# Idioms/Proverbs/Sayings That Don't Make Sense **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 25, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243 "2013-10-25T20:47:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/81 "2013-10-29T06:55:52Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > “A stitch in time saves nine.” No idea. My guess would be something to do with Borg dressmaking. “Stitch 7 of 9 completed. Other stitches need not be assimilated.” My daughter loves this one… It reads much easier if you think of it as One stitch now will arrest stop this garment from tearing and needing to be repaired with nine stitches later on. OR Deal with problems when they’re small, and they easy - leave them to get bigger and you’ll have far more effort. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/82 "2013-10-29T07:24:55Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > “All that glitters is not gold” makes no sense. “Not all that glitters is gold” is the correct translation of the Latin original. “All that is gold does not glitter” according to JRRT. Always made the most sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/83 "2013-10-29T07:56:34Z")
> [@Sorgine](#): > > Huh, interesting… the Spanish translations specify the “for nothing”. _El Señor es mi pastor, nada me puede faltar_ - the Lord is my shepherd, I can lack for nothing. And there are many English translations that achieve the same - it’s the one well-known metrical version usually sung to the tune “Crimond” where the confusion arises. Another metrical version runs “The King of love my shepherd is, whose goodness faileth never; I nothing lack while I am his and he is mine forever”. No problem there. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/84 "2013-10-29T08:57:26Z")
“Need X like a hole in the head”= see how long you can survive if we cover all the holes in your head. “Making a mountain out of a molehill”: breaks the law of the conservation of matter, but would be a marvel of engineering nonetheless. “He’ll hath no fury like a woman scorned.”: also one who is cold, jealous, hungry, having a bad day, irritable, etc. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/85 "2013-10-29T08:58:48Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > “All that glitters is not gold” makes no sense. “Not all that glitters is gold” is the correct translation of the Latin original. > [@vontsira](#): > > As for the “All that glitters…” quote in particular: if I have things rightly, Shakespeare is – as often --the original culprit. It’s the first line of a verse in one of his plays (IIRC, Shakespeare’s actual word here is “glisters”, not “glitters”). He needed to shape the line the way he did, to make it scan verse-wise. > [@furryman](#): > > “All that is gold does not glitter” according to JRRT. Always made the most sense to me. If memory serves me right: the Tolkien quote is, in the book, a line of a verse created by Bilbo. Personally, I’ll back Shakespeare any day, against some damned halfling who wasn’t even invented till some 350 years later… ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/86 "2013-10-29T09:17:47Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > Consensus of opinion reached, was that “could care less” is what students of language usage call a “sturdy indefensible”: an expression which is at least to some degree wrong / nonsensical / inaccurate, but which many people persist in using, regardless. > [@The Great Sun Jester](#): > > You wasted perhaps the only opportunity you will ever get to say “irregardless” with impunity. Just sayin. Indeed, I could have done that – drat it ! I’m rather addicted to the alternative-history, etc., novels of Harry Turtledove, and seem to refer to them a good deal on this board. There comes to mind, a thing from his “North America in the 19th / 20th centuries” alternative-history cycle; at one stage of which, an unpleasant totalitarian state comes to be, in part of what we know as the USA. The makers and rulers of said state are, mostly, “rough diamonds” with limited education. There’s a passage where two of these high-ups are discussing a project – for something nasty, no doubt. One of the guys finishes a sentence with a long and quite marvellous word which he has supposedly coined: the sense is akin to “all the same” or “anyhow”, and it’s a combination of “irregardless” and another “non-dictionary” polysyllable. I forget precisely what the word is; and maddeningly, I just can’t seem able to find the relevant passage in the book – but it was a wondrous bit of butchery of the English language. ---
**Author:** ![MacLir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@MacLir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacLir)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/87 "2013-10-29T14:35:51Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > "“He’ll hath no fury like a woman scorned.”: also one who is cold, jealous, hungry, having a bad day, irritable, etc. The correct quote, in context, is “Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned,” and comes from the play “The Mourning Bride” by William Congreve. This play is also the origin of “Music has charms to soothe a savage breast,” usually misquoted as “… savage beast” :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![ruh-roh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ruh-roh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruh-roh)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/88 "2013-10-29T14:42:26Z")
When somebody believes something is beyond the need for discussion they say it “is a moot point”, yet the definition of “moot” is just the opposite… “subject to debate, dispute, or uncertainty, and typically not admitting of a final decision”. ---
**Author:** ![MacLir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@MacLir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacLir)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/89 "2013-10-29T14:57:16Z")
> [@ruh-roh](#): > > When somebody believes something is beyond the need for discussion they say it “is a moot point”, > yet the definition of “moot” is just the opposite… “subject to debate, dispute, or uncertainty, and typically not admitting of a final decision”. My understanding of the term is a bit different. A moot point is one that is technically correct, but of no force, and derives from the “Moot Courts” used in debate of various historical points. You can resolve that Lord Cardigan should have gotten clarification of obviously illogical orders before taking action, but that does not change that the Light Brigade charged an active artillery position, instead of the retreating artillery on the flank they were _supposed_ to capture. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/90 "2013-10-29T14:57:43Z")
> [@ruh-roh](#): > > When somebody believes something is beyond the need for discussion they say it “is a moot point”, > yet the definition of “moot” is just the opposite… “subject to debate, dispute, or uncertainty, and typically not admitting of a final decision”. Usually I’ve heard " moot point" to mean not that a subject is beyond the need for discussion because it has been decided, but that the subject doesn’t need to be discussed because there is no practical value to discussing it. Like a “moot court” - there’s plenty of argument but the end result has no practical significance. ---
**Author:** ![MacLir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@MacLir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacLir)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/91 "2013-10-29T15:13:36Z")
> [@tiescore](#): > > “A watched pot never boils.” > Well if you apply enough heat to it, it will in fact boil. You watching it will not prevent this. True, but your perception while sitting and watching is that it is taking forever. If you go away and do something else, the water seems to boil much sooner; usually when you are balancing your contact lens on your finger, ready to put it in. 😉 Just like it did this morning as I was making my tea. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/92 "2013-10-29T16:39:19Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > The solution is patently obvious, as **Gatopescado** notes: Eat half the cake. Then you do have your cake _and_ you’ve eaten it, too. No, you have _half_ your cake. > [@](#): > > \*I realise this probably dates from an era where having a bird in your hand meant you were actually going to have something to eat that night, but even so, it doesn’t make a lot of sense nowadays. A sandwich in the hand is worth two you have to get out and drive to the store to pick up. Don’t put down the sandwich in your hand to go get dinner. > [@deadtwo99](#): > > Still couldn’t come up with a real world example of when I would say it though, that wasn’t totally lame sounding. It’s like in a movie, where the intrepid hero is being chased by some big monster, only to have some _bigger_ monster jump out and bite the trailing monster. Then it _throws that creature out of its mouth_ so it can start chasing the hero. That’s right, it’s got something to eat in its mouth and it spits it out to go get something else to eat. Monsters must be bitter. > [@Melbourne](#): > > It’s like you do 100mph in a single lane, then everybody crowds up to do 30mph for some inane reason, then you all speed up again to 100mph. Only the reason you all slow down is because you can, not because you have to. And the reason you can all slow down is because the road has widened out, so the car behind you can go beside you instead of behind you, and you aren’t trapped in tranch of cars all going 100mph and afraid to slow down. Then the road narrows again and you speed up to the speed of traffic to get into the single lane, with the other cars cutting in front of you and behind you at full speed. Where the hell do you drive? When people slow down to 30mph, it’s not “for no reason”, it’s typically because there’s been an accident or some other obstruction like merging traffic, so they have to slow down. And you’ve never been on an interstate trapped between two people driving side by side and both maintaining a leisurely pace while you wish to hurry along? Roads aren’t necessarily like fluid flow. They don’t obey Bernoulli. ---
**Author:** ![inedible\_knapsack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/49beb7/32.png) [@inedible\_knapsack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inedible_knapsack)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/93 "2013-10-29T19:25:55Z")
It’s a common thing in these parts to hear the phrase “they need to pick themselves up by their bootstraps,” referring to a poor person or family. Recently I realized that the phrase is absurd; you physically _can’t_ pick yourself up by your bootstraps. Turns out that was the intent when the phrase was coined–to indicate just that, an impossibility. Ironic that a lot of people around here are poor and ignorant, and don’t have the tools required to “pull themselves up,” and the judgers are actually using the correct phrase incorrectly to condemn them. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/94 "2013-10-29T20:20:38Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > So you can halve your cake and eat it too. What you need to get around this whole cake thing is obvious… Schrodinger’s nearly as famous cake experiment. You and a cake are put in a box where you are being restrained by a cord that may or may not be cut if a specific radioactive atom decaying occurs at any given moment… mmm, quantum cake! You have your cake and get to eat it too!🙂 ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/95 "2013-10-29T20:36:23Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Along the same lines, someone who takes a tumble is tits over ass. If it’s a bad enough fall wouldn’t you be ass over tits? Ass over teacup is better. It gives a visual… ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/96 "2013-10-29T23:46:59Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > . . .“Having a chip on your shoulder” = tell Chip to get off. According to Bugs Bunny cartoons, daring someone to knock a chip of wood off of your shoulder used to be a method of trying to start a fist fight. Random googling seems to support the idea, but that could just be because no one is willing to challenge the rabbit’s authority. > [@Flywheel](#): > > To which I’ll add one point I’ve never seen in other discussions of this idiom: sound trumps sense. It’s hard to say “I couldn’t care less” without sounding **earnest!** and **sincere**! (Like a society matron in a Three Stooges film saying “Why, I’ve NEVER been so INSULTED in my LIFE!”.) IOW, exactly the wrong tone for conveying blase nonchalance. There’s also a rhythm to English language put-downs that the n’t interferes with. “I could CARE less!” > [@vontsira](#): > > . . . The saying as stands, would seem to suggest that it’s a kind of honour and compliment to the offender, to hang him with a new rope. It turns out, though, that in the business of hangmanship – being hanged with a new rope is more painful for the victim, than being hanged with a well-worn, more comfortable older rope. [Previous thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=700730&highlight=rope) on the topic. > [@Irishman](#): > > . . . Yeah, why give in to that extortionist? Taking my friggin’ apples every day, he should get a real job. If you eat an apple a day, you’ll stay healthy and not have to go to a doctor. > [@Gatopescado](#): > > Solved: Eat _half_ the cake. And the next day, eat half of that. And so on, and so on. According to Zeno’s Paradox, you will then always have cake. > [@control-z](#): > > In more general terms it means “Don’t make a mess where your support comes from.” Don’t shit on your plate and then expect a pleasant meal. Don’t create drama at work and expect a pleasant work environment. My dad always said “don’t shit in your mess kit.” > [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > The one that always got me is _“I’ve forgotten more than you’ll ever know about this.”_ The implication is “I’ve forgotten maybe 2% of what there is to know on this subject and you’re only impressed with the 1% that you know because you know so damn little about it.” > [@MacLir](#): > > The correct quote, in context, is “Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned,” and comes from the play “The Mourning Bride” by William Congreve. . . Oh, cool! It’s fury as in harpy, not fury as in anger. Much more mythological. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/97 "2013-10-29T23:58:47Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > According to Bugs Bunny cartoons, daring someone to knock a chip of wood off of your shoulder used to be a method of trying to start a fist fight. Random googling seems to support the idea, but that could just be because no one is willing to challenge the rabbit’s authority. I think this was done on an episode of Andy Griffith where Opie challenged a bully. But since you brought it up I thought I’d look, and found this[wiki article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chip_on_shoulder). Seems to be a lot of history behind this the whole chip-on-the-shoulder thing, leading up to using it as a challenge to fight. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/98 "2013-10-30T00:12:10Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > The solution is patently obvious, as **Gatopescado** notes: Eat half the cake. Then you do have your cake _and_ you’ve eaten it, too. Does Zeno’s paradox work with baked goods? As long as I only eat half the remaining cake each time, I will have infinite cake? ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/99 "2013-10-30T00:24:28Z")
It occurs to me that seems stupid the way I wrote it. Meant to say if Zeno applies to baked goods, then as long as it’s possible for me to always eat half of the cake, then it doesn’t matter how I eat the cake, I can never eat it all anyway. ---
**Author:** ![jsutter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@jsutter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsutter)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/100 "2013-10-30T03:16:57Z")
“Seeing is believing.” because the truth is “Believing is seeing.” Aloha [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243.md?page=6)