Like “does the Pope shit in the woods?” or “that train has sailed?”
Also, what good examples can you think of?
When referring to a difficult task: “That’s a tough road to hold”, or “a tough road to hoe”, or “a tough road to [travel on]” or “a tough road to… [trails off awkwardly…]”, or just “a tough road”.
It’s a tough row to hoe.
It’s an agricultural metaphor. The row is a line of dirt in a field where you plant seeds. You use a hoe to dig the lines, remove weeds, and create little holes where you drop the seeds. Hoeing may be difficult if the soil is too hard or too full of rocks and weeds. Such a row would be a tough one to hoe.
I understand how you got there, but it sounds like a tough hoe to plow.
I thought most hoes would be quite easy to plow
All the more reason to emphasize the tough ones!
Also, have you SEEN inflation lately?!?!?
We’ll drive off that bridge when we get to it
I usually go with “We’ll burn that bridge when we get to it”
That’s my favorite one to use
No, the bridge is too well-guarded.
I like “we’ll burn that bridge when we come to it”
I can’t believe you got such a simple saying wrong. It’s not rocket surgery.
I need to start using this one, I already use “burn that bridge” fairly often
It’s not rocket surgery.
One of my standbys is “that horse has sailed”.
The correct term is Rickyism
“I could care less”
You could and you should!
“The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.” Meaning contracts, friendships, and keeping promises should take priority over family loyalty.
Now changed to “Blood is thicker than water” and means the exact opposite of the original.
I’m running around like a chicken with its legs cut off.
Reminds me of my friend once saying that “the discussion leads nowhere. It’s like the snake biting its tongue”
Current pet peeve: “to step foot on”. Facepalm! Just coz somebody misheard “set” doesn’t make “step foot” grammatical. And yet here we are.
It’s often called an eggcorn, and here’s a really good video that touches on it: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JTslqcXsFd4&pp=ygUMRWdnY29ybiBlcmlr
The weirdest one I used to hear often was “for all intensive purposes,” like wtf is an intensive purpose?
- The grass is always greener in the hand.
- You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t look it in its mouth.
- We’ll burn that bridge when we come to it.
- Caught with his pants in the cookie jar.
That last one… goddamn, that’s amazing.
A malapropism? Does that apply? 🤔
That’s like if you said “mute point” instead of “moot point.”
You know, a cow’s opinion
moo point.
you know, the kind of thing a cow would say.
How you mooin’? 😎
I thought “cakewalk” was a clever American amalgamation of “a piece of cake” and “a walk in the park”.
Turns out it’s actually related to slavery, so probably doesn’t count.
I like ‘bob’s your oyster’ because both original phrases are nonsensical to me. Is there a word isometric to portmanteau but for phrases / idioms?
