Expressions you keep hearing, but only vaguely understand Page 4

  • Deleted user 18 April 2012 17:24:24
    Yes, someone else has the same incorrect understanding as you.
  • Deleted user 18 April 2012 17:25:50
    Football commentators are the primary source of where 'Literally' stopped meaning 'Literally' and started meaning 'Figuratively'.
  • Deleted user 18 April 2012 17:27:34
    It was with some degree of satisfaction that I welcomed a movement in the right direction adopted at most of our local theatres during the pantomime season — namely that of providing special entrances or early doors for the convenience of those who, wishing to avoid the crush, would willingly pay a small extra amount.
    Liverpool Mercury, 24 Apr. 1877
  • Deleted user 18 April 2012 17:27:35
    In fact Jamie Redknapp is almost single handedly responsible:


    "These balls now - they literally explode off your feet."

    "Alonso and Sissoko have been picked to literally sit in front of the back four."

    "He's literally left Ben Haim for dead there."

    “Drogba literally destroyed Senderos today.”

    “Center forwards have the ability to make time stand still. And when Chopra got the ball, it literally did just that.”

    “He’s literally turned him inside out.”

    “That cross to Rooney was literally on a plate”

    “Scholes has such a great footballing brain. He’ll see a picture in his head and literally paint it in front of you.”

    “He had to cut back inside onto his left, because he literally hasn’t got a right foot”

    “He literally turned on a sixpence”

    “Gerrard has been amazing. He’s literally covered every blade of grass on the pitch”

    “He’s literally sold the defender a dummy”

    “Martin Jol’s head is literally on the chopping block.”

    “In his youth, Michael Owen was literally a greyhound.”
    Edited by kalel at 17:28:38 18-04-2012
  • ronuds 18 Apr 2012 18:11:09 21,781 posts
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    Never really understood the famous Gump saying: Stupid is as stupid does.

    There's probably some irony in that...

    Edited by ronuds at 18:11:35 18-04-2012
  • Deleted user 18 April 2012 18:14:08
    Presumably it's "you're stupid by the sum of your actions, rather than just appearing to be stupid".
  • Grunk 18 Apr 2012 18:22:14 4,718 posts
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    There's not enough room to skin a cat
  • Deleted user 18 April 2012 18:26:11
    I love a good mixed metaphor. That's a nice one.

    Graham Souness did a crazy one the other day. Said some team were like a rolling stone gradually gathering more moss as it went downhill.
  • Deleted user 18 April 2012 18:26:58
    Early doors is a reference to ship building on the Clyde, whereby they'd refer to sheets of metal as 'doors' and fix the first 'doors' onto the frame as quickly as possible in order to set the remaining sheets up properly. However, the first reference to metal sheets as 'doors' was when fixing copper sheets to the bottom of the great wooden ships, which also gave rise to the expression 'copper-bottomed guarantee', as copper-bottom ships were regarded as being much more reliable - requiring less bottom-scraping and refurbishing.
  • HermanTheTosser 18 Apr 2012 18:27:07 82 posts
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    Damp squib.

    What the hell is a squib?

    I'd also hazard a guess that this is one of the most mis-quoted sayings or phrases out there. Lots of people say Damp SQUID.
  • billythekid 18 Apr 2012 18:27:39 12,595 posts
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    Grunk wrote:
    There's not enough room to skin a cat
    Duh,it's 'There's more than one way to swing a cat'.
  • Deleted user 18 April 2012 18:28:44
    Squib is the explosive bit on a cannon or something. If it's damp the cannon doesn't fire. Something like that anyway.
  • HermanTheTosser 18 Apr 2012 18:30:03 82 posts
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    kalel wrote:
    Squib is the explosive bit on a cannon or something. If it's damp the cannon doesn't fire. Something like that anyway.
    Ahhhhhh, now it makes sense.
  • Deleted user 18 April 2012 18:30:13
    A squib is (also?) a firework. A damp firework goes off badly.
  • Deleted user 18 April 2012 18:33:51
    A squib is apparently an explosive device with all sort of uses, including cannons and fireworks, so we're all correct \o/
  • Deleted user 18 April 2012 18:35:12
    Is it another name for the charge used in artillery etc?
  • Nanocrystal 18 Apr 2012 18:38:15 2,575 posts
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    I remember a mate telling me he couldn't understand the phrase "jumped the gun". According to him, "If someone fires a gun, of course it will make you jump."
  • Deleted user 18 April 2012 18:41:17
    I presume that refers to athletics etc, with probably a weird archaic meaning buried in it too.
  • jonsaan 18 Apr 2012 19:47:20 27,052 posts
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    Early doors actually refers to the first recordings of Jim Morrison.
  • Stickman 18 Apr 2012 20:09:21 29,986 posts
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    More than nine lives to swing a cat skin, you doucheholes.
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