Metaphors you have to work the "real-life" equivalent of backwards because you've never encountered them in real life before

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Inspired by N's irritation at "your mileage may vary".

When those Chicken Soup for the Soul books came out I was under the impression that they were cookery books. I had never been aware of any link between the consumption of chicken soup and being ill. When I understood that the books were self-help guides I deduced that the chickensoup-illness link must be a common association. They should have called it Radiotherapy for the Soul.

For you, what idioms/metaphors have put the cart of image before the horse of reality?

― Sam (chirombo), Monday, 17 November 2003 12:18 (twenty-one years ago)

In the title "work" = "work out"

― Sam (chirombo), Monday, 17 November 2003 12:19 (twenty-one years ago)

my mum has problems with "this technology is state-of-the-ark"

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 17 November 2003 12:21 (twenty-one years ago)

'Cart before the horse'?? What do I know about horses and carts. Get with the 21st century already, grandad.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 17 November 2003 12:21 (twenty-one years ago)

"Grandad" - "some sort of old person"??

― Sam (chirombo), Monday, 17 November 2003 12:24 (twenty-one years ago)

"Throw the baby out with the bathwater." Um, hello, they have machines that wash your baby now, so that could never happen. Obsolete!

― Dancing Queen, Monday, 17 November 2003 12:28 (twenty-one years ago)

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Monday, 17 November 2003 12:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I would never let a machine wash my baby!

― Citizen Kate (kate), Monday, 17 November 2003 12:33 (twenty-one years ago)

they have machines that wash your baby now

I don't know what to say. I once saw a machine for plucking dead chickens. Is it anything like that?

― Sam (chirombo), Monday, 17 November 2003 12:33 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't know, but I do know that "chicken before the egg, or the egg before the chicken" gets my goat, because I can eat them simultaneously! Why should I care!!!

Not a metaphor, but "smooth as a baby's behind". Ewww! How the hell would I know, you pervert! People these days!

― Dancing Queen, Monday, 17 November 2003 12:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Perhaps it is the baby's bum's smoothness which facilitates the throwing out of the baby with the bathwater!

― Citizen Kate (kate), Monday, 17 November 2003 12:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Disco!

― Dancing Queen, Monday, 17 November 2003 12:39 (twenty-one years ago)

My thread seems to have gone from the frying pan of non-universal appeal into the fire of blank incomprehension.

― Sam (chirombo), Monday, 17 November 2003 12:41 (twenty-one years ago)

when i was a baby then my bottom had spots on

― the evil docter claw, Monday, 17 November 2003 12:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Let us now put down the needle of metaphor and pick up the club of statement.

― Sam (chirombo), Monday, 17 November 2003 12:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Some would argue (see Derrida thread) that the whole of language is a metaphoric system whose correlates in the real world are lost and unknown to us. But that's Gideon opening the Hornet Box.

― Momus (Momus), Monday, 17 November 2003 12:47 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't like the casual anti-semitism implicit in this thread.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 17 November 2003 12:48 (twenty-one years ago)

I had feared that this topic might be a red rag signifier to the sign of bull.

(ok that doesn't work)

(xpost what?)

― Sam (chirombo), Monday, 17 November 2003 12:50 (twenty-one years ago)

"Chicken Soup for the Shul"

― Sam (chirombo), Monday, 17 November 2003 12:51 (twenty-one years ago)

"Beating a dead horse." I'm sorry if this sounds a touch smug, but I have only ever associated with unicorns, who cannot die, thank you very much.

― Dancing Queen, Monday, 17 November 2003 12:55 (twenty-one years ago)

"You can lead a horse to water..." Again, the unicorns!

― Dancing Queen, Monday, 17 November 2003 12:57 (twenty-one years ago)

here is my a picture of eating a sasuge

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-11/493172/020706sat02ellieMomus.jpg

― the evil docter claw, Monday, 17 November 2003 12:59 (twenty-one years ago)

you can show the whores to daughter but you can't make her wink

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 17 November 2003 13:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Are people getting metaphors mixed up with proverbs (and what is a 'sasuge')?

― Momus (Momus), Monday, 17 November 2003 13:12 (twenty-one years ago)

's a http://www.mtv.com/news/images/archive/sq-suge-knight-smoking-mtv.gif

― RJG (RJG), Monday, 17 November 2003 13:20 (twenty-one years ago)

"Three sheets to the wind." When I was a child my mummy told me I wasn't allowed to play with kids whose families couldn't afford a dryer! So how is this my fault exactly? This is probably why I drink; the persecution, the negativity, the hurt. How dare you.

― Dancing Queen, Monday, 17 November 2003 13:21 (twenty-one years ago)

This thread is the proverbial egg in the briefcase.

― NA (Nick A.), Monday, 17 November 2003 13:23 (twenty-one years ago)

I used to think 'a stitch in time saves nine' referred to time travel. I blame some rubbish children's film foundation film for this.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 17 November 2003 13:25 (twenty-one years ago)

People are still getting metaphors mixed up with proverbs.

― Momus (Momus), Monday, 17 November 2003 13:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't care anymore. Anyway, some proverbs are metaphorical.

― N. (nickdastoor), Monday, 17 November 2003 13:42 (twenty-one years ago)

"Objects in the Rear-View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are"

Okay, besides being one of the longest and most cumbersome refrains or song titles in the history of pop-music, Meatloaf and his shadowy cabal of ghost-writers have gotten this classic of late-80s consumer warnings totally BACKWARDS in order to prove some point or other about obsessive nostalgic behavior. The actual warning is "Objects in the rear-view mirror may be CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR", a condition which is the natural consequence of the wide-angle fisheye optics that rearview mirrors were fitted with in those days, in an attempt to make more of the road visible. So if you take the fact that other cars are closer than one thinks, and add it to our driving public's newly seized notion that objects in the rear-view mirror are actually FARTHER AWAY than one thinks, you've got a recipe for some major collisions. Thanks, Meatloaf.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 17 November 2003 13:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I left a stray sentence or two in there. I've edited them out now - wrapped up w/a bow for "I Hate Music"!!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 17 November 2003 13:44 (twenty-one years ago)

It's funny, this whole thread is reminding me of the Church song, "You Took". Because there's a line in there about "I must have put the horse before the cart" which is funny because Kilbey was trying to lyrically evoke a picture of wrongness - and by inverting the classic statement "cart before the horse" he actually stumbled upon GETTING THINGS THE RIGHT WAY AROUND. If it was intentional, it was brilliant. But if - as I suspect - it was unintentional, this makes it even more brilliant.

― Citizen Kate (kate), Monday, 17 November 2003 13:46 (twenty-one years ago)

"Head over heels" - my head is over my heels now you fool, what's the problem? Also, when was the last time a gang of wild horses tried to drag you away from something you were doing?

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 17 November 2003 21:14 (twenty-one years ago)

My two explanations for 'head over heels' is (1) it sounds better than 'heels over head' and (2) you have done a complete flip and are now back to the starting position!

― oops (Oops), Monday, 17 November 2003 21:20 (twenty-one years ago)

"On the ball." The last time I tried to stand on a basketball I nearly broke my neck!

"Pure as driven snow." So you're telling me in less than two minutes I will be dirty and quite possibly be walked on or thrown around? FUCK YOU!!!!

― Dancing Queen, Monday, 17 November 2003 23:54 (twenty-one years ago)

"You're the air I breathe." Oh thanks, so I keep you going even though you never think about me, but eventually some of my less pure particles (which are the city's fault, not mine!) will slowly begin to kill you?!? Stick your lungs up your righteous ass!

― Dancing Queen, Tuesday, 18 November 2003 00:02 (twenty-one years ago)

"Colombian Necktie." I'm sorry, but I feel it is wrong to discriminate against a nation's fashions. Hey Colombia, the rest of these uptight gringos might snub you, but I'd be happy to wear your neckties!!!

― Dancing Queen, Tuesday, 18 November 2003 00:32 (twenty-one years ago)

dancing queen is outta control

― JaXoN (JasonD), Tuesday, 18 November 2003 01:17 (twenty-one years ago)

"Off the rails." If you've managed to quit cocaine, then you've gained control, silly!

― Dancing Queen, Tuesday, 18 November 2003 02:59 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't think that that one's intended as a metaphor.

― mouse, Tuesday, 18 November 2003 03:31 (twenty-one years ago)

But someone explain this "wagon" bit for me. I've never been on a wagon, much less fallen off of one.

― mouse, Tuesday, 18 November 2003 03:32 (twenty-one years ago)

The "wagon" part came from "Wagon Wheels." Lemonade was a popular drink and still is; Wagon Wheels was a popular treat and still is. Alcoholics Anonymous used to serve Wagon Wheels at their meetings in the mid-80's, and this became so commonplace at AA meetings that the concept of "sobriety" came to be signified by "wagon" the wheels of which were delicious combinations of marshmallow, chocolate, and OH FUCK I'M SUCH A BAD LIAR

― Dancing Queen, Tuesday, 18 November 2003 03:37 (twenty-one years ago)

"Head over heels" is short for "falling head over heels" implying "head over heels over head over heels..." thus tumbling with the whole body. No? Maybe not.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 18 November 2003 04:13 (twenty-one years ago)

If that is so, the extracted part should be heels over head, as that is a non-normal position.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Tuesday, 18 November 2003 13:22 (twenty-one years ago)

"On the wagon" is a reference to medieval public executions. The wrongdoers were transported from the gaol to the gallows on a cart or wagon. Usually, sympathetic onlookers would offer the miscreant servings of BOOZE to mitigate their awful time on the gallows. If the Authorities wanted it to be a particularly nasty death and wanted the person to suffer, they would tie them to the wagon so they could not get access to the offered booze. Hence "On the wagon" = sober.

― Citizen Kate (kate), Tuesday, 18 November 2003 13:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Tracer, it appears Tanya is busy at the moment with some obscurantism call the Greek Alphabet Of Pop, but I'm sure she will appreciate your Meatloaf piece when she gets to Omega.

― Pete (Pete), Tuesday, 18 November 2003 13:31 (twenty-one years ago)

You are all Jerry Seinfeld and I will collect my $5.

― NA (Nick A.), Tuesday, 18 November 2003 15:24 (twenty-one years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.