The meaning of certain sayings?

AddieCake · April 2015

I hate when people say "I could care less" to say they don't care at all about something. No. You COULDN'T care less. If you COULD care less, you DO care. I learn new phrases all the time working with teenagers, so I can't think of anything right now that I don't know what it means. Can't think of any from the last I struggled with, either, but I'm sure there were some.

ohannabelle · April 2015

FiancB said:
The other day I was describing our old town and said that the sidewalks roll up by 5. Apparently H has never heard this expression? I think the meaning is pretty obvious- just that there's no nightlife whatsoever and the town is kind of boring. I'm not sure where I got it, but I thought it was a common saying.

Yep, I think it's a well known expression, as well.

hellosweetie1015 · April 2015

ohannabelle said:

FiancB said:
The other day I was describing our old town and said that the sidewalks roll up by 5. Apparently H has never heard this expression? I think the meaning is pretty obvious- just that there's no nightlife whatsoever and the town is kind of boring. I'm not sure where I got it, but I thought it was a common saying.
Yep, I think it's a well known expression, as well.

I've never heard it, and didn't know what it meant until FiancB explained it. It makes sense but I've never heard it here.

For the loooooongest time, I thought raising Cain was raising cane, like sugar cane. I couldn't figure out how sugar correlated to being pissed off.

jenna8984 · April 2015

I also hate when people say "nip it in the butt". (You are all smart so I don't need to explain the correct version...hopefully)

JCbride2015 · April 2015

jenna8984 said:
I also hate when people say "nip it in the butt". (You are all smart so I don't need to explain the correct version...hopefully)

This makes me giggle.

KytchynWitche · April 2015

For the longest time I had trouble with "a friend in need is a friend indeed", I was like, well obviously my friend's gonna be my friend if she needs something. D'oh. And also "a stitch in time saves nine"... I totally thought this was a time travel-y, universe-y, space-time continuum thing until I was 12 or 13. Like, there's a rip in time, so stitch it up so that these nine people don't die, 'cause we need them! I had a lot of trouble with idiomatic speech when I was a kid.

I had a friend who didn't get "the pot calling the kettle black". No matter how many times (or HOW) it was explained, it was met with "but my pots are silver and my kettle is white!" I have no idea if she eventually understood or not.

Also, slightly OT, many moons ago when my mom was a secretary, she got into an argument with her boss over the word "expertise". He had written a letter for her to type, he wrote "expertease" and she corrected it, which he then told her to redo the "right" way, because "an expert does it with ease".

FiancB · April 2015

I had never heard someone say "that's mighty white of you" until I moved to the midwest. Then my boss said it and my other coworkers that hadn't heard it were all

We were hoping it didn't mean what it sounds like. Yep, it does- although apparently it's not really a compliment like what she used it as, so at least that makes me feel a tiny bit better.

princessgracekelly · April 2015

I mix up common phrases when I'm speaking them. A recent gem was when my friend said something obvious and I mixed up "Is the Pope catholic?" with "Does a bear shit in the woods?" and accidentally said, "Does the Pope shit in the woods?"

theartistformerlyknownas · April 2015

princessgracekelly said:
I mix up common phrases when I'm speaking them. A recent gem was when my friend said something obvious and I mixed up "Is the Pope catholic?" with "Does a bear shit in the woods?" and accidentally said, "Does the Pope shit in the woods?"

I call people rocket surgeons and brain scientists all the time.

TrixieJess · April 2015

hellosweetie1015 said:

MyNameIsNot said:

lolo883 said:

JennyColada said:

I constantly see people say "wah-la" instead of "voila" and it drives me crazy.
This and "per say" drive me BSC.
JFC YES PER SAY. Fucking my first article ever for my high school newspaper, I wrote about the transition from homeschooling to a traditional school setting, and I used per se in the article. And the dillweed editors fucking changed it to per say.

They also changed my title from "A different perspective: homeschooling versus traditional school" (or something equally pompous) to "Welcome to real school". Because apparently homeschooling isn't real school. Fucktard dillweeds.

That whole experience still rankles a full decade later.

Yes, because obviously the traditionally taught children understood the Latin origin of per se and still decided to change it! *facepalm*

MyNameIsNot · April 2015

buttercup1958 said:
Mine is "you can't have your cake and eat it too". Then what is the point of having the cake?! It's food and food is meant to be consumed. I know it means you can't have everything but it still seems illogical to me. I try to give people a pass on mispronouncing things since I have a speech impediment. I had to take seven yyears of speech therapy and I still can't pronounce some words.

It's because if you eat your cake, you don't have it anymore. I have no idea what the origin of that one is.

littlepep · April 2015

Not an expression but one thing that makes me super ragey is when people pluralize their last name with an apostrophe. I can't tell you how many posts on FB I saw yesterday that were like "Happy Easter from The Smith's!"

charcoalandblush · April 2015

One of my bosses says (in emails) "visa-vie." I haven't had the heart (or the balls) to correct him.

hellosweetie1015 · April 2015

TrixieJess said:

hellosweetie1015 said:

MyNameIsNot said:

lolo883 said:

JennyColada said:

I constantly see people say "wah-la" instead of "voila" and it drives me crazy.
This and "per say" drive me BSC.
JFC YES PER SAY. Fucking my first article ever for my high school newspaper, I wrote about the transition from homeschooling to a traditional school setting, and I used per se in the article. And the dillweed editors fucking changed it to per say.

They also changed my title from "A different perspective: homeschooling versus traditional school" (or something equally pompous) to "Welcome to real school". Because apparently homeschooling isn't real school. Fucktard dillweeds.

That whole experience still rankles a full decade later.
Yes, because obviously the traditionally taught children understood the Latin origin of per se and still decided to change it! *facepalm*

This feels very sarcastic, as if I was expecting small children to know the difference here. That is not the case. The editors of this paper were seniors at a very academically rigorous and elitist private school, at which I was a poor scholarship student. They were in the honor society. One of them was that year's valedictorian. They had attended the school their whole lives, and as such had the benefit of two years of Latin and at least three years of a Romance language. The change, connected with the implication that my ten years of having been homeschooled was somehow less "real" than their eleven years of traditional school and several other comments made during my first month there, made it feel like an attempt to put me down and make me feel as if I had no right to be there. Even with ten years under my belt since then, it still smarts.

princessgracekelly · April 2015

hellosweetie1015 said:

TrixieJess said:

hellosweetie1015 said:

MyNameIsNot said:

lolo883 said:

JennyColada said:

I constantly see people say "wah-la" instead of "voila" and it drives me crazy.
This and "per say" drive me BSC.
JFC YES PER SAY. Fucking my first article ever for my high school newspaper, I wrote about the transition from homeschooling to a traditional school setting, and I used per se in the article. And the dillweed editors fucking changed it to per say.

They also changed my title from "A different perspective: homeschooling versus traditional school" (or something equally pompous) to "Welcome to real school". Because apparently homeschooling isn't real school. Fucktard dillweeds.

That whole experience still rankles a full decade later.
Yes, because obviously the traditionally taught children understood the Latin origin of per se and still decided to change it! *facepalm*
This feels very sarcastic, as if I was expecting small children to know the difference here. That is not the case. The editors of this paper were seniors at a very academically rigorous and elitist private school, at which I was a poor scholarship student. They were in the honor society. One of them was that year's valedictorian. They had attended the school their whole lives, and as such had the benefit of two years of Latin and at least three years of a Romance language. The change, connected with the implication that my ten years of having been homeschooled was somehow less "real" than their eleven years of traditional school and several other comments made during my first month there, made it feel like an attempt to put me down and make me feel as if I had no right to be there. Even with ten years under my belt since then, it still smarts.

I read TrixieJess's comment as ironic, like they felt their education was better when it really wasn't.

I was layout editor for my high school's paper and because girl + technology = lesbian in sheltered, homophobic high school minds, I was picked on constantly. Joke's on them, I have a great job in a big city because I know Photoshop and InDesign!

Kahlyla · April 2015

lolo883 said:

princessgracekelly said:
I mix up common phrases when I'm speaking them. A recent gem was when my friend said something obvious and I mixed up "Is the Pope catholic?" with "Does a bear shit in the woods?" and accidentally said, "Does the Pope shit in the woods?"
I call people rocket surgeons and brain scientists all the time.

My husband was the happiest guy in the world for a while there when he got to apply his degree in aerospace engineering to a project designing a robotic brain surgery arm. He absolutely called himself a rocket surgeon!

KatieinBkln · April 2015

For the longest time I had trouble with "a friend in need is a friend indeed", I was like, well obviously my friend's gonna be my friend if she needs something. D'oh. And also "a stitch in time saves nine"... I totally thought this was a time travel-y, universe-y, space-time continuum thing until I was 12 or 13. Like, there's a rip in time, so stitch it up so that these nine people don't die, 'cause we need them! I had a lot of trouble with idiomatic speech when I was a kid.

I had a friend who didn't get "the pot calling the kettle black". No matter how many times (or HOW) it was explained, it was met with "but my pots are silver and my kettle is white!" I have no idea if she eventually understood or not.

Also, slightly OT, many moons ago when my mom was a secretary, she got into an argument with her boss over the word "expertise". He had written a letter for her to type, he wrote "expertease" and she corrected it, which he then told her to redo the "right" way, because "an expert does it with ease".

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

That is...very bad.

@hellosweetie1015, I had a similar WTF moment with a high school publication. I was a member of a club that promoted animal welfare/humane society/conservation-type stuff, and I wrote an op-ed for their inaugural newsletter explaining why I believed in animal rights. I hardly even remember my whole point, but the gist was something along the lines of: You don't need to be a sensationalist or even particularly emotional about it to care. We should care because it's the right thing to do, not because we saw some horrifying pictures meant to "scare us straight."

What I do know, is that I punctuate very carefully. There was not one exclamation point in the final draft I submitted, and there was one question mark after a rhetorical question.

The grown-ass adult woman in charge took it upon herself to add exclamation points EVERYWHERE, and thought it would really give the rhetorical question some punch if she put 3 question marks after it. I was furious. How, exactly, does the moderate, cool-headed approach to animal rights make it through when you've peppered the whole thing with sensationalistic (not to mention incorrect) punctuation? RAGE!

princessgracekelly · April 2015

KatieinBkln said:
For the longest time I had trouble with "a friend in need is a friend indeed", I was like, well obviously my friend's gonna be my friend if she needs something. D'oh. And also "a stitch in time saves nine"... I totally thought this was a time travel-y, universe-y, space-time continuum thing until I was 12 or 13. Like, there's a rip in time, so stitch it up so that these nine people don't die, 'cause we need them! I had a lot of trouble with idiomatic speech when I was a kid.

I had a friend who didn't get "the pot calling the kettle black". No matter how many times (or HOW) it was explained, it was met with "but my pots are silver and my kettle is white!" I have no idea if she eventually understood or not.

Also, slightly OT, many moons ago when my mom was a secretary, she got into an argument with her boss over the word "expertise". He had written a letter for her to type, he wrote "expertease" and she corrected it, which he then told her to redo the "right" way, because "an expert does it with ease".

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

That is...very bad.

@hellosweetie1015, I had a similar WTF moment with a high school publication. I was a member of a club that promoted animal welfare/humane society/conservation-type stuff, and I wrote an op-ed for their inaugural newsletter explaining why I believed in animal rights. I hardly even remember my whole point, but the gist was something along the lines of: You don't need to be a sensationalist or even particularly emotional about it to care. We should care because it's the right thing to do, not because we saw some horrifying pictures meant to "scare us straight."

What I do know, is that I punctuate very carefully. There was not one exclamation point in the final draft I submitted, and there was one question mark after a rhetorical question.

The grown-ass adult woman in charge took it upon herself to add exclamation points EVERYWHERE, and thought it would really give the rhetorical question some punch if she put 3 question marks after it. I was furious. How, exactly, does the moderate, cool-headed approach to animal rights make it through when you've peppered the whole thing with sensationalistic (not to mention incorrect) punctuation? RAGE!

My high school AP English Language teacher used to tell us "you are allowed three exclamation points this semester." One girl got mad because "how else are we going to show excitement?" Bitch, we are writing papers about "Heart of Darkness." How excited do you need to be?

KatieinBkln · April 2015

princessgracekelly said:

KatieinBkln said:

My high school AP English Language teacher used to tell us "you are allowed three exclamation points this semester." One girl got mad because "how else are we going to show excitement?" Bitch, we are writing papers about "Heart of Darkness." How excited do you need to be?

COLONIALISM!!!

thisismynickname2 · April 2015

This thread is making me literally laugh out loud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Extra exclamation points intentional!!! To show excitement!!!)

My new-ish boss is Southern, in an office full of born and bred Midwesterners. She has some doozies that I wish I could call up right now, but several times I've given her a clueless look and needed her to explain herself.

One of my favorite expressions for work is, "herding cats."

I also like to say, "When the cows come home," although I use it in various ways and I'm not really sure the proper origin. "That'll happen when the cows come home." or "I could explain it until the cows come home but they won't get it." I also say, "I've explained it six ways from Sunday but..." And I really don't know if I'm using that expression right either. This is terrible!

Dreamergirl8812 · April 2015

My husband always says we should pop a squat, meaning have a seat somewhere. After 8 1/2 years, I'm still like, you want me to pee here?

theartistformerlyknownas · April 2015

Dreamergirl8812 said:
My husband always says we should pop a squat, meaning have a seat somewhere. After 8 1/2 years, I'm still like, you want me to pee here?

Isn't it "cop a squat"? ETA same as you would "cop a feel"?

littlepep · April 2015

princessgracekelly said:

KatieinBkln said:
For the longest time I had trouble with "a friend in need is a friend indeed", I was like, well obviously my friend's gonna be my friend if she needs something. D'oh. And also "a stitch in time saves nine"... I totally thought this was a time travel-y, universe-y, space-time continuum thing until I was 12 or 13. Like, there's a rip in time, so stitch it up so that these nine people don't die, 'cause we need them! I had a lot of trouble with idiomatic speech when I was a kid.

I had a friend who didn't get "the pot calling the kettle black". No matter how many times (or HOW) it was explained, it was met with "but my pots are silver and my kettle is white!" I have no idea if she eventually understood or not.

Also, slightly OT, many moons ago when my mom was a secretary, she got into an argument with her boss over the word "expertise". He had written a letter for her to type, he wrote "expertease" and she corrected it, which he then told her to redo the "right" way, because "an expert does it with ease".
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

That is...very bad.

@hellosweetie1015, I had a similar WTF moment with a high school publication. I was a member of a club that promoted animal welfare/humane society/conservation-type stuff, and I wrote an op-ed for their inaugural newsletter explaining why I believed in animal rights. I hardly even remember my whole point, but the gist was something along the lines of: You don't need to be a sensationalist or even particularly emotional about it to care. We should care because it's the right thing to do, not because we saw some horrifying pictures meant to "scare us straight."

What I do know, is that I punctuate very carefully. There was not one exclamation point in the final draft I submitted, and there was one question mark after a rhetorical question.

The grown-ass adult woman in charge took it upon herself to add exclamation points EVERYWHERE, and thought it would really give the rhetorical question some punch if she put 3 question marks after it. I was furious. How, exactly, does the moderate, cool-headed approach to animal rights make it through when you've peppered the whole thing with sensationalistic (not to mention incorrect) punctuation? RAGE!

My high school AP English Language teacher used to tell us "you are allowed three exclamation points this semester." One girl got mad because "how else are we going to show excitement?" Bitch, we are writing papers about "Heart of Darkness." How excited do you need to be?

This always makes me think of that episode of Seinfeld where Elaine broke up with that guy because he didn't use an explanation point when he left a note about her friend having a baby.

Dreamergirl8812 · April 2015

lolo883 said:

Dreamergirl8812 said:
My husband always says we should pop a squat, meaning have a seat somewhere. After 8 1/2 years, I'm still like, you want me to pee here?
Isn't it "cop a squat"? ETA same as you would "cop a feel"?

So, it makes no sense and he's saying it wrong?

theartistformerlyknownas · April 2015

Dreamergirl8812 said:

lolo883 said:

Dreamergirl8812 said:
My husband always says we should pop a squat, meaning have a seat somewhere. After 8 1/2 years, I'm still like, you want me to pee here?
Isn't it "cop a squat"? ETA same as you would "cop a feel"?
So, it makes no sense and he's saying it wrong?

LOL I could be wrong but I think so.

hellosweetie1015 · April 2015

lolo883 said:

Dreamergirl8812 said:

lolo883 said:

Dreamergirl8812 said:
My husband always says we should pop a squat, meaning have a seat somewhere. After 8 1/2 years, I'm still like, you want me to pee here?
Isn't it "cop a squat"? ETA same as you would "cop a feel"?
So, it makes no sense and he's saying it wrong?
LOL I could be wrong but I think so.

(I've heard pop a lot more. But. It's almost always in reference to pissing. Usually behind trees.)

KytchynWitche · April 2015

hellosweetie1015 said:

lolo883 said:

Dreamergirl8812 said:

lolo883 said:

Dreamergirl8812 said:
My husband always says we should pop a squat, meaning have a seat somewhere. After 8 1/2 years, I'm still like, you want me to pee here?
Isn't it "cop a squat"? ETA same as you would "cop a feel"?
So, it makes no sense and he's saying it wrong?
LOL I could be wrong but I think so.

(I've heard pop a lot more. But. It's almost always in reference to pissing. Usually behind trees.)

I'm with you. I've only ever heard it as pop, and only ever in reference peeing in the bush (or whatever). But it really isn't a common phrase here, so when I say "only ever", that counts for like 3x.

southernbelle0915 · April 2015

hellosweetie1015 said:

lolo883 said:

Dreamergirl8812 said:

lolo883 said:

Dreamergirl8812 said:
My husband always says we should pop a squat, meaning have a seat somewhere. After 8 1/2 years, I'm still like, you want me to pee here?
Isn't it "cop a squat"? ETA same as you would "cop a feel"?
So, it makes no sense and he's saying it wrong?
LOL I could be wrong but I think so.

(I've heard pop a lot more. But. It's almost always in reference to pissing. Usually behind trees.)

I've always thought it was "pop a squat"... But I also have no idea where it comes from, nor have I questioned where it comes from.

theartistformerlyknownas · April 2015

southernbelle0915 said:

hellosweetie1015 said:

lolo883 said:

Dreamergirl8812 said:

lolo883 said:

Dreamergirl8812 said:
My husband always says we should pop a squat, meaning have a seat somewhere. After 8 1/2 years, I'm still like, you want me to pee here?
Isn't it "cop a squat"? ETA same as you would "cop a feel"?
So, it makes no sense and he's saying it wrong?
LOL I could be wrong but I think so.

(I've heard pop a lot more. But. It's almost always in reference to pissing. Usually behind trees.)
I've always thought it was "pop a squat"... But I also have no idea where it comes from, nor have I questioned where it comes from.

Well when Julia Roberts invited Richard Gere to sit in the grass with her, she told him to "cop a squat."

southernbelle0915 · April 2015

lolo883 said:

southernbelle0915 said:

hellosweetie1015 said:

lolo883 said:

Dreamergirl8812 said:

lolo883 said:

Dreamergirl8812 said:
My husband always says we should pop a squat, meaning have a seat somewhere. After 8 1/2 years, I'm still like, you want me to pee here?
Isn't it "cop a squat"? ETA same as you would "cop a feel"?
So, it makes no sense and he's saying it wrong?
LOL I could be wrong but I think so.

(I've heard pop a lot more. But. It's almost always in reference to pissing. Usually behind trees.)
I've always thought it was "pop a squat"... But I also have no idea where it comes from, nor have I questioned where it comes from.
Well when Julia Roberts invited Richard Gere to sit in the grass with her, she told him to "cop a squat."

Yes! I just found exactly that reference by googling.

Yahoo Answers also agrees and says cop = take so it makes sense to "cop" a squat. I learned something today.

The meaning of certain sayings?

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