# Sayings, idioms, and acronyms which seem to indicate the OPPOSITE of what is intended **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 5, 2025, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-idioms-and-acronyms-which-seem-to-indicate-the-opposite-of-what-is-intended/1024599 "2025-11-05T14:47:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![sunacres](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@sunacres](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunacres)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2025, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-idioms-and-acronyms-which-seem-to-indicate-the-opposite-of-what-is-intended/1024599/101 "2025-11-08T02:42:01Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > “It’s all downhill from here” is a bad thing. Unless it’s a good thing. On a railroad you’ll be laboring mightily to get up the hill and coasting all the way down. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2025, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-idioms-and-acronyms-which-seem-to-indicate-the-opposite-of-what-is-intended/1024599/102 "2025-11-10T02:54:27Z")
I would think lying down on a made bed would be a good thing, but people say, you made your bed, now lie in it as if it were a bad thing. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2025, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-idioms-and-acronyms-which-seem-to-indicate-the-opposite-of-what-is-intended/1024599/103 "2025-11-10T03:16:26Z")
“You can’t have your cake and eat it too.” Why the heck not? I got the cake. It’s going in my mouth. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2025, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-idioms-and-acronyms-which-seem-to-indicate-the-opposite-of-what-is-intended/1024599/104 "2025-11-10T03:19:11Z")
I recently learned that this makes sense, it’s just said the wrong way around. You can’t EAT your cake and also HAVE (keep) it. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2025, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-idioms-and-acronyms-which-seem-to-indicate-the-opposite-of-what-is-intended/1024599/105 "2025-11-10T13:58:35Z")
If you don’t think too hard about it, “spared no expense” sounds like it should mean “didn’t spend any money.” ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-idioms-and-acronyms-which-seem-to-indicate-the-opposite-of-what-is-intended/1024599/106 "2025-11-11T00:57:15Z")
No. “No expense was spared” = “every expense was incurred”. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-idioms-and-acronyms-which-seem-to-indicate-the-opposite-of-what-is-intended/1024599/107 "2025-11-11T00:59:53Z")
That’s the actual meaning, but “spare” can also mean “give” or “make available” (as in “could you spare some change?”) ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-idioms-and-acronyms-which-seem-to-indicate-the-opposite-of-what-is-intended/1024599/108 "2025-11-11T01:09:43Z")
“Spare” in this sense means to refrain from using or consuming. So, semantically, if I say “can you spare some change?” I’m not saying “can you give me some change?” so much as “can you deprive yourself of some change?” ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-idioms-and-acronyms-which-seem-to-indicate-the-opposite-of-what-is-intended/1024599/109 "2025-11-11T13:34:45Z")
Why do people say “you don’t say” right after the person says something? Shouldn’t they say “you just said”? ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-idioms-and-acronyms-which-seem-to-indicate-the-opposite-of-what-is-intended/1024599/110 "2025-11-11T14:25:05Z")
I think it started out as the equivalent of “you’ve got to be kidding me!”, but people began using it sarcastically as the equivalent of “no shit, Sherlock,” until its original non-sarcastic usage died out. (See also: “whoop-dee-doo!”) ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-idioms-and-acronyms-which-seem-to-indicate-the-opposite-of-what-is-intended/1024599/111 "2025-11-11T16:05:22Z")
Another one I thought of… “I see what you are saying” doesn’t mean they visualize what was said. ---
**Author:** ![Meatwater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meatwater/32/20074_2.png) [@Meatwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatwater)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-idioms-and-acronyms-which-seem-to-indicate-the-opposite-of-what-is-intended/1024599/112 "2025-11-11T16:33:16Z")
My favorite is “you can’t make this stuff up”, after usually reading a true headline or discussing gossip. Bill Burr has a great standup bit about it that goes something like “ Well have you seen star wars? someone made that up.” ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-idioms-and-acronyms-which-seem-to-indicate-the-opposite-of-what-is-intended/1024599/113 "2025-11-11T16:48:03Z")
From a _Peanuts_ comic: LINUS [_to Snoopy_]: I don’t suppose you could let me hide out in your doghouse…. SNOOPY [_thinks_]: “Don’t suppose” is a good way to put it! ---
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2025, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-idioms-and-acronyms-which-seem-to-indicate-the-opposite-of-what-is-intended/1024599/114 "2025-11-30T02:10:08Z")
Yes, I’ve always heard it as “TOO FAR out over your skis". ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2025, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-idioms-and-acronyms-which-seem-to-indicate-the-opposite-of-what-is-intended/1024599/115 "2025-11-30T14:35:52Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > Yes, I have a chef’s boning knife that I use to debone various cuts The other day I had a debone steak with the bone still in :rimshot: ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2025, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-idioms-and-acronyms-which-seem-to-indicate-the-opposite-of-what-is-intended/1024599/116 "2025-12-11T23:56:22Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I’ve always been confused by the term “hot mess”, especially regarding a person. Apparently it just means a really big mess… but isn’t calling someone “hot” a good thing? I’d expect “hot mess” to refer to someone like, I dunno, Jim Morrison, whose personal life may be a mess, but they’re still hot. My take on it is that you’re not describing someone who is both hot, and a mess, but instead, describing someone as a mess that is hot. A “hot mess” presumably being more difficult and unpleasant to clean up than a room temperature mess. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2025, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-idioms-and-acronyms-which-seem-to-indicate-the-opposite-of-what-is-intended/1024599/117 "2025-12-12T00:11:21Z")
> [@solost](#): > > No. I’m saying that ‘literally’ is a useful word with a specific meaning: “actually; factually; free from exaggeration or embellishment”. In other words, the opposite of a hyperbolic intensifier. People at least used to realize the actual meaning of the word, and that they were being ironic when they used it as such. The irony here is that using “literally” to mean, “factual” is, itself, a figurative usage. “Literal” originally meant, “having to do with letters or writing.” Describing something as “literally” happening was a figurative way of saying, “So totally true it might as well be in a book,” which at a time when the only book most people would ever see was a Bible, was considered a very high standard of truth. ---
**Author:** ![vbob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vbob/32/4439_2.png) [@vbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vbob)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2025, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-idioms-and-acronyms-which-seem-to-indicate-the-opposite-of-what-is-intended/1024599/118 "2025-12-12T00:19:33Z")
> [@CaveMike](#): > > which kind of meant “what’s the least we could possibly do and still sell?” Dad was fond of responding to thank-you’s with “It’s the least I could do”…waiting a couple seconds…“if I could have done less, I would have…” ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2025, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-idioms-and-acronyms-which-seem-to-indicate-the-opposite-of-what-is-intended/1024599/119 "2025-12-14T23:19:45Z")
Yep- like the similar term “hot garbage” which isn’t used for people. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2025, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-idioms-and-acronyms-which-seem-to-indicate-the-opposite-of-what-is-intended/1024599/120 "2025-12-14T23:39:40Z")
Or Hawkeye on MASH: “Never let it be said that I didn’t do the least I could do.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-idioms-and-acronyms-which-seem-to-indicate-the-opposite-of-what-is-intended/1024599.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sayings-idioms-and-acronyms-which-seem-to-indicate-the-opposite-of-what-is-intended/1024599.md?page=7)