Idioms...Common Phrases you Use...

Discussion in 'The Village Square' started by DianneWoollie, Mar 26, 2021.

  1. DianneWoollie

    DianneWoollie In Flower

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    A friend in need is a friend indeed

    A bad workman always blames his tools (regularly said by one for us, not me:rolleyes:)

    one for @Logan she had so much rain and the dogs had to still go walkies..
    It's raining cats and dogs


    A leopard cannot change his spots.... I say that a lot when I loose my temper.. ..:cool:
     
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  2. Odif

    Odif Young Pine

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    There are no contradictions in nature, a contradiction is either a lie or more information is needed!
     
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  3. Doghouse Riley

    Doghouse Riley Young Pine

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    This thread reminded me of something, it's not about sayings, it's about nick-names.

    A golfing pal is ex-army. that was more than thirty years ao, he retired as a university administrator, some time ago.
    But he served in a tank regiment. Part of his service was spent in The Falkland Islands. It can get very cold down their and the locals mostly wore these sort of hats.

    index.jpg

    Some may recognise the character, it's "Benny" from Crossroads.

    The troops had a good enough relationship with the islanders, but they used to refer to them between themselves, as "Bennys."
    This got to the senior officers and they considered it to be disrespectful and a general order went out that on no account must this term be used in future in relation to the islanders on pain of disciplinary action.

    So the practice ceased. The locals were from then on referred to by the troops as "Stills."

    (because they were still Bennys).
     
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  4. Logan

    Logan Strong Ash

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    Yes I remember him and the programme
     
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  5. DianneWoollie

    DianneWoollie In Flower

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    It seemed to be on forever, I have seen it here and there.not a great TV fan although I like thrillers.. music is my thing...I will end up on google to read about him...read and read weed and weed..seed and seed..life's a breeze as long as you don't wheeze.or tease...think I will stop there or I might have poetry as a new on the do list..o_O.
     
    Last edited: Mar 27, 2021
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  6. marlingardener

    marlingardener Happy

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    A quote from Will Rogers, "Never pass up a good opportunity to keep your mouth shut".
    Oh, would that I could follow that . . . .
     
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  7. DianneWoollie

    DianneWoollie In Flower

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    Well the first one I would struggle with .Can do foot in mouth..;)
    2nd one I need you to spell it out...I can guess a tad...
    Glad you posted. Ta.ra..
     
  8. DianneWoollie

    DianneWoollie In Flower

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    Silence is Golden
    quite long but worth reading..

    What's the origin of the phrase 'Silence is golden'?
    As with many proverbs, the origin of this phrase is obscured by the mists of time. There are reports of versions of it dating back to Ancient Egypt. The first example of it in English is from the poet Thomas Carlyle, who translated the phrase from German in Sartor Resartus, 1831, in which a character expounds at length on the virtues of silence:

    "Silence is the element in which great things fashion themselves together; that at length they may emerge, full-formed and majestic, into the daylight of Life, which they are thenceforth to rule. Not William the Silent only, but all the considerable men I have known, and the most undiplomatic and unstrategic of these, forbore to babble of what they were creating and projecting. Nay, in thy own mean perplexities, do thou thyself but hold thy tongue for one day: on the morrow, how much clearer are thy purposes and duties; what wreck and rubbish have those mute workmen within thee swept away, when intrusive noises were shut out! Speech is too often not, as the Frenchman defined it, the art of concealing Thought; but of quite stifling and suspending Thought, so that there is none to conceal. Speech too is great, but not the greatest. As the Swiss Inscription says: Sprecfien ist silbern, Schweigen ist golden (Speech is silvern, Silence is golden); or as I might rather express it: Speech is of Time, Silence is of Eternity."

    That fuller version - 'speech is silver; silence is golden', is still sometimes used, although the shorter form is now more common.

    The same thought is expressed in a 16th century proverb, now defunct - as many present-day feminists would prefer it:

    "Silence is a woman's best garment."

    Silence has in fact long been considered laudable in religious circles. The 14th century author Richard Rolle of Hampole, in The psalter; or psalms of David, 1340:

    "Disciplyne of silence is goed."

    Wyclif's Bible, 1382 also includes the thought - "Silence is maad in heuen". [made in Heaven]
     
  9. Odif

    Odif Young Pine

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    Silence is golden, so shut up and get rich.
     
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  10. Odif

    Odif Young Pine

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    You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.
     
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  11. DianneWoollie

    DianneWoollie In Flower

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    There are other pretenders to the throne of the oldest English proverb; for example:

    A friend in need is a friend indeed.
    (mid 11th century in English; 5th century BC in Greek)

    When the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
    (late 9th century in English; Bible, Luke Chapter 6)

    Whilst the above were spoken in English earlier than 'lead a horse to water...', they derive from either a Greek or Biblical source and so can't claim to be the 'full English'. Either that or, like the 11th century proverb 'full cup, steady hand', they haven't stood the test of time.

    The proverb 'lead a horse to water' has been in continuous use since the 12th century. John Heywood listed it in the influential glossary A Dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the Prouerbes in the Englishe tongue:

    "A man maie well bring a horse to the water, But he can not make him drinke without he will."

    It also appeared in literature over the centuries in a variety of forms; for example, in the play Narcissus, which was published in 1602, of unknown authorship, subtitled as A Twelfe Night merriment, played by youths of the parish at the College of Saint John the Baptist in Oxford:

    Your parents have done what they coode,
    They can but bringe horse to the water brinke,
    But horse may choose whether that horse will drinke.

    It wasn't until the 20th century that 'lead a horse to water...' got a substantial rewrite, when Dorothy Parker reworked it from its proverbial form into the epigram 'you can lead a horticulture, but you can't make her think'.

    All interesting.....Didn't realise they went back so far....
     
  12. Clay_22

    Clay_22 Young Pine

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    It's a dog eat dog world and I'm wearing milkbone underwear
    It is what it is
     
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  13. DianneWoollie

    DianneWoollie In Flower

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    CONTEXT taken from the Interent...


    This is a classic line from America's favorite bar patron, Norm Peterson, played by George Wendt, on Cheers, in the episode "The Peterson Principle" (Feb. 13, 1986).

    Cheers launched the careers of Matthew McConaughey's sidekick on True Detective and the talking piggy bank in Toy Story.

    It's also the bar where everybody knows your name...but only if you go there a lot. The show's theme song might as well have been written for Norm Peterson, a down-on-his luck guy who is greeted by name every time he walks into the bar to rack up his astronomical tab.

    Whenever someone asks Norm how his life is, he always answers the most miserable way he knows how. One of his most iconic lines is? "It's a dog-eat-dog world, Sammy, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear."

    Ouch.



    WHERE YOU'VE HEARD IT


    Any of Norm's famous lines are perfect to use when you're having a bad day and just need a non-alcoholic drink or ten.

    Oh, and you can actually buy Milkbone underwear; just don't wear it with any dogs around.



    PRETENTIOUS FACTOR


    If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.
    [​IMG]

    Norm is the opposite of pretentious. And anyway, he's probably too drunk to pronounce "pretentious" by the time he leaves the bar.
    So is this all to do with Cheers.....
    so all to do with Cheers.....yes or no....
     
  14. DianneWoollie

    DianneWoollie In Flower

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    Wouldn't touch with a Barge Pole.....

    Said of something or someone so unappealing that one wouldn't want to go anywhere near.
     
  15. DianneWoollie

    DianneWoollie In Flower

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    Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety nine percent perspiration...

    Genius is largely the result of hard work, rather than an inspired flash of insight.
     

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