Common Idioms/Expressions That Never Made Sense To You

Bernzz

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Pot calling the kettle black.

I know what it means, but...

...what if my pot isn't black?
 

Drakane

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Father Time said:
I've undoubtedly been ninja's with these but

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

Apparently Geico has no idea what the hell it means either.

Also

A stitch in time saves nine. What the hell is a stitch in time and what exactly is it saving nine of?
the a stitch in time one... no clue,

a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush I do understand though. Its a hunting term, to have one in the hand means you have already shot and killed the game bird... ie quail, grouse, pheasent, duck etc., (though I guess it could be considered any small game as it could hide in the bush) is better then the prospective of being able to kill the 2 still hiding in the bush. If theirs 2 in the bush you could shoot and kill both of them, 1 of them, or miss and have none. If you have 1 in the hand your guaranteed that meat for the night and of the 3 possibilities of 2 in the bush, only 1 outcome is better then having 1 in the hand already.
So its better to have the sure thing opposed to having a chance at something that might fail.
 

Drakane

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Bernzz said:
Pot calling the kettle black.

I know what it means, but...

...what if my pot isn't black?
refer to an early post of mine.. in short flames create suit making anything that is cooked on them black, be it pot or kettle.
 

SL33TBL1ND

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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?
A third wheel is generally used in situations when someone is hanging around with their friend who is trying to get some time alone with a ladyfriend they brought with them.
 

smithy_2045

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Father Time said:
A stitch in time saves nine. What the hell is a stitch in time and what exactly is it saving nine of?
I believe it's a sewing metaphor for fixing something with minimal effort rather than leaving it til later when it will become a major issue.
 

Mad_Ogre

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With regard to the 'have one's cake and eat it too' phrase, I know you guys seem to have come to an agreement on what it means and I can see your point, but I have always taken it slightly differently.

I always thought that the word 'have' does mean consuming, so the sentence is basically saying you're trying to eat your cake twice over - in other words you're trying to get more out of a situation than you should expect to get. For example if I bought something for £10 and tried to sell it to you for £20 I'd be trying to 'have my cake and eat it.' Doesn't matter too much, though, really.
 

JoshGod

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TheEvilCheese said:
When people say they 'Could care less' and they mean to say they ''Could not care less''.

Seriously winds me up.
I would have thought that if you really could not care less you would not care enough to say so in the first place.
 

teh_Canape

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May 18, 2010
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"near miss"

yeah, I know it means they missed by a near space

but it just always makes me first think of that they crashed, because they nearly missed

George Carlin had the same thing =P
 

Obsideo

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I always heard that the "You can't have your cake and eat it too." phrase was actually supposed to be said in the opposite order.

If you read it as "You can't eat your cake and have it too." it makes a bit more sense.
 

supermariner

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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.
it's third wheel
sorry, but it is
 

Red Right Hand

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Feb 23, 2009
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Drakane said:
I may have missed an original post of yours, but the quoted text I saw of yours had both an explanation of 3rd wheel/5th wheel I had never heard and disagreed w/... ie what i commented on, as well as an explanation of having your cake and eating it too.. so you got lumped in w/ my response. Also, I am pretty crappy w/ forums so curtailing my quote to just you, like I wanted in this response is a bit difficult for me.

Edit: this may be seen in the fact that I pretty much double posted trying to edit my first mess up, sorry
Ah fair enough. I realise, looking back at my previous post that I sounded quite aggressive, however, I really didn't mean to be. Sorry about that.

OT: When people say "Irregardless". It's not a word, the correct word you are looking for is "Regardless".
 

ThatLankyBastard

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Aug 18, 2010
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"Fun as a Barrel Full of Monkeys!"

Has anyone ever actually been in a barrel full of monkeys? Somehow I doubt that it's as fun as it's all cracked up to be...

Throwing their feces at you...

Screeching bloody murder...

Putting their dirty little fingers in your ears... Among other places...

It just doesn't appeal to me...
 

Garrsus

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Jun 21, 2010
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Lilani said:
"Cute as a bug's ear"

Even if bugs had ears, I highly doubt they'd be cute.
well worms are covered in ears arn't they? well its either from a book or they have hair covering them which act as ears.

TheEvilCheese said:
When people say they 'Could care less' and they mean to say they ''Could not care less''.

Seriously winds me up.
its an America vs. England type moment. England say couldn't care less, America say couldn't care less. here's David Mitchell to explain.

 

Ima842

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Jan 8, 2011
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"Playing it by ear"
can you really play something with your ear?
I don't think so
 

Squarez

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Drakane said:
Bernzz said:
Pot calling the kettle black.

I know what it means, but...

...what if my pot isn't black?
refer to an early post of mine.. in short flames create suit making anything that is cooked on them black, be it pot or kettle.
Not to be pedantic, but you've referred to it as "suit" three times now. As you are probably very aware, a suit is an item of clothing, whereas the word you're looking for is "soot".