# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/101 "2013-10-30T03:50:04Z")
Well, who you gonna believe, me or your own eyes? ---
**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, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/102 "2013-10-30T04:11:36Z")
> [@Flywheel](#): > > Well, who you gonna believe, me or your own eyes? Perception is a wish fulfilled. Aloha 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/103 "2013-10-30T04:51:16Z")
> [@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”. I’ve always taken a moot point as something that’s ONLY good for discussion… As in - should I buy an Aventador or a SuperSports? Well it’s a moot point because I don’t have $1,000,000 - and even if I did I wouldn’t spend it on a car. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/104 "2013-10-30T12:27:24Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > I’ve always taken a moot point as something that’s ONLY good for discussion… > > As in - should I buy an Aventador or a SuperSports? > > Well it’s a moot point because I don’t have $1,000,000 - and even if I did I wouldn’t spend it on a car. That’s my understanding of the term too - it’s another way of saying “This discussion is purely academic or theoretical in nature”. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/105 "2013-10-30T13:20:14Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > 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. Ah, so the problem is with one specific bad lyricist whose work happens to be popular. Merci. ---
**Author:** ![MacLir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@MacLir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacLir)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/106 "2013-10-30T14:44:51Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Oh, cool! It’s fury as in harpy, not fury as in anger. Much more mythological. I had always understood it as anger, but it does work with your interpretation. As Mr. Congreve is long deceased (Several centuries) we can’t ask which he meant. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/107 "2013-10-30T14:55:33Z")
> [@MacLir](#): > > I had always understood it as anger, but it does work with your interpretation. As Mr. Congreve is long deceased (Several centuries) we can’t ask which he meant. 😃 You could say it just slipped between the cracks. Except that’s not true; the _solid_ part is between the cracks; if it _had_ hit that instead of one of those cracks on either side, it’d still be right here. ---
**Author:** ![MacLir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@MacLir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacLir)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/108 "2013-10-30T15:18:16Z")
> [@inedible\_knapsack](#): > > 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. Not really. The contextual use of “Pick yourself up by your bootstraps” is to strive to better yourself by your own efforts, even if modest, and use their results to fuel further improvements. Sort of the converse of the maxim about giving a man a fish - “Buy a fish and you eat today; pay to learn to fish and you eat for life” Reading between the lines, the folks referred to likely are relying on public assistance and not making an effort to shift for themselves. It is also worth noting that the “boot” your computer does on start-up is short for “bootstrap” - it automatically loads a small kernal of information that tells it how to find and load more until it can “act smart.” :rolleyes: The -origin- is tall tales centering around the high boots worn in previous times, which were hard to pull on and had straps or loops at the top to help with donning - “I pulled so hard I lifted myself by my own bootstraps” ---
**Author:** ![MacLir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@MacLir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacLir)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/109 "2013-10-30T15:21:11Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > You could say it just slipped between the cracks. > > Except that’s not true; the _solid_ part is between the cracks; if it _had_ hit that instead of one of those cracks on either side, it’d still be right here. I alway heard that one as “Slipped through/fell through the cracks” - different regionalism, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/110 "2013-10-30T15:29:29Z")
> [@MacLir](#): > > I alway heard that one as “Slipped through/fell through the cracks” - different regionalism, I guess. FWIW, I just now googled _slipped_ and _cracks_, and while your phrasing was the first result, mine was the second; I’m seventh, you’re eighth; et cetera. (Checking for _fall_ and _cracks_, your regionalism takes the top two; mine comes in third and fifth.) ---
**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 30, 2013, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/111 "2013-10-30T15:33:10Z")
There’s also “You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar”. > [@Bill McNeal](#): > > Only a hillbilly sits around and tries to figure out the best way to catch flies. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/112 "2013-10-30T15:53:37Z")
> [@Sorgine](#): > > Ah, so the problem is with one specific bad lyricist whose work happens to be popular. Merci. In fairness, I think that when that lyricist wrote his metrical version of the 23rd, the verb “to want” was clearly understood as being intransitive in the context where it was used; it’s just that usage has marched on and now it is no longer plain that “I’ll not want” is meant to mean “I shall not be in want of anything”. ---
**Author:** ![sohvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sohvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sohvan)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/113 "2013-10-30T16:05:02Z")
I never liked “Best thing since sliced bread.” When I first heard it, I thought the saying was used ironically to mock useless inventions. Give me fresh bread over sliced bread any day. I’ll admit that sliced bread is nice for toast, since uniform thickness leads to a similar result with a specific toasting time. ---
**Author:** ![MacLir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@MacLir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacLir)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/114 "2013-10-30T16:18:38Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > There’s also “You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar”. Depends on the flies. _Drosophila melanogaster_ likes vinegar just fine - it smells like the spoiled fruit they like to lay eggs in. 😃 Growing up, some wags would respond to the admonition with “And you catch even more with bull$#!+” 😛 ---
**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 30, 2013, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/115 "2013-10-30T17:17:02Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > 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. Wow! Thanks. I love how history can leave fossils in language that way. > [@wolfman](#): > > 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? Well, until you get down to the last atom. Then if you divide it you get an explosion. Or you can use the last atom to make homeopathic compounds. That could be another way to have infinite cake. > [@MacLir](#): > > . . . Growing up, some wags would respond to the admonition with “And you catch even more with bull$#!+” 😛 That’s always what I think when I hear the phrase. Especially, for some reason, when my grandmother used to say it. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/116 "2013-10-30T18:07:37Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Well, until you get down to the last atom. Then if you divide it you get an explosion. Or you can use the last atom to make homeopathic compounds. That could be another way to have infinite cake. Due to an improptu experiment brought to us courtesy of **Yllaria** , I can inform you that the size of a chunk of sausage that’s able to go up one’s nose is larger than the researchers had previously believed possible. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2013, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/117 "2013-10-30T18:45:47Z")
> [@picunurse](#): > > Ass over teacup is better. It gives a visual… What part of your body is a teacup? > [@Yllaria](#): > > There’s also a rhythm to English language put-downs that the n’t interferes with. “I could CARE less!” I’m wondering if there’s an element of trying to avoid a double negative. “I could not care less” - wait, does that mean I care more? 😕 > [@](#): > > If you eat an apple a day, you’ll stay healthy and not have to go to a doctor. I knew I should have thrown in an emoticon. ---
**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, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/118 "2013-10-30T18:49:37Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > I knew I should have thrown in an emoticon. 😉 Aloha ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/119 "2013-11-01T06:12:25Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush should mean you made a bad trade. A bird in your hand must be a pigeon or smaller, but a bird in the bush might be a turkey. I’ve always thought the point of this is that you shouldn’t risk what you have for a bigger prize that might not pay off. Presumably the bird you have in your hand is alive and unhurt, and would presumably fly away if you shift your attention (and hand) to catching the two that are in the bush. I’m not sure when such a scenario would ever play out IRL, unless you keep chickens of which three have escaped. And like most proverbs it seems to have its opposite–nothing ventured nothing gained. (Or nothing venture nothing have.) ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2013, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243/120 "2013-11-01T06:18:14Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > When I was little I didn’t understand “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” > > That made no damn sense. Of course I _want_ the Lord to be my shepherd, isn’t that what Sunday School is trying to teach me? Then my mom explained that it means “…I shall not want…anything else.” In proverbs and idioms the word “want” often has its older connotation of “need” and can seem a bit of a non sequitur to those more accustomed to the word in the sense of “desire” or “wish”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idioms-proverbs-sayings-that-dont-make-sense/672243.md?page=7)