# Head Over Heels, etc.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/head-over-heels-etc/375311
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
**Created:** [October 4, 2006, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/head-over-heels-etc/375311 "2006-10-04T21:30:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@rcburket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rcburket)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2006, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/head-over-heels-etc/375311/1 "2006-10-04T21:30:34Z")
I have always heard that “head over heels” referred to tumbling crazily, as it makes little sense as a description of a static scene. But it raises the specter of two other phrases, one of which Cecil mentions and one of which, thank heavens, he doesn’t: “Cheap at half the price” and “I could care less”.
The former was initiated in comedy routines and was always used as a slightly self-deprecating joke; I have heard it dozens of time and not once from anybody who didn’t realize and fully intend the humor in the comment, like a deliberate malapropism.
“I could care less” is intended to be sarcastic, and has a somewhat stronger impact than “I couldn’t care less”, which is intended literally (it fires the barb of sarcasm in parallel to the claim of indifference). I have always been amazed at the number of people normally comfortable with irony who, upon hearing “I could care less”, suddenly turn serious and start clucking and shaking their heads at the simpleton who uttered it. One must be careful with humor in public.
Bob Burket
Santa Monica, California
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### Author:  [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2006, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/head-over-heels-etc/375311/2 "2006-10-04T22:38:29Z")
The column is [here](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_241a.html) for anyone who needs the link.
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### Author:  [@j\_sum1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_sum1)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2006, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/head-over-heels-etc/375311/3 "2006-10-05T02:10:41Z")
Kiwis have an expression _arse over kite_ which is used when one takes an undignified tumble. It always struck me as rather graphic and appropriate.
_Head over heels_ may be a milder synonym, but can also mean foolish or vacuous (usually) in love.
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### Author:  [@BBChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BBChris)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2006, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/head-over-heels-etc/375311/4 "2006-10-05T09:37:37Z")
Being British I have never heard the phrase “Head over ears”, in the area I live we use “Head over heels” like everybody else, however, I hadn’t noticed the stupidity of the phrase until this column pointed it out.
“Cheap at half the price” is still heard regularly. Everyone knows it’s dumb but also know what it means.
I also found it funny when I heard “I could care less” on American TV as we use “I couldn’t care less” which actually for a change makes sense!
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### Author:  [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2006, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/head-over-heels-etc/375311/5 "2006-10-05T16:16:39Z")
I prefer the phrase, ass over elbows, _and_ it makes sense.
“The proof is in the pudding” is another phrase that creeps up, but doesn’t make any sense.
It started out as, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
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### Author:  [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2006, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/head-over-heels-etc/375311/6 "2006-10-05T17:53:07Z")
[QUOTE=SiXSwordS]
I prefer the phrase, ass over elbows, _and_ it makes sense.
[/QUOTE]
I prefer “ass over teacup”, which makes no sense and yet is as descriptive as idioms come, somehow.
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### Author:  [@Agonist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agonist)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2006, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/head-over-heels-etc/375311/7 "2006-10-06T01:09:29Z")
Somewhere I’ve seen/heard the version “tail over teakettle.” I don’t know that I’ve ever associated my head with a teakettle, but it does seem to convey the right meaning.
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### Author:  [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2006, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/head-over-heels-etc/375311/8 "2006-10-06T01:44:01Z")
I’ve never heard “tail over teakettle”, but have heard “ass/arse over teakettle”.
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### Author:  [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2006, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/head-over-heels-etc/375311/9 "2006-10-06T04:38:21Z")
My Grandmother used to say “Tail over teakettle.” I remember her saying it to my 5 year old self, standing on a folding chair.
I didn’t, though.
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### Author:  [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2006, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/head-over-heels-etc/375311/10 "2006-10-06T09:16:59Z")
I wonder if the Norwegian version “hals over hode” (lit. neck over head) is an import from English, it being so similar phonetically. I guess it’s time I sprung for that etymologic dictionary…
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### Author:  [@BBChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BBChris)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2006, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/head-over-heels-etc/375311/11 "2006-10-06T11:36:09Z")
The one I hear most frequently is “A over T” which is of course short for “Arse over tit”. It makes more sense but is generally used to refer to someone falling over as in “He’s gone a over t” rather than “head over heels” which is normally used in connection with falling in love.
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### Author:  [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2006, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/head-over-heels-etc/375311/12 "2006-10-06T15:29:28Z")
Now that I think about it, ass over elbows goes for literally falling too.
Maybe head over heels is a way of saying that one has made one full revolution and is going around again?
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### Author:  [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2006, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/head-over-heels-etc/375311/13 "2006-10-07T03:01:54Z")
"to go over’’ means to pass something, like the edge of a cliff. maybe head over heels implies that the head has gone over the vertical line above the heels. ie, you tripped and are falling. perhaps it makes more sense if you imagine the sensation of tripping and feeling your head going forward and your heels standing still. of your head going over your heels.
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### Author:  [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2006, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/head-over-heels-etc/375311/14 "2006-10-07T21:56:55Z")
“Cheap at half the price” was printed under the price of MAD Magazine. I was a kid, I thought that’s where it came from…
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2006, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/head-over-heels-etc/375311/15 "2006-10-13T10:17:20Z")
If you compare ‘head over heels’ to ‘end over end’, it becomes clear (to me at least) that the order in which the words are presented doesn’t really matter. Doesn’t it relate to a sustained, tumbling fall?
Also… ‘head over ears’? - never heard of it.
Also also… it’s ‘arse over tit’ here.
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### Author:  [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2006, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/head-over-heels-etc/375311/16 "2006-10-13T13:20:37Z")
We use “base over apex” (although that might be because I grew up in a university town, not heard it much elsewhere).
I always pictured clowns tumbling - where one would perform a handstand, and the other would dive headfirst between his heels.