kayakerles
Have a nice ride.
- Location
- Silver Spring, Maryland, USA
We hear all sorts of things on a regular basis that others don’t in their locale. Being part of this forum has sent me to Mr. Google many times. How we communicate is fascinating. Post your thoughts on this thread with related phrases you have found interesting.
This thread was inspired by Drago's Stupid Phrases thread.
I'll start, “Drop me a line.”
The “drop” part of the idiom “drop a line” is a usage dating back to at least 1769 meaning “To let (a letter or note) fall into the letter-box; hence, to send (a note, etc.) in a casual or informal way.” (OED) (“I will drop a line as often as I can,” John Quincy Adams, 1777).
As for the youth of today understanding this one… they might still get it as they tweet lines… but who writes or receives LETTERS anymore? Remember them?
Now one I had to look up… KNOB. (I know y'all know this one!)
I came across this tidbit on a site called Not One-Off Britishisms - British words and expressions that have got popular in the US
“The first figurative citation, denoting “An annoying, unpleasant, or idiotic person (esp. a man or boy),” interestingly, is from 1920. All the examples are from British, Irish or Canadian writers, an example of the last being Douglas Coupland in his 1991 novel Generation X: “I’d made all these plans to meet before, but he kept breaking them, the knob.”
Of course there are other descriptive meanings as well…
This thread was inspired by Drago's Stupid Phrases thread.
I'll start, “Drop me a line.”
The “drop” part of the idiom “drop a line” is a usage dating back to at least 1769 meaning “To let (a letter or note) fall into the letter-box; hence, to send (a note, etc.) in a casual or informal way.” (OED) (“I will drop a line as often as I can,” John Quincy Adams, 1777).
As for the youth of today understanding this one… they might still get it as they tweet lines… but who writes or receives LETTERS anymore? Remember them?
Now one I had to look up… KNOB. (I know y'all know this one!)
I came across this tidbit on a site called Not One-Off Britishisms - British words and expressions that have got popular in the US
“The first figurative citation, denoting “An annoying, unpleasant, or idiotic person (esp. a man or boy),” interestingly, is from 1920. All the examples are from British, Irish or Canadian writers, an example of the last being Douglas Coupland in his 1991 novel Generation X: “I’d made all these plans to meet before, but he kept breaking them, the knob.”
Of course there are other descriptive meanings as well…