For some reason I always wanna know who made up certain popular sayings and why

ie: "When push comes to shove"

wtf does that really mean???

Post some you hate/love or need explained

explain this one:

"If more males would stand up and be men, then more females would sit down and be ladies"

thanx!

XxAxX said:

explain this one:

"If more males would stand up and be men, then more females would sit down and be ladies"

thanx!

Good one.. don't think that's a popular saying tho. But I'll give it a try...

I think whoever said this was a woman fed up with the men she's met in her life and needs an excuse for not leading the life she really wants.. I say it's bs because as a woman I don't think about why I'm being "ladylike" I just do it...

[Edited 11/11/10 7:51am]

Tokyo89 said:

For some reason I always wanna know who made up certain popular sayings and why

ie: "When push comes to shove"

wtf does that really mean???

Post some you hate/love or need explained

I think it means that when things start to escalate. like from a push to a harder shove.

OnlyNDaUsa said:

Tokyo89 said:

For some reason I always wanna know who made up certain popular sayings and why

ie: "When push comes to shove"

wtf does that really mean???

Post some you hate/love or need explained

I think it means that when things start to escalate. like from a push to a harder shove.

I get the escalating part, and I know what people mean when they use it.. but is a shove really harder than a push?

Tokyo89 said:

OnlyNDaUsa said:

I think it means that when things start to escalate. like from a push to a harder shove.

I get the escalating part, and I know what people mean when they use it.. but is a shove really harder than a push?

push seems less intense, like you say PUSH me on the swing not SHOVE me on the swing.

also I think of Pushing someone out of the way can be done more controlled but a shove may end up with them falling down. Of course the way I used these words may not be the same as others.

Tokyo89 said:

OnlyNDaUsa said:

I think it means that when things start to escalate. like from a push to a harder shove.

I get the escalating part, and I know what people mean when they use it.. but is a shove really harder than a push?

Yes, it is. Shoving has an element of violence to it.

OnlyNDaUsa said:

Tokyo89 said:

I get the escalating part, and I know what people mean when they use it.. but is a shove really harder than a push?

push seems less intense, like you say PUSH me on the swing not SHOVE me on the swing.

also I think of Pushing someone out of the way can be done more controlled but a shove may end up with them falling down. Of course the way I used these words may not be the same as others.

Gotcha!

I hate the saying "you want your cake and eat it too"

I of course understand why people use it, but who made up such stupid saying and why is it so popular???

Tokyo89 said:

For some reason I always wanna know who made up certain popular sayings and why

ie: "When push comes to shove"

wtf does that really mean???

Post some you hate/love or need explained

William Safire wrote a column about "When push comes to shove" and its etymology and meaning here.

My family has odd sayings and I say my family because, for the most part, I've only heard people in my family say them. When I say some of these sayings outside the family, first, people look at me like then they and say they've never heard that saying before.

For example:

When someone is thirsty "I'm drier than a popcorn fart."

When someone is hungry "I could eat the ass out of a running bear."

When someone is exhausted, dirty from working hard, feeling bad etc "I feel like I've been dipped in shit and rolled in cracker crumbs."

Not popular sayings to be sure, but one's I've heard my whole life and I've always wondered where they came from. Did some crazy member of my family make them up? Where did they hear?

Nothinbutjoy said:

My family has odd sayings and I say my family because, for the most part, I've only heard people in my family say them. When I say some of these sayings outside the family, first, people look at me like then they and say they've never heard that saying before.

For example:

When someone is thirsty "I'm drier than a popcorn fart."

When someone is hungry "I could eat the ass out of a running bear."

When someone is exhausted, dirty from working hard, feeling bad etc "I feel like I've been dipped in shit and rolled in cracker crumbs."

Not popular sayings to be sure, but one's I've heard my whole life and I've always wondered where they came from. Did some crazy member of my family make them up? Where did they hear?

I just posted about this a couple days ago: I don't understand what "Not for nothing" means. People on the East Coast say it a lot. Sometimes I think it's just a filler.

"All but" is another one that throws me ("The plane was all but destroyed in the crash").

There's a girl at my job that makes up sayings and we always get hooked on them..

She's calls having sex with a gentlemen "getting trakes"

when she doesn't like something she calls it "light cheese"

ie: "this job is light cheese"

Efan said:

Tokyo89 said:

For some reason I always wanna know who made up certain popular sayings and why

ie: "When push comes to shove"

wtf does that really mean???

Post some you hate/love or need explained

William Safire wrote a column about "When push comes to shove" and its etymology and meaning here.

I read that and it made me feel stupid.. but thank you

Efan said:

I just posted about this a couple days ago: I don't understand what "Not for nothing" means. People on the East Coast say it a lot. Sometimes I think it's just a filler.

"All but" is another one that throws me ("The plane was all but destroyed in the crash").

I hate... "I can't win for losing"

or is it

"I can't win from losing"

I'm not sure, but I hate it just the same

Hate: "Wet pussy & an empty purse don't match".

Love: "Still waters run deep".

Tokyo89 said:

XxAxX said:

explain this one:

"If more males would stand up and be men, then more females would sit down and be ladies"

thanx!

Good one.. don't think that's a popular saying tho. But I'll give it a try...

I think whoever said this was a woman fed up with the men she's met in her life and needs an excuse for not leading the life she really wants.. I say it's bs because as a woman I don't think about why I'm being "ladylike" I just do it...

[Edited 11/11/10 7:51am]

I highly doubt this. I'd bet my lunch money this quip came from some dude trying to get laid by spouting off glib, patronizing anecdotes that certain women are ready to eat up.

Lammastide said:

Tokyo89 said:

Good one.. don't think that's a popular saying tho. But I'll give it a try...

I think whoever said this was a woman fed up with the men she's met in her life and needs an excuse for not leading the life she really wants.. I say it's bs because as a woman I don't think about why I'm being "ladylike" I just do it...

[Edited 11/11/10 7:51am]

I highly doubt this. I'd bet my lunch money this quip came from some dude trying to get laid by spouting off glib, patronizing anecdotes that certain women are ready to eat up.

I can see that, but I don't know any female that would go for that.

This isn't popular, but back in undergrad, I heard a professor say something horribly hateful about a particular group of people. It impressed me as really efficient and picturesque, though. Went something like...

"If I had the money to send only half those _____ on a raft across the ocean, I'd take that money and send all of them halfway across the ocean."

[Edited 11/11/10 14:16pm]

Tokyo89 said:

Lammastide said:

I highly doubt this. I'd bet my lunch money this quip came from some dude trying to get laid by spouting off glib, patronizing anecdotes that certain women are ready to eat up.

I can see that, but I don't know any female that would go for that.

Unfortunately, I know a ton.

Not a fan of the aforementioned "Not for nothing" and "Can't win for losing". I don't get them.

Anytime my siblings and I would complain about a certain food, my granfather would always tell us "It's good for what ails ya!" We always jokingly wondered aloud what was ailing us

Why do ppl say "pardon my french" when they use foul language???

Lammastide said:

Back in undergrad, I heard a professor say something horribly hateful about a particular group of people. It impressed me as really picturesque, though. Went something like...

"If I had the money to send only half those _____ on a raft across the ocean, I'd take that money and send all of them halfway across the ocean."

I'm sorry but

I know its not funny but you gotta laugh off the ignorant reasoning of the ones who spout those things.

I used to have a neighbor who says stuff like that, only his phrase was "If I had the power to send so & so to war, I'd put them on the only front row" which cracked me up how in the hell did that front row became ONLY?

Harlepolis said:

Lammastide said:

Back in undergrad, I heard a professor say something horribly hateful about a particular group of people. It impressed me as really picturesque, though. Went something like...

"If I had the money to send only half those _____ on a raft across the ocean, I'd take that money and send all of them halfway across the ocean."

I'm sorry but

I know its not funny but you gotta laugh off the ignorant reasoning of the ones who spout those things.

I used to have a neighbor who says stuff like that, only his phrase was "If I had the power to send so & so to war, I'd put them on the only front row" which cracked me up how in the hell did that front row became ONLY?

It's amazing, isn't it?

Tokyo89 said:

For some reason I always wanna know who made up certain popular sayings and why

ie: "When push comes to shove"

wtf does that really mean???

Post some you hate/love or need explained

when push comes to shove. When matters must be confronted, when a crucial point is reached, as in If push comes to shove, the Federal Reserve Board will lower the interest rate, or They supposedly support equality, but when push comes to shove they always seem to promote a man instead of a woman. This term comes from rugby, where, after an infraction of rules, forwards from each team face off and push against one another until one player can kick the ball to a teammate and resume the game. Its figurative use dates from the 1950s.

http://www.answers.com/to...s-to-shove

XxAxX said:

Tokyo89 said:

For some reason I always wanna know who made up certain popular sayings and why

ie: "When push comes to shove"

wtf does that really mean???

Post some you hate/love or need explained

when push comes to shove. When matters must be confronted, when a crucial point is reached, as in If push comes to shove, the Federal Reserve Board will lower the interest rate, or They supposedly support equality, but when push comes to shove they always seem to promote a man instead of a woman. This term comes from rugby, where, after an infraction of rules, forwards from each team face off and push against one another until one player can kick the ball to a teammate and resume the game. Its figurative use dates from the 1950s.

http://www.answers.com/to...s-to-shove

Thanx, I always thought it was just something old people say..Never thought it had a real meaning

Tokyo89 said:

Why do ppl say "pardon my french" when they use foul language???

In 1066 the Normans of northern France conquered England, taking the country over as a sort of vassal state and replacing the use of Old English (a Germanic tongue) with Anglo-Norman (a French dialect) in the halls of government, education and privilege. Over the next four centuries of French rule, England would see, on the one hand, a sort of hybridized development of Middle English as the common language, but, on the other hand, the growth of a mutually spiteful split between English and French cultural purists. The French thought the English were uncultured barbarians; the English thought the French were snotty hedonists. And this mutual animosity has lasted well into modern times.

Long story short, the French-speaking rulers of England broke from France in 1453, when they were defeated in their military effort to take over the French throne. They essentially had their butts served to them, got kicked out and were told to take England with them. English, then, would see a resurgence in use through England, and animosity toward things French would grow and linger. "Pardon my French" ultimately developed as a sort of quip equating default to tactless overindulgence (here in language) with the French.

"OK"

http://www.oxforddictiona...m/page/190

[Edited 11/11/10 10:47am]

Lammastide said:

Tokyo89 said:

Why do ppl say "pardon my french" when they use foul language???

In 1066 the Normans of northern France conquered England, taking the country over as a sort of vassal state and replacing the use of Old English (a Germanic tongue) with Anglo-Norman (a French dialect) in the halls of government, education and privilege. Over the next four centuries of French rule, England would see, on the one hand, a sort of hybridized development of Middle English as the common language, but, on the other hand, the growth of a mutually spiteful split between English and French cultural purists. The French thought the English were uncultured barbarians; the English thought the French were snotty hedonists. And this mutual animosity has lasted well into modern times.

Long story short, the French-speaking rulers of England broke from France in 1453, when they were defeated in their military effort to take over the French throne. They essentially had their butts served to them, got kicked out and were told to take England with them. English, then, would see a resurgence in use through England, and animosity toward things French would grow and linger. "Pardon my French" ultimately developed as a sort of quip equating default to tactless overindulgence (here in language) with the French.

you learn something new everyday!

THAT'S what i'm talking about.....(uhh, yeah i say that ...)