Thursday, December 10, 2009

Strange Expressions that make you go WTF?

WITH NEW ADDITIONS!


Our latest installation includes perplexing phrases that never really made sense. Sure, they probably stem from the Middle Ages or whatever but the point is, we're still baffled.

(And no, we don't want any explanations, thank you. We prefer to remain in the dark, an expression we do understand.)


Eat your heart out.
(A little over the top in the gorey department, wouldn't you say?)

You can call me anything but don't call me late for dinner.
(I've been mulling over this one for decades - still drawing a blank.)

Revenge is a dish best served cold.
(But it's not a dish. It's revenge. It's not meatloaf.)

Shiver me timbers.
(Confounding on several levels.)

Let's bury the hatchet.
(Where? And why has an argument gotten so bad that hatchets are involved?)

That sets my teeth on edge.
(Humanly impossible. And just strange.)

Losing my religion.
(The only decent REM song, at least.)

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
(What? What bird? What hand? What bush? Why?)

He bought the farm and other expressions about dying.
(These include "Kicking the bucket" and "Biting the dust." All pretty weird.)

Go fly a kite.
(I guess this is a lite version of "Go f&%k yourself.")

Tripping the light fantastic.
(One of my favorite expressions! It sounds magical. But I have no clue what it means.)

I'll show you what for.
(Please do.)

By the skin of my teeth.
(Perplexing...and a little gross.)

Living high on the hog.
(Sure, I've experimented with my share of drugs but...)

Snug as a bug in a rug.
(Ew.)

Keep your nose clean.
(I can see this expression working with dogs, perhaps. Or coke addicts.)

I have a bone to pick with you.
(What are we, vultures?)

Happy as a clam.
(Though actually, I'm not one to debate the contentment level of a mollusk so who knows? Do they not laugh in their own special way? Do they not feel pain?)

Warms the cockles of my heart.
(There's the aorta, ventricles, an atrium or two...no cockles. No warmed cockles.)

You can't have your cake and eat it too.
(Why not? Stop with the head games, already! It's cake.)

I'll be a monkey's uncle.
(Um...I don't...but why?)

Ollie, ollie oxen free.
(Well, I'm glad the oxen are free, at least.)