Where do sayings come form and how many does it take to catch on?

[CouchCoach]

One of my all time favorites is "it's hard to remember the original objective was to drain the swamp when you're up to your *** in alligators".

That is a famous business saying and dead on and I lived it many times.

 

[CouchCoach]

I find it amazing that it took as long as it did for John Lennon to come up with "life is what happens to you while you're planning something else". The great philosophers would be impressed with just how profound that is.

 

[Runwildboys]

She'll tell you how the cow ate the cabbage.

This is the first I've heard of this one

 

[Runwildboys]

A penny saved is a penny earned. Holy crap! we have got to chance this one. Maybe "A dollar saved is a dollar earned". Anything else...you're wasting your time.

Hey, back in Ben Franklin's day, a penny was worth something!

 

[Runwildboys]

Gotta P like a Russian Racehorse.

Why does a racehorse need to P and what does being Russian have to do w/ anything?

Never heard the Russian part.

 

[Runwildboys]

I have another I like to use on people when the obvious needs to be called to attention and it contains alliteration and I am a fool for that. There's a very good reason why peg legged pirates pick parrots over woodpeckers.

Sadly, I have a nephew who'd think it's because woodpeckers don't talk.

 

[Runwildboys]

Ugly as a mud fence.

Pretty as a painted pony.

Have your cake and eat it too.

Yeah, the have your cake and eat it too one still bothers me. Why would you want it if you can't eat it?

 

[Runwildboys]

"3 sheets to the winds" is a slang term for being drunk. I get the sailing reference but what does it have to do with being "****-faced", which is another expression.

Maybe the ship starts tipping at that point?

 

[CouchCoach]

This is the first I've heard of this one

Might have been a Southern one but I heard that from many people growing up in Arkansas.

 

[Winonesoon]

What the heck is plug nickel?

 

[Creeper]

Maybe the ship starts tipping at that point?

Actually I googled it and it seem "sheets" refers to sails that get loose and flap all over the place. Or that's what some people claim.

 

[CouchCoach]

What the heck is plug nickel?

A phony piece of metal in the same size as a nickel.

 

[CouchCoach]

"A watched pot never boils". Is a lie.

 

[CouchCoach]

My favorite and one of the first I learned. "If my dog had a face like yours, I'd shave his butt and teach him to walk backwards"

Another. "She's so ugly, looks like she fell out of the ugly tree and hit every limb on the way down".

 

[Winonesoon]

"A watched pot never boils". Is a lie.

sure its a lie. it just means to have patience and things seem to happen sooner.

 

[Runwildboys]

My favorite and one of the first I learned. "If my dog had a face like yours, I'd shave his butt and teach him to walk backwards"

Another. "She's so ugly, looks like she fell out of the ugly tree and hit every limb on the way down".

I think the first one was a Redd Foxx line, but I could be mistaken.

 

[Runwildboys]

A lot of these are just witticisms, but there are some sayings that are really baffling.

Why do you tell actors to "break a leg"?
I wonder if it's just because it's less extreme than "dying" on stage.

 

[Winonesoon]

I think the first one was a Redd Foxx line, but I could be mistaken.

Gleaming the cube 1989...

 

[Runwildboys]

Gleaming the cube 1989...

Wow, I could swear I'd heard that joke long before that.

 

[Winonesoon]

Wow, I could swear I'd heard that joke long before that.

maybe so, just where i remember hearing it.