Meanwhile “swing a cat” gets 266,000 hits and “swing a dead cat” gets 490,000. So more people need room when swinging live cats but in general, they prefer swinging deceased felines.
Possibly as there are no June bugs in Australia?
I may have told this story before.
For me, I once referred to a rather firey associate of our company who had been frustrated in his desire to have us all fired by going over our heads to the Grandboss as ‘being filled with impotent rage’. Co-workers laughed.
Later, one pulled me aside to tell me it was harsh and unnecessary to say that. Sure, the guy is a rude bastard and all, but it’s really mean to say he can’t get it up because we made him mad.
I was unable to explain what the phrase really meant for some time, since I couldn’t breathe I was laughing that hard.
That’s funny the version I’m familiar with ends “…and those who cant teach, teach gym.”
Back in the mid 90’s when BBSs were all the rage, somebody told me she did something for Ss and Gs. I was like what? For shits and giggles. Huh?
I had never heard that phrase before, and to be honest, even though I’ve sense learned what it means, it makes no sense. The giggles part does, but shits?
A few years ago there an ad where the devil calls Jack from Jack in the Box to tell him that some deal being run couldn’t possibly be true and he caught Jack in a lie. Jack convinces him that the deal is true and the devil responds, “My bad.” I had to ask my wife he meant, because I never heard that phrase before and it sounded like a non sequitur to me.
It’s actually a line from Hellboy, but around here, too many drivers don’t grasp the meaning behind
Red means stop!
which can make driving more terrifying than necessary.
“As the crow flies” I used this recently and the person I was speaking to didn’t know what it meant.
What this means is that there are a lot of people (most) that do little or no recreational reading. that means a lot of words and phrases are going to be meaningless to them.
[ul]
[li]like a pig on ice[/li][li]lock stock and barrel[/li][li]keelhauling[/li][li]before the flood[/li][li]scofflaw[/li][li]antebellum[/li][/ul]
Like a pig on ice - Never heard it.
lock stock and barrel - Heard it plenty of times. Not sure what it means, but I’ve heard it.
keelhauling - Heard it. Know what it means.
before the flood - Sounds vaguely familiar. Not sure what it means though.
scofflaw - Heard it, on the Simpsons I think. Know what it means.
antebellum - Heard it. Know what it means.
Here is one I have heard but don’t understand.
“You talk like a man with a paper asshole” Anyone have some insight?
The whole kit & caboodle… the whole shebang…
Antediluvian? 
I’m 71 and I just now learned that a bumbershoot and an umbrella were one and the same. In fact, I just now learned the word bumbershoot so I guess I killed two stones with one bird.
And here I am just learning it in my mid-30s.
I had to explain “I don’t have a dog in this fight” to several new acquaintances once. Awkward.
Ah, makes sense. Thanks.
That sounds perfectly cromulent.
I think I first read the word “bumbershoot” in a Donald Duck comic.
When I was a contract programmer, after my project was finished and I was leaving, I’d sometimes return people’s goodbyes with a line from the 1980 movie “Serial” (one of Martin Mull’s final lines, IIRC):
“It’s been a slice”.
Blank looks.
“You know, as in the phrase ‘a slice of life’?”
Blank looks.
Sigh.
“Bumbershoot” was one of my grandma’s words, so I’ve always known it. She also said things like “Oh my stars and garters!” (an exclamation of surprise), “Skiddywumpus” (askew in some fashion) and “We’ll wait for you like one pig waits for t’other” (we’re gonna start eating without you if you don’t hurry to the table.)
All of them were perfectly normal to me growing up, but others have reacted with confusion when I use them in conversation.
Also, I miss my grandma.
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!
Never ever heard this saying before. I don’t even know what a june bug is.
Maybe more people would have heard of it if is wasn’t a misnomer; the june bug is a not a bug but a beetle.
Okay, you’re right, that doesn’t help much does it.
So would you mind telling us young whipper-snappers what that means? Or are you too busy resting on your davenport? 
And I’m not on my davenport, I’m on my divan.