# Terms/phrases you hear all the time, but don't \*really\* know what they mean. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 7, 2005, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294 "2005-06-07T14:28:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/21 "2005-06-07T15:41:24Z")
can’t see the forest for the trees you’re concentrating too much on the specifics of a problem and are thus missing the ‘big picture’. At least that’s how i’ve always interpreted it. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/22 "2005-06-07T15:43:40Z")
Gotcha. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/23 "2005-06-07T15:45:01Z")
“How can anyone see a forest with all those trees in the way?” Not only paying too much attention to detail but also missing something obvious because of this. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/24 "2005-06-07T15:46:34Z")
[More about gift horses](http://www.equisearch.com/care/anatomy/eqteeth2503/) ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/25 "2005-06-07T15:46:52Z")
aw snap can also be used to express excitement. If you find out that your band is going to give a free concert in the local park, it would be appropriate to say aw/oh snap! I don’t think anyone has used that term in years though, have they? **Biggirl** , would you mind passing the definition of “dog in the manger” on to me? Please? ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/26 "2005-06-07T15:47:39Z")
> [@UrbanChic](#): > > The one phrase that I’m not quite sure I get is “can’t see the forest for the trees.” I think I know what it means when I hear someone use it, but the words, when used together like that, just make no sense to me. OK, so you’re in the smack dab middle of the forest. Trees everywhere you look. You decided to check out the nearby trees more closely … gaze up at how high they are, feel the bark with your fingers, maybe taste a little sap. For a little while, you forget that you are in the middle of a really huge place – the forest. Folks that figuratively “can’t see the forest for the trees” come in a few varieties. Some are nit-pickers and micro-managers who can’t see the big picture, iinstead preferring to focus on trivial issues. Others are folks who overlook warning signs of impending doom of a major enterprise because some relatively unimportant things are going great in the short term. ---
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/27 "2005-06-07T15:51:30Z")
Window Shopping / Window Licking - Though it means browsing a retailer’s wares through a store front, I wish they’d update it. ---
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/28 "2005-06-07T16:04:58Z")
“Dog in the manger” comes from a parable or fable about a dog lying in a manger (feeding device for cattle/horses, usually containing hay) and preventing the cows from getting to it. Means someone who hangs on to something he can’t use for no good reason, to spite others who could use it. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/29 "2005-06-07T16:04:59Z")
> [@Omega Glory](#): > > aw snap can also be used to express excitement. If you find out that your band is going to give a free concert in the local park, it would be appropriate to say aw/oh snap! I don’t think anyone has used that term in years though, have they? Actually, I’ve been trying to bring it back. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/30 "2005-06-07T16:08:46Z")
“Word” No, not the computer program, the statement made by my 14 y.o. daughter’s friends. (I am in my 40s.) ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/31 "2005-06-07T16:21:21Z")
> [@vetbridge](#): > > “Word” No, not the computer program, the statement made by my 14 y.o. daughter’s friends. > > (I am in my 40s.) The expression “Word” is making a comeback? About 15 years ago, it used to mean “Agreed”, “Indeed!”, “Preach on!”. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/32 "2005-06-07T16:24:51Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > I read a lot of romances. The cheap kind. They are published by an English company so you get a lot of Britishisms. It’s my understanding that “Snap!” means something like, “I was thiking the exact same thing!” > > Is this true? Yeah. It comes from the children’s card game: each player places a card face up on the table in turn. When two consecutive cards match, the first one to shout “Snap!” wins the cards on the pile. > [@FaerieBeth](#): > > **laina\_f** , I’ve always taken the “butter wouldn’t melt” expression to mean you’re being cool under pressure. Not losing your cool when confronted. If you stay cool, the butter won’t melt! No, it’s a reference to the person’s innocence (or otherwise) – it originally referred exclusively to women. The warmth she lacked to melt the butter was the heat of passion. It helps if you realise that it wasn’t her _mouth_ that the original expression had the butter in. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/33 "2005-06-07T16:29:35Z")
Word= Agreed, or Good Point Think of it as “Here Here!” ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/34 "2005-06-07T16:37:58Z")
“No better than she (or he) should be” I get a sense of what this British expression means–it has something to do with social classes–but as I look at it, it makes less and less sense. What does it mean, exactly? ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/35 "2005-06-07T17:14:53Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > “No better than she (or he) should be” > > I get a sense of what this British expression means–it has something to do with social classes–but as I look at it, it makes less and less sense. What does it mean, exactly? The implication is that she is considerably worse than she should be, but that the speaker is too polite to say so. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/36 "2005-06-07T17:15:24Z")
Thank you to **Sal Ammoniac** and **CalMeacham** for the explanations of ‘sea change.’ It makes perfect sense, and it’s quite an interesting concept that a paradigm shift in public opinion could be compared to the ocean having changed something over time. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/37 "2005-06-07T17:38:34Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > Word= Agreed, or Good Point > > Think of it as “Here Here!” You mean “[hear, hear!](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mhear.html)”. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/38 "2005-06-07T17:39:24Z")
I use “sea change” all the time. As someone mentioned, it’s from “The Tempest,” from some of the most beautiful lines in all of Shakespeare: Full fathom five thy father lies: Of his bones are coral made: Those are pearls that were his eyes: Nothing of him that doth fade But doth suffer a sea-change Into something rich and strange. It’s a profound change. I wouldn’t liken it to driftwood, but to a grain of sand becoming a pearl. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/39 "2005-06-07T17:40:53Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > The expression “Word” is making a comeback? I’m so lame–or so cool–that I never stopped using it. I use it to mean “really?”. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2005, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294/40 "2005-06-07T17:44:51Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > Word= Agreed, or Good Point > > Think of it as “Here Here!” that should be “Hear, Hear.” 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terms-phrases-you-hear-all-the-time-but-dont-really-know-what-they-mean/307294.md?page=3)