# Phrases I Don't Understand. Any You Don't Get? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 8, 2010, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-i-dont-understand-any-you-dont-get/556483 "2010-10-08T14:12:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-i-dont-understand-any-you-dont-get/556483/21 "2010-10-08T17:42:42Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > One I’ve never really grokked is **“Misery loves company.”** Does it mean that miserable people like to have other people around generally, that they like to hang out with other people who happen to be miserable, or that they want to actively cause other people to be miserable? The way it’s used, I suppose the last option is right, but I didn’t suspect that was what it meant until a few years ago. I think it’s the second one. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-i-dont-understand-any-you-dont-get/556483/22 "2010-10-08T17:49:14Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > > [@Gyrate](#): > > > > IANA etymologist but I suspect this started out as “heels over head”, got mixed up because “head over heels” is easier to say (go ahead, try saying both) and stuck that way. > > I just read a collection of Dashiell Hammett stories called Nightmare Town, and he used the “heels over head” version several times. I think most of these stories were written in the 20s and 30s. Offhand, I know the “head over heels” version is used in _The Jungle Book_ (1894). In “The White Seal”, it appears in the text with Matkah “knocking the youngsters head over heels” with her flippers and possibly in variant form in the Lullabye as “Or your head will be sunk by your heels”. That suggests the inverted version was established by the end of the 19th Century at the latest. Various sources suggest that the original “heels over head” version came into use in the 14th Century, but I haven’t seen any cites of a first documented appearance. As Gyrate says, the inverted version likely came to be preferred because it’s easier to say. As to its meaning, it’s pretty clearly a reference to somersaulting, with a connotation of tumbling out of control. ---
**Author:** ![dmatsch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3be4f8/32.png) [@dmatsch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dmatsch)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-i-dont-understand-any-you-dont-get/556483/23 "2010-10-08T17:58:33Z")
Seize the day. So I’m supposed to live for today like it might be my last day on earth? OK. I guess I can always retire to the trailer park when I hit 70. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-i-dont-understand-any-you-dont-get/556483/24 "2010-10-08T18:03:30Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > > [@bibliophage](#): > > > > One I’ve never really grokked is **“Misery loves company.”** Does it mean that miserable people like to have other people around generally, that they like to hang out with other people who happen to be miserable, or that they want to actively cause other people to be miserable? > > I think it’s the second one. Really? I’ve always understood it as an English colloquial expression similar to _schadenfreude_. ETA: That is, more like the third option. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-i-dont-understand-any-you-dont-get/556483/25 "2010-10-08T18:07:57Z")
> [@Digital\_Stimulus](#): > > > [@tdn](#): > > > > I think it’s the second one. > > Really? I’ve always understood it as an English colloquial expression similar to _schadenfreude_. > > ETA: That is, more like the third option. According to [this](http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/Misery+loves+company), you’re right. Who knew? ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-i-dont-understand-any-you-dont-get/556483/26 "2010-10-08T18:11:00Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Who knew? Well…I guess that _I_ did. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-i-dont-understand-any-you-dont-get/556483/27 "2010-10-08T18:37:12Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > > [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > > > Head over heels - Isn’t your head almost always over your heels > > Even stranger, head over ears. > > That dates back to at least the mid-late 19th century. Even more stranger: Ass over tea kettle. He who hesitates is lost. Look before you leap. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-i-dont-understand-any-you-dont-get/556483/28 "2010-10-08T18:40:53Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > One I’ve never really grokked is **“Misery loves company.”** Does it mean that miserable people like to have other people around generally, that they like to hang out with other people who happen to be miserable, or that they want to actively cause other people to be miserable? The way it’s used, I suppose the last option is right, but I didn’t suspect that was what it meant until a few years ago. The pessimist in me parses it like “Bad things come in threes.” If you are miserable now, just wait; things could still get worse. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-i-dont-understand-any-you-dont-get/556483/29 "2010-10-08T18:45:46Z")
[Lyrics](http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/candide/thebestofallpossibleworlds.htm) to “Best of All Possible Worlds” from Bernstein’s musical _Candide_ Once one dismisses the rest of all possible worlds. One finds that this is the best of all possible worlds ---
**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-i-dont-understand-any-you-dont-get/556483/30 "2010-10-08T18:47:11Z")
> [@Digital\_Stimulus](#): > > > [@tdn](#): > > > > I think it’s the second one. > > Really? I’ve always understood it as an English colloquial expression similar to _schadenfreude_. > > ETA: That is, more like the third option. “I’ve just come off an unhappy love affair, so I don’t see why anyone else should have a good time!” 😃 Or as Frank Burns said in an episode of MASH, “Stop laughing without me!” ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Hamsandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4bbf92/32.png) [@Darth\_Hamsandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Hamsandwich)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-i-dont-understand-any-you-dont-get/556483/31 "2010-10-08T19:21:59Z")
“You betcha’ !” (You bet you!) Does this mean I’m wagering myself? How could I possibly lose? Unless I’m wagering my actual person into indentured servitude. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-i-dont-understand-any-you-dont-get/556483/32 "2010-10-08T19:50:30Z")
> [@Darth\_Hamsandwich](#): > > “You betcha’ !” (You bet you!) > > Does this mean I’m wagering myself? How could I possibly lose? > Unless I’m wagering my actual person into indentured servitude. Huh. That never occurred to me before. Might it be a shortening of something like “You bet your ass” that avoids explicit cursing? Of course, that doesn’t make a whole lotta sense either. The long version would have to be something like “I’m so sure of [something], you could bet your life on it and be sure you wouldn’t lose.” If that’s the case, no wonder it became “you betcha”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-i-dont-understand-any-you-dont-get/556483/33 "2010-10-08T21:26:08Z")
Half again as much. Johnny L.A. used this in a recent thread and I thought it meant half, he said it meant 1.5 times something. I’d never heard the phrase before or if I had I never realized that’s what it meant. I asked some other people if they’d heard it and they hadn’t, I wonder if it’s a regional thing? I think Johnny thought I was being snarky about it, but I wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-i-dont-understand-any-you-dont-get/556483/34 "2010-10-08T23:22:51Z")
I don’t think it’s a regional thing. It’s pretty self explanatory. “I want half again as much”…you want that and half again. ---
**Author:** ![Dusty\_Rose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ba8739/32.png) [@Dusty\_Rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dusty_Rose)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-i-dont-understand-any-you-dont-get/556483/35 "2010-10-09T00:29:23Z")
My mom used to say this: They’d bitch if you hung 'em with a new rope. I didn’t understand it then and I don’t understand it now. If you’re hanging someone, are they supposed to be happier because you’re using a new rope instead of an old one? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-i-dont-understand-any-you-dont-get/556483/36 "2010-10-09T00:30:01Z")
> [@Digital\_Stimulus](#): > > Really? I’ve always understood it as an English colloquial expression similar to _schadenfreude_. > > ETA: That is, more like the third option. But _schadenfreude_ is different in that it doesn’t require that the person himself be unhappy, just that he be unhappy at other’s misfortunes. You can be perfectly happy yourself and still feel schadenfreude when someone else slips on a banana peel. Also, that link doesn’t suggest that the person who is miserable is actively making other people unhappy themselves; they want them to be unhappy for whatever reason. “Misery loves company” just means that people who are unhappy prefer those who are around them to also be unhappy, because seeing happy people rubs in the fact that they’re unhappy. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-i-dont-understand-any-you-dont-get/556483/37 "2010-10-09T01:45:17Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > I don’t think it’s a regional thing. It’s pretty self explanatory. “I want half again as much”…you want that and half again. I’m in the UK and I’ve always heard this as “half as much again” which seems to me to make the meaning of that much and another half clearer. ---
**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 9, 2010, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-i-dont-understand-any-you-dont-get/556483/38 "2010-10-09T04:31:20Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > > [@ralph124c](#): > > > > What does “23 skiddoo” mean? > > “Get out of here, get lost”, that type of thing. Wiki lists an [interesting history](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/23_skidoo_(phrase))and says it was the first American fad to go national. Though they do caution at the beginning: “Although there are a number of stories suggesting the possible origin of the phrase, none has been universally accepted.” ---
**Author:** ![Gestalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/90ced4/32.png) [@Gestalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gestalt)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-i-dont-understand-any-you-dont-get/556483/39 "2010-10-09T05:50:48Z")
“read for comprehension.” Everyone on the boards says it and I don’t know what it means. How else can one read??? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-i-dont-understand-any-you-dont-get/556483/40 "2010-10-09T05:58:55Z")
I could care less Cheap at half the price [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-i-dont-understand-any-you-dont-get/556483.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-i-dont-understand-any-you-dont-get/556483.md?page=3)