The Cellar - Idioms, what do they mean?

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Idioms, what do they mean?

If you are going to use idioms, especially in writing, be sure you know what they mean, or you might end up with egg on your face.

Look them up at The Idiom Dictionary.

Quote:

(with) bated breath

agog with excitement, worry, etc. to the point that one’s breath has stopped (abated)
Example- He stood there behind the curtain with bated breath, too frightened to move an inch.

not pull one’s punches

Meaning
not restrain or rein back one’s criticisms

What irks me most is when people get the wording wrong, like writing "baited breath" - double helping of egg :mad:

It's exactly what I need. Thanks! I once said to my friend that my mom will get a cow if she sees what I'm doing. :lol:

I still don't understand (can't remember) what a red herring is. Is it something that leads you away from the correct path, or is it something that keeps you on track?

a red herring is a false clue - it leads you AWAY from the correct path. I don't know the origin though.

What's the origin/meaning of Leading someone down the Primrose Path?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scriveyn (Post 675153)

What irks me most is when people get the wording wrong, like writing "baited breath" - double helping of egg :mad:

:lol2:

Nobody likes me, everybody hates me I'm goin' out to eat worms!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brianna (Post 675223)

a red herring is a false clue - it leads you AWAY from the correct path. I don't know the origin though.
...

A smoked herring, in fox hunt, drawn across the track will detract the dogs from the real thing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brianna (Post 675223)

What's the origin/meaning of Leading someone down the Primrose Path?

Without looking, I think it comes from The Pilgrim's Progress.
I'm sure at some point the Pilgrims are tempted by two paths and the easier of the two is strewn with primroses, ie it looks appealing, but it deviates from The Way.

On the other hand I might be remembering it from Enid Blyton's The Land of Far Beyond which was a children's version of the above. In which case she might have described the path in that way because of the existing idiom.

ETA - I'd be happy to give any 8+ child the above book.
No I don't believe in God, but the values it espouses are quite lovely. And it's a great adventure story. And if you ignore Jebus at the end (which children without religion will) it's still a triumph of strength and goodwill. But more than that, it introduces children to allegory, and to The Pilgrim's Progress which is referenced in quite a few classic children's stories.

I doubt it's in print now.
But it's really worth a look if you're bringing up your children Christian
And a good read even if you're not.

Google leads us down the path to Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scriveyn (Post 675153)

What irks me most is when people get the wording wrong, like writing "baited breath" - double helping of egg :mad:

Productive of a good quip though: ...waiting with worms in our mouths!
:cool:

Edwin Newman's Strictly Speaking, while dated, is still a pretty good primer on avoiding malapropisms, the occasional mondegreen, and stylistic infelicity.

There are numerous people who could really use a better grasp of when to say principle or principal.

A good many errors of that kind seem to arrive through the ear, rather than from the page.

I still have trouble with affect and effect; also, capital and capitol.

I had those sorted years and years ago; Capitol -ol should be capitalized :right: anyway -- it's either the hill or the building, not the city. That might help a bit.

Now William F. Buckleyisms like "heuristic" and "anfractuosity" often want a consult with the dictionary, at least if I want to use such ammunition-wagon words.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urbane Guerrilla (Post 675477)

... Capitol -ol should be capitalized :right: anyway. That might help a bit.
...

I was hoping someone would notice that.

I did once use the phrase "going off and a tandem" as opposed to a tangent.
What? I knew what tandems were - and I knew they were unreliable unless handled properly. It made sense to me.

Is this the right place to reintroduce the carrot & stick argument?
In which I (and a handful of people worldwide) believe the carrot is ON the stick, meaning a system of dangling a reward which can never be reached.

Whereas the rest of civilisation believes is is a system combining incentive AND punishment. Somehow the dangling carrot is perceived as reward (although the donkey never reaches it) and the stick is used to hit the donkey anyway; proving that not only is the carrot unobtainable, but that it is useless as an incentive.

Very bleak view, people. At least my view only fools the donkey. The other makes a monket out of him and then beats his ass!

I've always been in the reward and punishment crowd.
but I'm smiling at getting your new-to-me thought.

"carrot and stick" and the "carrot dangling from a stick" are two different idiots.:p:

And that they involve an ass... let us pass by, in charity.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. I always thought it referred to people who try to be helpful but are not. Turns out, it refers to Things that you intended to do, but never got around to doing.

Have your cake and eat it should be Eat your cake and (still) have it. You can, in a sequential way, have your cake and (then) eat it too. In fact, in order to eat your cake you have to have it in the first place. However, the same is not true of eating your cake and continuing to have it after you've eaten it.

Don't you still have it in your belly?

It's not cake anymore.

Quote:

Originally Posted by squirell nutkin (Post 676210)

Really? I've never heard of that interpretation. Makes sense though.

One I previously misunderstood was "There's no smoke without fire". I thought it meant it didn't matter how much someone was accused, you couldn't judge them until you had real proof. I know - it doesn't make sense. Of course the meaning is almost opposite - it means if someone is accused of something there must be a reason for the accusation.

Interesting how that saying is different on this side of the pond .
Here its: "Where there's smoke, there's fire,"

Quote:

meaning that if there is telltale evidence of some event, the event is probably occurring.

Quote:

They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee
in a pot & then once a day it was taken & sold to the tannery.......if
you had to do this to survive you were "Piss Poor"

But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn't even afford
to buy a pot......they "didn't have a pot to piss in" & were the lowest
of the low

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water
temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to
be. Here are some facts about the 1500s:

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in
May, and they still smelled pretty good by June.. However, since they
were starting to smell . .... . brides carried a bouquet of flowers to
hide the body odor . Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when
getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house
had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and
men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By
then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it.. Hence
the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water!"

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood
underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the
cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it
rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall
off the roof.. Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed
a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess
up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung
over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into
existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt.
Hence the saying, "Dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would
get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on
floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more
thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping
outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way. Hence: a thresh
hold.

(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that
always hung over the fire.. Every day they lit the fire and added things
to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They
would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold
overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in
it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: Peas porridge
hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special.
When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It
was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the bacon." They
would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and
chew the fat.

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content
caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning
death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years
or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of
the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the
upper crust.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would
sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking
along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial.
They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the
family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they
would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of
places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the
bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these
coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the
inside and they realized they had been burying people alive... So they
would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the
coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would
have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to

listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, saved by the bell or was
considered a dead ringer.

And that's the truth....Now, whoever said History was boring ! ! !

So.. . . get out there and educate someone! ~~~ Share these facts with a
friend

Quote:

Originally Posted by HungLikeJesus (Post 676220)

Don't you still have it in your belly?

Yes, but I am working out now so it's only a matter of time...

Hey Classic, almost all of that was new to me. Great !

Me too! I was checking one of my old email accounts and found that from an old client/friend.

Nice, but of course entirely ficticious.

I have been wondering about "to take the mickey out of someone"

Here's a website (Take our word for it) from people who know their etymology. Sadly it is very rarely updated these days.

Quote:

It's rhyming slang. The original was to take the piss which means "to deride, to make fun of". Mike (or Mickey) Bliss is rhyming slang for "piss" so, applying the usual rhyming slang rules, we substitute Mickey Bliss for piss then drop the rhyming portion. Hence, to take the Mickey.
http://www.takeourword.com

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scriveyn (Post 676316)

I have been wondering about "to take the mickey out of someone"

Here's a website (Take our word for it) from people who know their etymology. Sadly it is very rarely updated these days.

Give them a 30-day free trial membership in The Cellar.
I'm sure resident Dwellars can update and set everything straight with no trouble.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Undertoad (Post 676318)

It set off my BS meter.

http://www.snopes.com/language/phrases/wagon.asp

The term "fell for it" (as in "did you fall for that?") can be traced back to 1587, when lepers, returning home from a day of shopping, would trip (or, fall) over their own appendages. Because it was customary in the Middle Ages to point and laugh at lepers, they coined the phrase "boy, that leper really fell for it, didn't he?" It was later shortened to include, not just lepers, but anyone falling over anything.

It's a wonder Classic's email fruitcake didn't include the misetymology of "threshold." I think that was the only one he missed. I'm with Scriveyn on that one.

Now, enlisting a friend to take the rearward set of pedals so it's easier to get going -- that's "going off on a tandem." Shall we, SG?

Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do...

This is from a recent article about a watery malfunction during a spacewalk.

Quote:

Parmitano, it turns out, is only the latest astronaut to experience the waking nightmare that is the liquid-filled helmet. As early as 1966, during the second-ever U.S. EVA, astronaut Gene Cernan experienced a similar problem. Space-walking was new back then, and NASA, it seems, had underestimated exactly how much work -- "work" in the sense of "manual labor" -- would be required of the astronaut doing the space walk. "Lord, I was tired," Cernan would later recall of that early EVA. "My heart was motoring at about 155 beats per minute, I was sweating like a pig, the pickle was a pest, and I had yet to begin any real work." At one point, as the walk progressed, Cernan's heart rate shot up to 195 beats per minute -- and flight surgeons began fearing that he would pass out from the exertion.

http://www.theatlantic.com/technolog...-water/277854/

A quick google search for "the pickle was a pest" only turns up references to the same quote. My best guess is: his 'pickle' was getting itchy because he was sweating so much.

Anybody else?

Quote:

Originally Posted by gvidas (Post 870592)

This is from a recent article about a watery malfunction during a spacewalk.

http://www.theatlantic.com/technolog...-water/277854/

A quick google search for "the pickle was a pest" only turns up references to the same quote. My best guess is: his 'pickle' was getting itchy because he was sweating so much.

Anybody else?

It could mean that the situation was a problem. The only other thing I could find was :
Location : Brentwood, England
How I became a fan - (me v two brothers)

"What are you watching?" I would say
I got that look
"Just go away"
A 'pickle' a pest I must have been
Over excited, causing a scene

I won in the end and watch it I did
Jess Harper my hero
Not Billy the Kid
Handsome and manly
I loved him so
My heart did a flutter
and my passion did grow

Forever and ever I've been a fan
Even down to Miss Daisy
My substitute Gran.

So there it is
all packaged in verse
now for Emergency
I'll be the nurse!
Moirajf

Name : Sandra Martinez

Location : Guasti, Ca.
********************************************************

Unless he just made it up.

Quote:

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of
places to bury people.

That made me lol.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gvidas (Post 870592)

A quick google search for "the pickle was a pest" only turns up
references to the same quote. My best guess is: his 'pickle' was
getting itchy because he was sweating so much.

Anybody else?

Ummmm.... Maybe here, especially as the "low flow" form of Priapism"

Yeah I vote for "pickle" as a word for "a difficult situation".

Quote:

Originally Posted by gvidas (Post 870592)

Your use of "pickle" was in reference to a much earlier spacewalk, a time closer to the days where the manual controls on a flightstick contained many switches, including a bomb release switch among others. I imagine "pickle" in this context means a switch that was being a pest, contributing to his high stress symptoms like his high heart rate.

Here's a link to a thread (I like posts #8, 34 and 35 the best) where there's a discussion about pickles (switches), pickling (activating those switches), etc. The term pickle is suggested from the bumpy surface of a pickle's resemblance to the button-studded control sticks. Another suggestion is the name comes from the shape of the bombs, like pickles, that are released when that particular switch is pressed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Undertoad (Post 870631)

Yeah I vote for "pickle" as a word for "a difficult situation".

That's how the word pickle is used over here. As in: I was in a right pickle.

That's the same way I've heard it. Interestingly, Pickle is a baseball base-running game that we play in the States. A runner starts between two bases and two players with one ball man the bases and attempt to tag the runner out before he reaches a base. The runner is in a pickle.

Quote:

In this context, he's not talking about a dilemma, a ball game, or a condiment, doncha think?

Doesn't "pickle" come from the Dutch "pekel" which means "brine" which is a salty solution like sweat? One would think the quote "... I was sweating like a pig, the pickle was a pest, ..." would be a cutesy way of saying that the weightless beads of sweat floating around in his helmet were a pest. :2cents:

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigV (Post 870955)

In this context, he's not talking about a dilemma, a ball game, or a condiment, doncha think?

Unless the dilemma is how to scratch his itchy pickle in a space suit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sexobon (Post 871051)

That is an interesting take.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Griff (Post 871063)

Unless the dilemma is how to scratch his itchy pickle in a space suit.

That is an interesting take.

Schweddy-beads or schweddy-balls, aren't we're back where we started ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Griff (Post 871063)

Unless the dilemma is how to scratch his itchy pickle in a space suit.
--snip

Are you one of those guys that refers to his penis in the third person? :eyebrow:

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigV (Post 871352)

Are you one of those guys that refers to his penis in the third person? :eyebrow:

My vajayjay considers that to be very strange behaviour.

heheheeh tuppence...

...to cross the Mersey? :p

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigV (Post 871352)

Are you one of those guys that refers to his penis in the third person? :eyebrow:

The Cyclops is offended that you'd even ask.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanaC (Post 871359)

heheheeh tuppence... to cross the Mersey?

That's a furry, shurely?

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigV (Post 871352)

Are you one of those guys that refers to his penis in the third person? :eyebrow:

These days I'd be happy to get my penis into a second person.

Vlad the Impaler agrees.