Reader Opinions
Anonymous – (catch-22) March 30, 2020
I have desire to married but I don’t have any job. For finding job I have needed to married, so I believe it is catch-22 situation.
Old school – (chew the fat) March 30, 2020
After a big meal with family (usually Sunday dinner), we would chew on the fat left over on our plates while gossiping over the latest news about relatives or friends. Those pieces of fat (such as from pork chops) were always browned and juicy, with the best flavor.
Native American speaker (Late Boomer) – (a piece of cake) March 27, 2020
Your definition about anything invented in the 1870s during slavery in the southern states of America loses a bit of credibility when one considers that the Civil war ended in 1865 and slavery had been pretty much abolished by the Emancipation proclamation in 1863.
As to the cakewalk part of your definition, that is somewhat more credible as a cakewalk as originally established was a contest in which pretty much anyone who wanted to keep playing won something eventually.
Anonymous – (turn a deaf ear) March 22, 2020
Dan O. here
i thot ‘turn a deaf ear’ could also apply to a person avoiding unwanted opinion, when that avoider happened to be deaf in only one ear, thus, turning deaf side toward speaker sends a message:
‘I won’t/can’t hear you!’
Anonymous – (hang in there) March 20, 2020
I may be wrong, but I believe it was a line used on the tv show “Then Came Bronson”. Not sure if it predates the poster.
I’m an old-school teacher – (raining cats and dogs) March 13, 2020
When I was told of this idiom, too many years ago, it went like this; In the old country when dead cats, dogs or any animal of the like, died in winter they didn’t want the bother of digging through the frozen ground to bury and so they put them on the roof of their dwelling to await a thaw. Strong early spring rainstorms would wash them off the roof and into the gutterways. And it would be ‘raining cats and dogs’.
Old lady – (born yesterday) March 12, 2020
Mark Twain’s beloved wife Livy died in 1904 and he started “translating” the diaries of Adam and Eve: another Biblical reference. Eve starts out by letting us know that she was born yesterday – if there had been an additional day, surely she would remember it. Great heartbreaking literature and I would bet playwright Kanin was familiar with Mark Twain. Time period fits as does the concept of an amazing new creature finding her way, relying on instinct rather than instruction.
Anonymous – (all hell will let loose) March 12, 2020
Finding out he’s being clingy to other people in front of me and then all hell breaks loose.
Zack – (drop a line) March 10, 2020
As mentioned, it uses “line” in the sense of “a line of writing; a few words” which evolved to mean a short letter. The use of “drop” comes from the notion of dropping a letter into a mailbox to be delivered, attested from at least 1769.
Arlinda Hinton – (stay up) March 9, 2020
I was brought up to believe when someone is parting company, saying ‘Stay up!’ means for example to stay on top of things.
Or stay encouraged
