# Phrases you're surprised people aren't familiar with **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 20, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youre-surprised-people-arent-familiar-with/596974 "2011-09-20T18:44:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youre-surprised-people-arent-familiar-with/596974/121 "2011-09-22T21:02:55Z")
> [@Hogfather65](#): > > a brass monkey is the square on the ship that used to hold Cannon Balls - if it got too cold the cannon balls would get coated with ice and with the movement of the ship they would slide off Not true, secundum [Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/brass.asp). ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youre-surprised-people-arent-familiar-with/596974/122 "2011-09-22T21:22:44Z")
> [@Hogfather65](#): > > Me too > Came from the same place as > swinging the lead meaning to skive or bunk off - old navel term - to check the depth you would throw a waited line with knots on it over the side and when it hit the bottom you would pull it up and count the knots - giving depth - to swing the lead you would not throw it in and have a break That’s where Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) got his pen name. On the Mississippi River, the knots were at 6-foot (1 fathom) intervals. The deck hand on the bow would drop the lead line to “sound” the distance to the bottom. The call of “mark twain” was 2 fathoms, a safe depth for most riverboats. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youre-surprised-people-arent-familiar-with/596974/123 "2011-09-22T22:49:34Z")
> [@Hogfather65](#): > > cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey a brass monkey is the square on the ship that used to hold Cannon Balls - if it got too cold the cannon balls would get coated with ice and with the movement of the ship they would slide off > [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > Not true, secundum [Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/brass.asp). Boy, we sure have talked about this one a lot on the Straight Dope. See threads [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=236807), [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=601331), [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=234709), [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=621695), and [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=60046)for starters. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youre-surprised-people-arent-familiar-with/596974/124 "2011-09-22T23:35:02Z")
All this time I thought it was referring to those little toy [Cymbal banging monkeys](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymbal-banging_monkey_toy). ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youre-surprised-people-arent-familiar-with/596974/125 "2011-09-23T00:46:27Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > No, cheaters are reading glasses. > > [Corrective lens - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_glasses#Reading_glasses) Hmmmm, I’ve only heard the term to mean sunglasses. Could be a regional thing. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youre-surprised-people-arent-familiar-with/596974/126 "2011-09-23T01:01:22Z")
“Cheaters” are mentioned in the song [“Jeepers Creepers”](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/f/frank+sinatra/jeepers+creepers_20056121.html): _Golly gee When you turn them heaters on Woe is me Got to put my cheaters on_ It makes sense that her eyes are so bright, he has to put sunglasses on. Reading glasses don’t make any sense. ---
**Author:** ![Teufelblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@Teufelblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teufelblitz)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youre-surprised-people-arent-familiar-with/596974/127 "2011-09-23T03:10:27Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > “Cheaters” are mentioned in the song [“Jeepers Creepers”](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/f/frank+sinatra/jeepers+creepers_20056121.html): > > _Golly gee > When you turn them heaters on > Woe is me > Got to put my cheaters on_ > > It makes sense that her eyes are so bright, he has to put sunglasses on. Reading glasses don’t make any sense. I always thought calling reading glasses cheaters was because you couldn’t read with your otherwise functional natural sight and had to cheat with the glasses. ---
**Author:** ![Hogfather65](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7bcc69/32.png) [@Hogfather65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hogfather65)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youre-surprised-people-arent-familiar-with/596974/128 "2011-09-23T08:44:41Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > Not true, secundum [Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/brass.asp). Thanks - Looks like its never to late to teach an old dog new tricks - funny how that seems apt in this thread… ---
**Author:** ![67java89](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/aeb1de/32.png) [@67java89](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/67java89)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youre-surprised-people-arent-familiar-with/596974/129 "2011-09-23T22:40:29Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > May I assume you’re familiar with the addendum: “…and those who can’t teach, teach teaching”? > > Usually, the cat isn’t dead in that phrase. Could they have been laughing at your alteration? I’ve always heard “swing a dead cat” too. How about the phrase “red up” to clean up? This is an odd one to me ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youre-surprised-people-arent-familiar-with/596974/130 "2011-09-23T23:57:43Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > That’s where Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) got his pen name. On the Mississippi River, the knots were at 6-foot (1 fathom) intervals. The deck hand on the bow would drop the lead line to “sound” the distance to the bottom. The call of “mark twain” was 2 fathoms, a safe depth for most riverboats. Oh oh oh! True story: my dizzy Gracie Allen-like high school English teacher told us the story of how Mark Twain got his name. “Mark Twain was sitting on the docks of the Mississippi River,” she told us, “and one day he heard a deck hand drop the lead line and shout, ‘SAM-UEL CLEM-ENS!’” ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youre-surprised-people-arent-familiar-with/596974/131 "2011-09-24T00:35:19Z")
Regional Note: The terms redd and redd up came to the American Midlands from the many Scottish immigrants who settled there. Meaning “to clear an area or to make it tidy,” redd is still used in Scotland and Northern Ireland; in the United States it is especially common in Pennsylvania as the phrasal verb redd up. The term, which goes back to Old Norse rydhja, can be traced from the 15th century to the present, particularly in dialects of Scotland and the North of England from here [redd up](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/redd+up) ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2011, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youre-surprised-people-arent-familiar-with/596974/132 "2011-09-25T17:01:41Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > I don’t know anybody under the age 50 who knows the correct answer to the question **“Are you a Turtle?”** > > You bet your sweet ass I am! > [@Who\_me\_1](#): > > [The Ancient Order of Turtles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Order_of_Turtles) > > And I’m not on my davenport, I’m on my divan. Wow, this clears up a minor mystery from my childhood. When I was in elementary school (1980s) one of my little friends had made up a song about wanting to be a turtle. My mother found this very amusing and told me that there was or used to be a sort of secret club called The Turtles, and that it was all kind of a joke but there were members all around the country. To find out if someone else was a Turtle you asked “Are you a Turtle?” and they would answer with…a joke that she couldn’t remember. Having read the **Peanuthead** ’s post, I assume she actually did remember the answer but realized at this point that it wasn’t a good phrase to be teaching to a little kid! IIRC she also said that either she or my father (who’d been an attack pilot) once had a Turtle pin but that she wasn’t sure what had ever happened to it. I see such a pin is pictures on the Wikipedia page. ---
**Author:** ![svd678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@svd678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/svd678)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youre-surprised-people-arent-familiar-with/596974/133 "2011-09-26T05:05:12Z")
I’m well over 50 and I never heard of a Turtle club, altho I’ve heard the joke. I knew “around Robin Hood’s barn” from upstate NY. “Dog in a manger” is from Aesop’s fables, as well as “sour grapes” and probably other expressions. I think these expressions are not used as much as they used to be, on radio/TV or books, etc. And many are based on rural experience or technology no longer in use, or fables, mythology, biblical quotes, etc. My grandmother called a frying pan a “spider.” ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youre-surprised-people-arent-familiar-with/596974/134 "2011-09-26T05:18:25Z")
“Adventure Ho!” (or derivatives like “Studying Hooooo!”) Seriously, I’ve gotten so many blank stares followed by asking me why I was talking about an “adventuring whore” or whatever. At first I just assumed people were fucking with me and making a bad pun, but no… they had no idea. Seriously, we had Thundercats and everything “Thunder. THUNDER! THUNDERCATS HOOOOOOOOOO!” Come on guys. Please? Is it really that obscure? I mean, I guess it doesn’t show UP that often, but that’s because it’s such a stock phrase it’s practically a cliche by now. ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youre-surprised-people-arent-familiar-with/596974/135 "2011-09-26T06:12:53Z")
One doozy I had of late, I think might be age related. In my team, we tend to get a couple of graduates each year starting their rotation program, so kids in their early 20’s. I told one of the them other day that this particular submission I was getting him to write, was straightforward, and that he didn’t need to _write war and peace_. He just stared at me for a moment, _“What do you mean”_ He said. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youre-surprised-people-arent-familiar-with/596974/136 "2011-09-26T06:13:39Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > “Adventure Ho!” (or derivatives like “Studying Hooooo!”) Seriously, I’ve gotten so many blank stares followed by asking me why I was talking about an “adventuring whore” or whatever. At first I just assumed people were fucking with me and making a bad pun, but no… they had no idea. Seriously, we had Thundercats and everything “Thunder. THUNDER! THUNDERCATS HOOOOOOOOOO!” Come on guys. Please? Is it really that obscure? I mean, I guess it doesn’t show UP that often, but that’s because it’s such a stock phrase it’s practically a cliche by now. I would have assumed it was a joke about a sailors who cry, “Land ho!” ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youre-surprised-people-arent-familiar-with/596974/137 "2011-09-26T06:40:54Z")
> [@GreedySmurf](#): > > One doozy I had of late, I think might be age related. In my team, we tend to get a couple of graduates each year starting their rotation program, so kids in their early 20’s. > > I told one of the them other day that this particular submission I was getting him to write, was straightforward, and that he didn’t need to _write war and peace_. > > He just stared at me for a moment, _“What do you mean”_ He said. :dubious: As a 21 year old, I can say that I don’t find that phrase obscure at all. I mean, if you know anything about War and Peace, you know it’s long. In fact, in my computer science class I came up with the idea of testing the speed (for kicks, it wasn’t required) of our B-tree word indexing project using the Gutenberg .txt of it specifically because it’s known for being a doorstopper. Most of the people (50 or so that actually did it) thought it was funny and got the joke. I think either my class was odd or your students are odd. > [@Nobody](#): > > I would have assumed it was a joke about a sailors who cry, “Land ho!” Yeah, but that’s because, to a degree, it kind of is. It basically just means “adventure onward” or “studying imminent!” It’s basically the same thing as “Land Ho!” It is NOT about prostitutes, however. ---
**Author:** ![kjckjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e36b37/32.png) [@kjckjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kjckjc)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youre-surprised-people-arent-familiar-with/596974/138 "2011-09-26T13:19:10Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > Yeah, but that’s because, to a degree, it kind of is. It basically just means “adventure onward” or “studying imminent!” It’s basically the same thing as “Land Ho!” It is NOT about prostitutes, however. Exactly, but if you are in Freshman Literature, reading Moby Dick, and one of your classmates comes in late because she was at the school office, just as you are begininng Chapter 54, it is still funny to say “Well, speaking of the Town-Ho!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youre-surprised-people-arent-familiar-with/596974/139 "2011-09-27T06:17:34Z")
> [@kjckjc](#): > > Exactly, but if you are in Freshman Literature, reading Moby Dick, and one of your classmates comes in late because she was at the school office, just as you are begininng Chapter 54, it is still funny to say “Well, speaking of the Town-Ho!” > 😃 I have nothing against that joke :D. It’s just when people stare at you bleary eyed, assuming “ho” unambiguously and in totality means “whore” it gets a tad tiresome to explain. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youre-surprised-people-arent-familiar-with/596974/140 "2011-09-27T14:54:16Z")
> [@Elret](#): > > Sorry for the hijack, but can someone explain the mysteries of Google to me? How can there be fewer hits on “swing a cat” than there are on “room to swing a cat”? Shouldn’t the results for “swing a cat” include the 710,000 hits for “room to swing a cat” PLUS any other instance of “swing a cat” that don’t include “room to”? The post you quote doesn’t say “room to swing a cat” but “room to swing a _dead_ cat,” so “swing a cat” isn’t a subset of the latter phrase. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youre-surprised-people-arent-familiar-with/596974.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youre-surprised-people-arent-familiar-with/596974.md?page=8)