken with a grain of salt now, as should the phrase "Money in the bank".

Taken with a grain of salt comes from an ancient Roman antidote to poison that included a single grain of salt in its ingredients, so the threat of poisoning was less serious.

Seriously you people are complaining about things that make perfect sense. You can't have your cake and eat it too bacause if you eat it is gone , no longer a cake, the end, you don't have any cake. Geez you'd probably have trouble with my favorite Russian saying "doveryai, no proveryai" Trust, but verify. Oooo Octafish if you trust someone why would you need to verify their claims oooo it's counter intuitive. *Sigh*

 

[Daniel Cygnus]

Seriously? No one's mentioned "a word to the wise" yet?! Why the hell would the wise even need a word? They should be the ones giving the word out!

 

[octafish]

Oh and "It is what it is" means that its nature is immovable, it is what it is and nothing will change that. You got a problem with that? Take it up with God, Ehyeh asher ehyeh... or was it Popeye, I forget which.

 

[Nouw]

"Bought the farm"

I think it refers to someone who's just been killed, but how does getting killed have anything to do with buying a farm?

There was a few lines like "Bought a plot, had a plane crash" and "He's bought it, he is dead he has paid with his life"

Farm came afterwards

"The police dispatcher says a plane just bought a farm"

Another theory is that Militarymen might dream of settling down with a family and on a farm.

 

[Tallim]

"Bought the farm"

I think it refers to someone who's just been killed, but how does getting killed have anything to do with buying a farm?

Quite an interesting one actually. It is thought to be a military term. If a military aircraft crashed into farmland the farmer could apply to the military for compensation. So the pilot who often died in the crash was said to have "Bought the farm".

Another theory was the military paid the dead pilot's family enough money to pay off their mortgage. Similar idea. Or it was related to the common dream of people to get a farm and settle down after the war. So "Bought the Farm" was a nicer way of saying the pilot wouldn't be in the war anymore

 

[eggy32]

Well, I got ninja'd on the first page, but "I could care less" was mine as well.

Spoiler: I really don't know how it attained such widespread use.

Umm, no thats sarcasm. You see when you say "i could care less", your being sarcastic about your care level. In that, my caring is slow low that, while i could care less its still so low that it doesnt influence me.

Of the many many times I've heard "I could care lee" you are the first person to ever describe it as being sarcastic. It is obviously ust people who didn't understand the phrase "I couldn't care less" or have just mis quoted it.

 

[Revolutionary]

Speak of the devil......out of context could be offensive.

 

[eggy32]

I understand what "back to the grind" means (I believe. As in get back to the same old routine). But why does "grind" refer to something repetitive?

Have you ever ground something? It's terribly repetitive, especially if you're using a hand grinder, then you're just constantly moving your hand in circles.

 

[not_the_dm]

"Apples and Pears"

or

"The Dog And Bone"

WTF!?

It's rhyming slang.
Apples and pears = Stairs.
The dog and bone = Phone.

 

[Eleuthera]

"A friend in need is a friend indeed."

I think it means that if someone needs help or wants something, they will be very friendly towards you in order to get it.

This one really isn't that hard. Someone stands by you in your time of trouble (a friend when you are in need) is a true friend (a friend indeed).

 

[kingcom]

Well, I got ninja'd on the first page, but "I could care less" was mine as well.

Spoiler: I really don't know how it attained such widespread use.

Umm, no thats sarcasm. You see when you say "i could care less", your being sarcastic about your care level. In that, my caring is slow low that, while i could care less its still so low that it doesnt influence me.

Of the many many times I've heard "I could care lee" you are the first person to ever describe it as being sarcastic. It is obviously ust people who didn't understand the phrase "I couldn't care less" or have just mis quoted it.

So the same message is clearly distributed through two different means which are equally logical.

 

[Kud]

Guy - Haha! They said I could never teach a llama to drive!
Llama - NYAAAAAAAA!
Guy - No llama nooooooooo!

Just sayin.

And for the topic the phrase that makes no sense to me is "Fucking like rabbits"

I mean seriously, rabbits have very short and unsatisfying sex.

 

[AfroTree]

"Apples and Pears"

or

"The Dog And Bone"

WTF!?

It's rhyming slang.
Apples and pears = Stairs.
The dog and bone = Phone.

I know..but wtf?

also..I'll just go with it :/

 

[Goth Skunk]

Mind your p's and q's i dislike both of these letters so why should i mind them

Back when they used old printing presses(The ones where they had to switch the letters by hand), people would sometimes get the lower case p's and q's mixed up since all the letters were backwards. That's where the phrase came from. YOU JUST GOT LEARNED!!!

Uhh, no.

In ye Olde British Pubs, alcoholic beverages were served in Pints and Quarts. Now, when the riff-raff that would end their shifts at the factories came down into the pubs to honour the days labours, oftentimes they would get piss drunk and things had the potential to get out of hand. 'Mind your P's and Q's!' was something that a bartender would cry out to hot-headed customers before things got out of hand. It meant 'Mind your Pints and Quarts!'

 

[Bluesclues]

"It is what it is"

... What is it?

Mine...

"Time to talk about the birds and the bees."

How are they suppose to do... it, and why are they doing it so much that it has become a saying?

It's ok, you can say sex on the Escapist.

OT: Have your cake and eat it too always confused me.

Well, obviously, you can't have your cake and eat it too because you're supposed to have sex with it.

Oh...it all makes sense now...

 

[eggy32]

Guy - Haha! They said I could never teach a llama to drive!
Llama - NYAAAAAAAA!
Guy - No llama nooooooooo!

Just sayin.

And for the topic the phrase that makes no sense to me is "Fucking like rabbits"

I mean seriously, rabbits have very short and unsatisfying sex.

I think it's supposed to imply that somebody is having a lot of sex, which rabbits do.

 

[leviathanmisha]

"going to hell in a handbasket"

My grandmother was quite fond of quoting this at me...don't ask me why...*shifty eyes*

 

[credop]

"It's Good to see you've taken time to dot the I's and cross the T's".

It generally seems okay but my boss once said it to me and i was like "Well i am you're assistant so if i didnt't it'd be a pretty shit letter which looked like it was written by a dyslexic person."

 

[Sjakie]

i think i will park this video here, for a good laugh