IDIOM OF THE DAY

[rufusredtail]

MAKE YOUR NUMBER
report your arrival, pay a courtesy call, or report for duty.

I This expression has nautical origins; when ships made their number, they signalled to others the number by which they were registered. The literal sense was first recorded in the mid 19th-century, with the figurative extension developing soon afterwards.

[rufusredtail]

PEACH

a peach of a ----- a particularly excellent or desirable thing of the kind specified. informal

I Peach has been used since the mid 18th century as a colloquial term for an attractive young woman and more generally since the mid 19th century for anything of exceptional quality.

[rufusredtail]

LEGIT

go legit begin to behave honestly after a period of illegal activity. informal

I Legit was originally a late 19th-century theatrical abbreviation meaning ' a legitimate actor' , that is , one who acts in 'legitimate theatre' (conventional or serious drama).

[rufusredtail]

ICEBERG

the tip of an (or the)iceberg the small perceptible part of a much larger situation or problem which remains hidden

 This phrase refers to the fact that only about one fifth of the mass of an iceberg is visible above the surface of the sea.

[rufusredtail]

WARTS AND ALL

When Oliver Cromwell 1599-1658 had his portrait painted he ordered the artist not to flatter him. He insisted on being painted 'warts and all'.

[rufusredtail]

RINDERPEST

before (or since) the rinderpest along time ago (or a very long time ), South Africa

I Rinderpest is a contagious viral disease of cattle that periodically caused heavy losses in much of Africa.
  The 1896 epidemic was so devastating as a historical landmark, so giving rise to this expression.

[rufusredtail]

BY

By and large  on the whole everything considered.

I Originally this phrase was used in a nautical context, describing the handling of a ship both to the wind and off it.

[rufusredtail]

SHIT  Vulgar slang

not know shit from Shinola be very ignorant or innocent. US

I Shinola is the proprietary name of a US brand of boot polish.

[rufusredtail]

HOCK

in hock 1 having been pawned. 2 in debt

I hock here comes from the Dutch word hok meaning 'hutch' or 'prison'. Originally mid 19th-century US slang, this sense of hock is now found only in this phrase or , occasionally, in out of hock.

[rufusredtail]

LYRICAL

wax lyrical about (or over) talk in an effusive or enthusiatic way about something.

Wax (from Old English weaxan) was used to mean 'increase in size' right through until early modern English, but since then it has been superseded in all
general contexts by grow.

It now survives only in certain expressions, especially with reference to the moon's monthly increase and decrease (waxing and waning).

[Sofa_King]

It's Like Shooting Fish in a Barrel

Quick. Think of the least challenging event you can. Is one of them shooting fish in a barrel? Perhaps not, but somehow this has become the standard metaphor for something that is so easy anyone could do it with no problem. (It is similar to the adage "It's Like Stealing Candy from a Baby.)
Humans are inherently lazy. If we could have everything provided to us with no effort we would love it. Fortunately, we are taught a work ethic as we are growing up and realize that we have to work for most things in life. When something does occasionally come along that gives us something without trying very hard, we usually take it. That is why something that is "like shooting fish in a barrel" is usually looked upon as a good thing.

There is another side of human nature though. We are entertained and become more mature when we have to work through problems to attain our goal. If I were just handed my degree from MIT without having to struggle through the classes to learn important skills, what would be the point? Everyone would know that an MIT degree was worthless-anybody could get one without effort. It is the very fact that I have to work so hard to get the degree that it means something. In this way, if getting an MIT degree were "like shooting fish in a barrel" it would become worthless.

So, saying that something is "like shooting fish in a barrel" does not necessarily convey any meaning about whether it is a good thing or a bad thing. The context must be analyzed. Even then, different people may have different views of whether it is good or bad. Fortunately, adages are not always unambiguous in their meaning! It makes life more interesting and gives me something to talk about...

[Sofa_King]

Pillock

as in



In modern British English usage, a pillock is an stupid person (generally) or a stupid and annoying person (specifically).

Applicable to male and female, though male is more usual. It's mildly or very mildly rude, but not necessarily suitable for polite company.

In usage (especially in the south of England and around London), a pillock isn't necessarily stupid but rather one who has done something stupid or whose stupidity backfires on him or her. This is the main sense that James May uses in reference to Jeremy Clarkson.

Pillock articulates in meaning to a pratt (dim witted, useless or clueless person) or a wazzock (north of England: an idiot or daft person).

[Sofa_King]

Moron

Moron is a term once used in psychology to denote mild intellectual disability. The term was closely tied with the American eugenics movement. Once the term became popularized, it fell out of use by the psychological community, as it was used more commonly as an insult than as a psychological term.

Origin and uses

"Moron" was coined in 1910 by psychologist Henry H. Goddard from the Ancient Greek word moros, which meant "dull"  (as opposed to oxy, which meant "sharp" ( where we get oxymoron from )), and used to describe a person with a mental age in adulthood of between 8 and 12 on the Binet scale. It was once applied to people with an IQ of 51–70, being superior in one degree to "imbecile" (IQ of 26–50) and superior in two degrees to "idiot" (IQ of 0–25). The word moron, along with others including, "idiotic", "imbecilic", "stupid", and "feeble-minded", was formerly considered a valid descriptor in the psychological community, but it is now deprecated in use by psychologists.

Following opposition to Goddard's attempts to popularize his ideas, Goddard recanted his earlier assertions about the moron: "It may still be objected that moron parents are likely to have imbecile or idiot children. There is not much evidence that this is the case. The danger is probably negligible. !

[Sofa_King]

Idiom of the Day

Get a Grip



This cartoon is based on the idiom get a grip.

Get a grip means to understand how to deal with something or to control your emotions.

Examples:

"This book really helped me get a grip on politics."

"You should get a grip on yourself - you are behaving like a child!"

 

http://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/lessons/idiom-day-get-a-grip

[Sofa_King]

Get over it

Meaning

Don't concern yourself with something that's already in the past; accept it and move on to more productive pursuits.

Origin

We have been told to 'get over' our problems for centuries; for example, in Thirty-six Years of Seafaring Life, 1839, we have:

"Such was his state, that no one supposed he ever could get over it." [an amputation]

Something changed in the USA in early 1990s though and 'Get over it.' began to be used as a single sentence.

A pre-cursor to 'get over it' as a standalone phrase were a spate of articles relating to the USA's ongoing pre-occupation with the Vietnam War. In an article in the Kingston newspaper The Gleaner, October 1990 there was a report of a meeting between US Secretary of State James Baker and Vietnam's Foreign Minister Nguyen Co Thach. Following the meeting a diplomat said:

"The Americans have a serious emotional problem when it comes to Vietnam and the war. They have to get over it."

The single-sentence form came soon after. The earliest citation I can find is from a syndicated article by Anna Quindlen titled 'Give Hilary a role that suits her ability', which appeared in various US newspapers in November 1992 (co-incidentally, also involving James Baker):

"Breaking new ground is never easy, and Hilary Clintom surely knows about the people who said they wanted to 'get the pants off Eleanor and onto Franklin.' (Gee how times have not changed.) There will be people who complain that they didn't elect her. Get over it. You didn't elect James Baker either."

"get over it "  The phrase was unofficially adopted by the gay community as a part of the slogan "We're here and we're queer - get over it".