101 THINGS YOU SAY ALL THE TIME: And Have No Idea What You’re Talking About!We all use these expressions to a greater or lesser extent because they are helpful. They constitute a kind of verbal shorthand by which we can express our intentions and our emotions. We are “on cloud nine” or “in the pink.” We are “under the weather” or “at sixes and sevens.” Sometimes “things pan out,” or they just aren’t “up to snuff.”We know what we mean when we say these things, but we don’t always know what we’re talking about. How did these expressions come into the language? What are we really saying when we’re “happy as a clam” or “three sheets to the wind”?This book intends to give you some of the answers—while at the same time letting you have some fun. Three possible explanations as to origin are given for each commonly used expression. Only one is correct, and a number on the page that follows will tell you which one it is. The other two are simply fabrications, which I made up to confuse you.See if you can figure out which is which. See if you can “separate the wheat from the chaff.”CFA |
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101 Things You Say All the Time: And Have No Idea What You're Talking About! Charles Adams No preview available - 2011 |
Common terms and phrases
answer BAITED BREATH became a synonym blue moon BROWNIE POINTS called chewing the fat Choose clam cloud nine cold feet cold shoulder cold turkey dead ringer Definition dirt poor doldrums doornail ducks dyed-in-the-wool early easy as pie England English eventually expression derives face the music give a hoot going GOODY TWO-SHOES GREEN WITH ENVY Hobson's choice hook or crook humble pie Indian kicking the bucket Kid McCoy loose cannon lucky stiff man’s movie nose nosey parker original expression p's and q's PAINT THE TOWN PASSING THE BUCK person phrase pigeon pink popular pushing the envelope real McCoy red cent red tape reference right as rain salad days salt saying Shakespeare shoo-in skeleton slang word snuff soldiers someone SPILLING THE BEANS spitting image stool term things Three possible origins three sheets town red tuckered wagon whole nine yards willies wind worm worth