Common Idioms/Expressions That Never Made Sense To You

Red Right Hand

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Feb 23, 2009
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octafish said:
badgersprite said:
Am I the only person who finds the term "third wheel" to not make any sense? Being a third wheel means being extraneous, getting in the way, and basically ruining a good time, but that analogy never rang true to me. I mean, think about it; on a tricycle, doesn't the third wheel actually make the trike stable? Aren't tricycles much steadier in comparison to bikes, and a lot harder to knock over? Don't airplanes use three wheels for landing precisely because that is the most stable arrangement?

Two wheels seem rickety and more prone to accidents. And aren't there now three wheeled boles that let you peddle while lying down? That seems way more comfortable! I WANT a third wheel. It sounds appealing.

Anyway, that's me being overly literal with a figure of speech. How about you? What common phrases make absolutely no sense to you?
Who the fuck says third wheel? The saying is fifth wheel. As in a extraneous wheel that isn't doing anything.

Oh and for the fools who are going to bring up "To have your cake and eat it" Here is a cake just for you... You have your cake right, now give it to me... Thank you, you can have it back. Now eat it... Would you like a glass of milk?... Ok you've eaten it, now give it to me... What you can't? You've eaten it? You don't have it any more? Don't you have your cake?
That makes a whole lot of sense now. I'm slightly embarassed to have not thought of that already though...
 

zidine100

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Mar 19, 2009
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at the end of the day.

no its not the bloody end of the day, look at your watch..... oh well that's mabie a bad example, but you get what im meaning. no that makes no sence what so ever at the end of the day your argument is still going to be the same as the start of the day so why are you bringing up the time it makes no logical sense and has no meaning, confirmation or even relevance to your argument.
unless of course you are arguing about what your going to be doing at the end of the day, but come on im talking about the saying here.

bleh i just dont understand how people could even use that saying.
 

Sinclair Solutions

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Jul 22, 2010
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Fetzenfisch said:
mazzjammin22 said:
"It's like trying to have your cake and eat it too."

Why wouldn't I want to eat cake that I have?
Because you than would not have cake anymore
So...it's the decision of whether to eat a cake now or later? I guess that makes sense.
 

Drakane

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May 8, 2009
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Red Right Hand said:
octafish said:
badgersprite said:
Am I the only person who finds the term "third wheel" to not make any sense? Being a third wheel means being extraneous, getting in the way, and basically ruining a good time, but that analogy never rang true to me. I mean, think about it; on a tricycle, doesn't the third wheel actually make the trike stable? Aren't tricycles much steadier in comparison to bikes, and a lot harder to knock over? Don't airplanes use three wheels for landing precisely because that is the most stable arrangement?

Two wheels seem rickety and more prone to accidents. And aren't there now three wheeled boles that let you peddle while lying down? That seems way more comfortable! I WANT a third wheel. It sounds appealing.

Anyway, that's me being overly literal with a figure of speech. How about you? What common phrases make absolutely no sense to you?
Who the fuck says third wheel? The saying is fifth wheel. As in a extraneous wheel that isn't doing anything.

Oh and for the fools who are going to bring up "To have your cake and eat it" Here is a cake just for you... You have your cake right, now give it to me... Thank you, you can have it back. Now eat it... Would you like a glass of milk?... Ok you've eaten it, now give it to me... What you can't? You've eaten it? You don't have it any more? Don't you have your cake?
That makes a whole lot of sense now. I'm slightly embarassed to have not thought of that already though...
I've always heard it as being the third wheel not 5th wheel. An unneeded and often unwanted addition that though in some circumstances is helpful makes shit way less fun. Sure a tricycle is more stable then a bicycle but its still not how most prefer to ride a "bike" once they are comfortable w/ 2 wheels.
 

Arkley

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Mar 12, 2009
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The best of all these idioms is the very British phrase: "Bob's your uncle".

I realise most Americans are not familiar with this phrase and thus won't know what it means. Well, I present to you, for your confusion and amazement, the meaning of the phrase "Bob's your uncle".

It means "there you have it", or something to that effect. For example:

"Stuck on level 33? Just turn left at the gargoyle, open the door with the Brass Key and Bob's your uncle, level complete!"
 

emeraldrafael

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Jul 17, 2010
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badgersprite said:
I'm going to assume you're past the age of training wheels, so would you want to ride a tricycle? I think the phrase is more appearance then practice. But I get what your saying.

OT: hm.... I never got "a bird in hand is worth two in the bush," mainly cause what purpose does a bird in my hand have? If its dead, is it still worth the two in the bush?

Tht and "the path to hell is paved with good intentions." Does that mean that the path to heaven is paved in bad intentions? That you shouldnt do good and you go to heaven?
 

zidine100

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Mar 19, 2009
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Arkley said:
The best of all these idioms is the very British phrase: "Bob's your uncle".

I realise most Americans are not familiar with this phrase and thus won't know what it means. Well, I present to you, for your confusion and amazement, the meaning of the phrase "Bob's your uncle".

It means "there you have it", or something to that effect. For example:

"Stuck on level 33? Just turn left at the gargoyle, open the door with the Brass Key and Bob's your uncle, level complete!"
or alternatively fanny's your aunt, which is even more humorous taken out of context.
 

Mad_Ogre

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Jan 10, 2011
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emeraldrafael said:
badgersprite said:
I'm going to assume you're past the age of training wheels, so would you want to ride a tricycle? I think the phrase is more appearance then practice. But I get what your saying.

OT: hm.... I never got "a bird in hand is worth two in the bush," mainly cause what purpose does a bird in my hand have? If its dead, is it still worth the two in the bush?

Tht and "the path to hell is paved with good intentions." Does that mean that the path to heaven is paved in bad intentions? That you shouldnt do good and you go to heaven?
I think it just means that many seemingly evil acts had good intentions behind them at the time. The eugenics movement may be seen as a good example of this.
 

Red Right Hand

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Feb 23, 2009
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Drakane said:
Red Right Hand said:
octafish said:
badgersprite said:
Am I the only person who finds the term "third wheel" to not make any sense? Being a third wheel means being extraneous, getting in the way, and basically ruining a good time, but that analogy never rang true to me. I mean, think about it; on a tricycle, doesn't the third wheel actually make the trike stable? Aren't tricycles much steadier in comparison to bikes, and a lot harder to knock over? Don't airplanes use three wheels for landing precisely because that is the most stable arrangement?

Two wheels seem rickety and more prone to accidents. And aren't there now three wheeled boles that let you peddle while lying down? That seems way more comfortable! I WANT a third wheel. It sounds appealing.

Anyway, that's me being overly literal with a figure of speech. How about you? What common phrases make absolutely no sense to you?
Who the fuck says third wheel? The saying is fifth wheel. As in a extraneous wheel that isn't doing anything.

Oh and for the fools who are going to bring up "To have your cake and eat it" Here is a cake just for you... You have your cake right, now give it to me... Thank you, you can have it back. Now eat it... Would you like a glass of milk?... Ok you've eaten it, now give it to me... What you can't? You've eaten it? You don't have it any more? Don't you have your cake?
That makes a whole lot of sense now. I'm slightly embarassed to have not thought of that already though...
I've always heard it as being the third wheel not 5th wheel. An unneeded and often unwanted addition that though in some circumstances is helpful makes shit way less fun. Sure a tricycle is more stable then a bicycle but its still not how most prefer to ride a "bike" once they are comfortable w/ 2 wheels.
Any reason why I was quoted as well? I was talking about "To have your cake and eat it too".
 

JourneyThroughHell

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Sep 21, 2009
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I would go with "could care less", too. There might be a reason why some people say it like that, I can't know, but I still just doesn't sound right.
 

Lalalarzi

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Jun 5, 2009
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More a malaproprism, but when people misuse the word 'literally'. This never fails to amuse me, particularly " It's so hot, I'm literally on fire!'
 

acclimation pirate

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Dec 7, 2010
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emeraldrafael said:
badgersprite said:
I'm going to assume you're past the age of training wheels, so would you want to ride a tricycle? I think the phrase is more appearance then practice. But I get what your saying.

OT: hm.... I never got "a bird in hand is worth two in the bush," mainly cause what purpose does a bird in my hand have? If its dead, is it still worth the two in the bush?

Tht and "the path to hell is paved with good intentions." Does that mean that the path to heaven is paved in bad intentions? That you shouldnt do good and you go to heaven?

Having a bird in your hand = food, having two birds in the bush = potential food if you can catch it... I think. That's what I've always understood from it. haha.

I agree that "the path to hell is paved with good intentions" is a bit incomplete though. @_@

To sound less smrts. "Red Herring" has always confused me (i.e. Never bothered to look it up)
 

emeraldrafael

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Jul 17, 2010
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acclimation pirate said:
emeraldrafael said:
badgersprite said:
I'm going to assume you're past the age of training wheels, so would you want to ride a tricycle? I think the phrase is more appearance then practice. But I get what your saying.

OT: hm.... I never got "a bird in hand is worth two in the bush," mainly cause what purpose does a bird in my hand have? If its dead, is it still worth the two in the bush?

Tht and "the path to hell is paved with good intentions." Does that mean that the path to heaven is paved in bad intentions? That you shouldnt do good and you go to heaven?

Having a bird in your hand = food, having two birds in the bush = potential food if you can catch it... I think. That's what I've always understood from it. haha.

I agree that "the path to hell is paved with good intentions" is a bit incomplete though. @_@
Unless thats a turkey. pheasant, or quail, you're not getting much nutritional gain from it.
 

Sn1P3r M98

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May 30, 2010
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Aby_Z said:
"All but [x]"

For example: "The building was all but destroyed."
You'd think this would mean that the building was still up, but damaged in many other ways, etc. Nope. Time and time again, I've seen this phrase used to say that the thing in question is [x]. Thusly, the above example means that the building has been destroyed.

Makes no damned sense.
This.

If it was all but destroyed, it sounds to me like everything possible happened to it but it wasn't destroyed.