Sadly, upon reading your post, I realized that I did indeed know the usage of “et al” vs “etc”, etc. I just didn’t remember them. I swear I am checking into an old folks’ home any day now.
Now I just have to remember what ad homnimen means.
As for the analogies–it’s one way I think. Probably a very sucky debate tactic, but I never took a debate class. I understand that likening one situation to another does not prove supportive or detrimental to the original, but it helps clarify things for me.
In this case “the box” is the standard way of thinking about the problem. I’ve always thought about it as the box you got the answer in, as in from school, your boss, whoever taught you about problems like this…so thinking outside the box is starting over from the beginning with no assumptions about how it is “supposed” to be done.
Huh. Try having to explain that one to your mother so she can tell your sister it was visible in words the sister would understand.
Because “vertical smile” wasn’t doing the job.
I know the gift horse question has been answered by a half-dozen people, but I didn’t want to let this one stand. Horses don’t keep growing new teeth. A 10-year-old horse and a 15-year-old horse have the same number of teeth, but they’ve grown out more on the older horse.
It’s people misusing the term “value added.” If you buy unfinished furniture and stain it, the stain you apply is your value added. It’s a noun phrase.
That’s a combination of two different phrases. “If they have no bread, then let them eat cake!” is a quote (mis)attributed to Marie Antoinette that supposedly demonstrated how out-of-touch she was with the man on the street. “Wanting to have your cake and eat it too” has been explained by another doper. Once you eat it, you don’t have it any more.
“I could care less” is a sloppy misstatement, which makes no sense. Unfortunately, so few people stop to think about what they’re saying that it’s become even more common that the correct phrase, “I couldn’t care less.” What you’re really trying to say with that phrase is that you care so little it would be impossible to care less.
I’m still waiting to see someone else jump in and explain “bat out of hell.” I’ve been curious about that one myself.
When bats fly out of a cave at dusk, they fly really really fast. If you’ve ever been standing at a cave mouth when the bats come out, it’s pretty intense.
If they were leaving a horrible place, they’d be going even faster–like a bat outta hell.
I first heard the phrase “Hat Trick” used to describe a jockey winning three races on one card. Which sport actually was actually the first to mark the occasion of a player scoring 3 whatevers is still debated. But the term came about because the fans of whatever sport it was, would show their appreciation of a player’s impressive accomplishment by throwing their hats into the arena, onto the track, in the ring, on the field, whatever the game was played on.
After a player scored the first time, the crowd would naturally cheer. The second time that player scored, the crowd would stand and cheer. The third time, very rare, the crowd would take of their hats and toss them at the player in respect and awe of the great achievement.
At least that was what I was told. I would love know what sport actually started it.
The one that always drove me nuts was “tongue in cheek.”
I know what it means, really. It means you’re saying something that you don’t really mean, not serious, sarcastic, joking, something like that.
But what the hell? TONGUE in CHEEK? It makes no sense. Even worse is when someone elaborates on the saying with something like “tongue firmly planted in cheek.” Ouch! How are you supposed to crack a joke while you’re gouging your mouth-parts, anyway?
Oooh, I know this one! “High maintenance” refers to someone who requires a lot of effort to please. If you’ve got a car that you have to take to the shop every other week, that car would be considered “high maintenance”. If you’ve got a girlfriend who requires all your attention and wants you to buy her things and has to have the low-fat ice cream, not the non-fat, you’re going to have to take this back and get me what I want … that’s high-maintenance.
Two expressions I’ve read but never heard and which I’ve wondered about are “talk to the hand” and (this won’t be a proper quote but I’ve seen it posted once or twice on SDMB) “you can park that bus at the gate”.
Thank you to the OP for this opportunity to redeem my ignorance.
Yes!! I want to know what “tongue in cheek” means. I hear and read it in movie reviews all the time. Example: This movie was a tongue-in-cheek comedy. Like, what does that mean? Does it mean that it was an unfunny comedy because your tongue is in your cheek, so you’re not laughing?
Another one that I’d really like to know the meaning of is “the kettle calling the pot black”…or was it “the pot calling the kettle black”? I heard it on TV and I’ve probed my mind in an attempt to figure out what it means. I haven’t figured it out yet…
The way I understand “tongue in cheek” is that there is a bit of sarcasm in the humor.
If a person has the horrible habit of picking his nose in public, and proceeds to reprimand others for picking their noses in public, that would be the “pot calling the kettle black”. Think of a pioneer kitchen where all the cookware was black iron. The pots were black and so were the kettles.
“Hair of the dog that bit you.” is the whole phrase. Most from some superstition, or old wives’ tale. Basically, the idea is that like cures like. In actual usage, it means to drink a little alcohol when you have been hung-over.
