Bought a farm: purchased land, probably with a barn
Bought the farm: died
Even: equal in length, or a multiple of two
Even odds: fifty/fifty chance (this one at least kind of makes sense, but try saying it to your average non-native English speaker and they will give you the same blank look they gave me)
Kool-aid: a strange synthetic sugary drink
To drink the kool-aid: to be thoroughly brainwashed to a dangerous degree
Even odds: fifty/fifty chance (this one at least kind of makes sense, but try saying it to your average non-native English speaker and they will give you the same blank look they gave me)
Kool-aid: a strange synthetic sugary drink
To drink the kool-aid: to be thoroughly brainwashed to a dangerous degree
(WARNING: this is a horrible and deeply disturbing story involving a lot of death)
Back of a truck: the farthest part of the vehicle from the cab
Fell of the back of a truck: was stolen and is being resold, possibly by the mafia
Turkey: a delicious bird that I will be eating this week
Cold turkey: to quit something suddenly and without transition
Bless your heart: usually means 'You are completely useless and/or deluded.'
What's your favorite strange and incomprehensible idiom?
Back of a truck: the farthest part of the vehicle from the cab
Fell of the back of a truck: was stolen and is being resold, possibly by the mafia
Turkey: a delicious bird that I will be eating this week
Cold turkey: to quit something suddenly and without transition
Bless your heart: usually means 'You are completely useless and/or deluded.'
What's your favorite strange and incomprehensible idiom?
As I am a native resident of Cold State, and at least a little Norweigan, I'd have to say Uff Da. Old people say it when sinking into or rising from a low couch. You say Uff Da when picking up a heavy box, or when pushing away your empty plate after Thanksgiving dinner. It's an appropriate response when someone tells you about a bad day. Wikipedia tells me it loosely translates into, "I am overwhelmed."
ReplyDeleteOh, Cold State, you are so funny. Kind of like 'Oy gevalt?'
DeleteOMG, my mother says "Bless X's heart" all the time and it drives me NUTSO. There's a lot of condescension packed into that baby. And I'm so obsessed with how much I want her to stop that I can't think of any amusing sayings. But I'm currently doing a study that involves idioms, so I'll give you a good one: Do you know what "the goose hangs high" means?
ReplyDeleteThat one's definitely incomprehensible! And possibly suggestive! (No.)
DeleteI save bless your heart for special occasions. Like the week when the stockroom person who has LITERALLY one job - to prep for lab! - didn't and my lab section got totally fucked. Bless STOCKROOM PERSON's heart. No, really. SP is an idiot.
I've always been vaguely intrigued by "bite the bullet". In my head I conjure up an image of a stage magician doing the old "catch a bullet in the teeth" trick whenever I hear it, rather than anything more prosaically related to stepping up to do a nasty job you've been putting off. Don't know if it's a particularly British English phrase or not?
ReplyDeleteHah! I always took that one literally (http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/bite+the+bullet) but people do say it here on the regular.
DeleteWhere to begin??? I must say that the word "verbaliser" in French perplexes me a little in the context in which one hears it on the bus. There is an automated announcement reminding people to validate(?) their pass "sous peine d'être verbalisé". I know that this means to receive a ticket, but the word "verbaliser" just doesn't sound that threatening really. Plus, it really doesn't make any sense that a verb that often refers to speaking aloud actually means here to receive something written. Anyhow, it's just one of those things that makes me twitter a little inwardly. (I would never verbalize this reaction, except here.)
ReplyDeleteHERMENEUTICS.
DeleteDid they used to say something else? I seem to remember it saying sous peine d'amende, which at least makes more sense. Of course, those were not chic Parisian buses.
DeleteI was surprised the other day that my (non native english speaking husband) didnt know "here goes nothing" as he is pretty up on his idioms. its a bit of a strange one.
ReplyDeletethen there was the mixup i had with a german speaker who used "hasnt seen the light of day" as in hasnt been born yet, which according to google is a real phrase in english but not one i was familiar with, its apparently a common thing to say in german
I've heard hasn't seen light of day (used by programmers to me!) but, uh, never for a baby not yet on the outside.
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