'No news is good news'

I'm not even sure if my interpretations mean different things to anyone else but me.

#2 and #4 are equivalent

If there's no news coming in, you can continue to live the Big Lie and think things are peachy.

Really all I can think of when hearing this phrase is when the Awful Din in Phantom Tollbooth is rehashing it like "No noose is good noose!" and other phrases that sound phonetically similar, just tons of them. The phrase was like "namyo-ho-rendenkyo" (cannot spell) for me until a few years ago!

It's #1, with a vague implication of #2/#4.

I.e., you have nothing to report = things must be moving along apace, then, no disruptions, smooth sailing is good sailing

http://photos7.flickr.com/7372293_37b4ce243f_m.jpg

It's like with a refrigerator

See THAT phrase has a lot more resonance for me because I am secure in knowing it means nothing!

Also for a while I thought "no news is good news" was an argument against human interest pieces.

I think it's pretty similar in idea to "May you live in uninteresting times"

That is so bleak!

interest ≠ horribly depressing!

(I know everyone here knows this)
(I think I overthink way too many turns of phrase)

I learned recently that its most noble use is as something to say to people when you ask them what they've been up to and they have no answer.

No news is what it is.

rock hardy otm, kinda, but a little dark in his interpretation. It's like when someone says, "I'll call you if I have any trouble." If they don't call, that must mean everything went fine.

If you haven't heard from your grandmother in a few months, that must mean everyone in the family is still alive.

or your grandma is dead and nobody has bothered to check on her

Actually my great-grandma died and deliberately didn't tell me until after the funeral.

I mean, my FAMILY (parents) deliberately did not tell me.

If your deadbeat brother doesn't keep in touch lately, it must mean he doesn't need to borrow any money.

xpost lol at ruby

http://www.jakekaligis.com/images/gary.jpg

abbott -- i found out yesterday that one of my uncles died, and NOBODY in the family had bothered to tell me a) he was in a coma, b) he was in a coma because he tried to kill himself with insulin, or c) he tried to kill himself with insulin because his much-too-young-for-him third wife had left him for another woman.

ohyeah, he had been in a coma for FIVE MONTHS. In that time, it never occurred to anyone to mention any of this to me.Too shameful, I have to assume.

hahahha Family surprises. You can either laugh, or cry, or get really mad, or eat something, or drink too much for the night, or listen to the radio, or take a long drive, or some combination of the above, or something else.

it bummed me out, but in a kind of fascinating way. I mean, what drama!

It is a SURREAL feeling for sure! And sad.

I watched a western. I guess that's how I deal with death.

I thought "may you live in uninteresting times" was a positive thing, as it plays on the old Chinese curse "may you live in interesting times" ie, your life will be full of chaos and fuckupedness. So like - no news is good news, to bring it back.

I thought "may you live in uninteresting times" was a positive thing

it is, that's what he said. Hence the "good news" part of the phrase.

What I was saying, Trayce, is that I think it's kind of terrible that uninteresting means positive. I kind of hate 'interesting' as a euphemistic, pseudo-diplomatic term but that is just me.

yeah, but "may you live in interesting times" isn't just using a flat meaning of "interesting"; there's an evil smirk

Which I'm guessing is what Ab has issue with? The wry use of the word. Like when you sarily say "mmmm *interesting*" to someone I suppose.

sarily = sarkily. Eyes bleary. Day bad.

surely evil smirks have a valid place in the lexicon

Abbott, I just want you to know that I've wondered about this phrase for my whole life. You're not the only one!

rock hardy otm, kinda, but a little dark in his interpretation.

My specialty.

no news is better than bad newwsss

News is rarely neutral. It's often filtered through the news provider's world view.

So in the UK when Radio 4 Today programme says 'And here is the news', the tone is all too often:

'The word is going to hell - and here's the latest reasons why...'

(Not that they really believe it, but their loathsome presenters love the acquired gravitas of 'this is serious/doom and gloom')

* ahem - 'world'

The other day my wife mistakenly said "Nothing is news under the sun," -- which is only a subtle difference but I kind of like it.

None of the above.

Of course you can get good news, that's just silly to think otherwise. but hearing nothing, yeah bad things could still be happening.

What I want to know is what about newts?

I mean they are pretty cuet in their way.

I used to think it meant #2 and was v.confused, but then realised it was actually supposed to mean #1.

It's obviously number one.

There are quite afew of these common phrases that have to be untangled a bit, though - I only figured out 'have your cake and eat it' fairly recently.

'Keep your cake and eat it' would be better phrasing.

This is just a misheard version of "No snoose is good news." Which, if you've ever known a snoose chewer makes complete sense, if only from the pov of the onlookers.

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Laurel,

I love newts. They would make homes in my basement bedroom window well. So cute! But sometimes in winter I'd find mummified newts. :{ Which I thoufght were really neat, but I am one of 'those people.'

Can someone untangle the common phrase 'chickens coming home to roost'? Why is this a bad thing?

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dude chickens are some asshole animals

Yes, the cake one always used to irritate me!

I still don't really get what "The exception proves the rule" is supposed to mean. It seems flat out wrong to me.

it means that looking at exceptions is the best way to understand the validity of a rule

although yeah its been corrupted into an excuse to just throw inconvenient stuff under the rug

So shouldn't it be "The lack of exceptions proves the rule"?

Or is it an archaic sense of "prove" that actually means "test" or something.

yes.

Not really (and I only found this out a couple of weeks ago). It's more like and what says. It's kind of a circular logic. For something to be an exception, it means there must be something there to be an exception to. If you see an exception such as "Only guide dogs allowed on the premises", that's an exception that proves the rule that, in general, dogs are not allowed.

(but yes, it is usually just used in a folksy way that doesn't really mean anything, so no wonder everyone gets confused)

It's difficult to use in a non-folksy way...

Otherwise professional philosphers would use it a kind of joker card : "My Grand Unifying Theory of Everything is clearly true - your objection being the exception that proves the rule."

Yeah, in philosophy, it would be uselessly circular, but not when there's any kind of authority making the rules (as with the guide dog example).