phrases and words not properly understood

[rich p]

My Dad used to say, " I should Coco"...

...or was it "I should cocoa"?

 

[Fnaar]

My Dad used to say, " I should Coco"...

...or was it "I should cocoa"?

Billy Cotton and Supergrass, apparently

 

[rich p]

Billy Cotton and Supergrass, apparently

Wel, well, well. Who needs Wiki when you've got Fnaar and CC!

 

[Greedo]

Crocodile tears, what are crocodile tears?

What does ghost in the machine mean?

It's when they get turned into shoes

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APJwMLvZYZU

 

[graham56]

Driving out of his skin - messy

 

[Norm]

Whenever I hear someone say something is "driving me nuts", I ask where the steering wheel fits.

 

[Mac66]

Not really a misunderstood phrase, but a figure of speech.

Slept like a log. Why a log? Are they renound for their deep sleeping abilities? Why not "slept like a chair", which seems to be just as valid. Whats wrong with "I slept well"?

 

[Dayvo]

Not really a misunderstood phrase, but a figure of speech.

Slept like a log. Why a log? Are they renound for their deep sleeping abilities? Why not "slept like a chair", which seems to be just as valid. Whats wrong with "l slept well"?

'Slept like a well'? Hmm, I've never thought about that, actually!

 

[buggi]

when i was younger i could never work out the saying "more haste less speed". I couldn't see how, if you were making haste, you would be slower, until i dropped something in a rush and my mum said it... and then the penny dropped.

So i don't understand why the penny drops?

 

[swee'pea99]

My mum used to say 'many a mickle maks a muckle'. Eh? Mickle? Muckle? Maks? Do wot John?

 

[TheDoctor]

I don't think Mickle has ever mak'd a muckle...

 

[Norm]

So i don't understand why the penny drops?

It's a reference to slot machines, things only start happening when the coin drops.

[quote name='swee'pea99']My mum used to say 'many a mickle maks a muckle'. Eh? Mickle? Muckle? Maks? Do wot John?[/QUOTE]
It's rubbish, as mickle and muckle mean the same thing. Mickle is the Old English version of the word "much" or "lots" and Muckle is how the same is pronounced in Scotland.

The correct phrase is "many a little makes a mickle".

 

[Yellow Fang]

Friends of Dorothy: I know this means gay people, but what's the derivation? It is Dorothy from Wizard of Oz via the Judy Garland connection? An old queen I know thought it might be Dorothy Parker, the waspish, American critic.

 

[swee'pea99]

Amazingly, it would appear from today's Grauniad, David Cameron does not understand the expression 'to coin a phrase':

Cameron defended the change. "I am asking a very sensible and serious question," he said. "I think it is much better to have one organisation in the party which has one mind and, to coin a phrase, we are all in it together."

If he really did say that, then shame on Eton for leaving him unable to distinguish between quoting a phrase and coining one - ie, originating/coming up with one for the first time.

 

[Andy in Sig]

"Believe you, me" <-- makes no sense at all. "Believe me, you" makes slightly more sense but people don't use it.

It does make sense actually if you realise that it is a bit of very old usage a sort of imperative followed by a dative. Probably from Anglo-Saxon at a guess.