Well here are two expressions (not really analogies – is that okay?) that are so misunderstood they are almost universally misapplied.
The first is the expression “begging the question.” It does not mean “that which naturally leads us to ask the following question…” It does mean, essentially, circular reasoning.
The next one, a biblical reference, was one I misapplied for years. It is the term “the prodigal son.” Most people would assume it means the “son who strayed, but who has returned to the family.” But that’s not really right. Literally, it means the “free-spending son.” Sure, he returned home in the end, but that’s not what “prodigal” means.
“A stitch in time saves nine” is obvious to anyone who sews, I’d think. Catch the problem early to avoid a bigger one.
Gas cooks faster and more reliably than electricity, but I’m guessing the original saying compared gas to wood or coal.
At sixes and sevens has always puzzed me.
Anyone familiar with horses and their dentation knows they wear down their teeth, so an old horse has worn teeth. If someone is gifting you don’t look for the flaws.
No idea why I wouldn’t pay off on my bets (My ancestry is Welch )
When I saw that scene in Brokeback Mountain, my first thought was “Wow, they [the sheep] are all just following each other as if they were sh-- Oh, right.”
I think a lot of people refer to 1984 or “Big Brother” without having read the book, or without really thinking of the book.
Stitch: But that’s the point. Hardly anyone sews anymore. Besides, the natural reading of the phrase is that time is being stitched. Most people I know think it’s a nonsense phrase.
Gas: Most definitely referring to coal or wood, both of which were cumbersome and imprecise.
<Blush> My spelling is usually better than that.
Sewing is still popular as a hobby, but, darning isn’t, which would be more apropos to the saying. But, I do see your point about it referring to mending time. I think I thought that as a child.
Thank you for the explanation on sixes and sevens.
Sorry, cheap shot but couldn’t resist. OTOH, on point to the topic at hand. I more often hear “Welch on a bet” than the correct formulation, and it’s not a typo. People have so lost the origin of the phrase that they don’t realize what they’re saying doesn’t make literal sense.
As for stitch, I like your theory. Hadn’t occured to me but, yeah, darning fits better.
All my life, my entire family worked for a sardine factory. When old enough, in the summertime, all of us students went to work for the sardine factory. When I graduated, I climbed the ranks and made great money at the sardine factory.
One day a few years ago, I opened a can and peeked in at the little dudes jammed inside. “Huh,” I thought. “Makes sense.”
I’ve often wondered about the agricultural accuracy of Terry Pratchett’s analogy, in Small Gods, how it is unfortunate that the god Om has a shepherd as a first prophet rather than a goat herder, because sheep have to be driven, but goats have to be* led*.
Me, it was only once I started working as geologist on a goldmine that I appreciated how difficult it actually is to “mine a rich seam” of something - the damn buggers keep faulting up or down, and you have to keep shifting to follow them. It’s be much easier to “sift for nuggets”
My mother used to say this to me for years and years. I had absolutely no idea what it meant. It was just one of those strange mother expressions. I found out last year the actual meaning. I used to always wonder how time could be stitched. I thought it was something from quantum physics which I did not understand and my mother did.
Not true, actually. Sheep are driven in Western cultures, especially those that use dogs.
But - and this helps to understand Psalm 23 and Jesus’ sheep/shepherd parables - in the middle east, the shepherd led the sheep. But the sheep knew their shepherd, and would only follow him, not a stranger. They knew the sound of his voice, and they trusted him.
He used the phrase “I’m not doing X for my health, you know,” (meaning, I’m doing it for a reason,) when in that instance, X was sit-ups and he WAS doing it for his health. Meaning, he didn’t quite grok the meaning of the idiom at the time it stumbled out of his mouth.
A friend told me she’s met younger people who don’t get it when she says this.
I told her to use “You people are beginning to sound like a skipping (or scratched) CD” instead.
For some reason, a phrase by Douglas Adams really sticks in my head: “As pretty as an airport.” Newer airports are much classier these days, so I don’t know if the analogy is as effective if I use it among non-geeks.
Except this analogy doesn’t work like the original. A broken record repeats the same phrase over and over again, whereas a skipping CD leaves out part of the message. Not the same thing at all.
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