Reader Opinions
Akshatha Poojari – (cock and bull story) January 31, 2019
The thief started to tell cock and bull stories when the police catch him.
Nonhle – (all is fair in love and war) January 30, 2019
Origin of this phase is by John Lyly in 1457
Vee – (scrape the bottom of the barrel) January 22, 2019
Synonyms: desperate, pandering, lacking – in extreme need of a result or reaction. Hope this helps.
Dave Johnson – (do or die) January 21, 2019
Perhaps “do or die” originates from a Robert Burns poem in 1875-80 as your website indicates, but I wonder. In Tennyson’s 1854 poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade” there is a line “Theirs but to do and die”. My guess is that Burns got the phrase from Tennyson and changed it slightly. and that perhaps it was already in common use verbally when Tennyson used it.
Tabitha Ezra – (steal thunder) January 21, 2019
I didn’t know about its origin. So amazing thanks
Hp Pathak – (like a bat out of hell) January 20, 2019
It mean that very fast and which the happened as like sudden
Californian – (break a leg) January 19, 2019
It is considered bad luck to say “good luck” to a performer before they go on stage for a performance (it is, in a way, insulting also because they don’t need luck if they have skill). That is why people say “break a leg:” because it is just about the worst thing that could happen to you while on stage, so it is the opposite of saying “good luck.”
Sherry Butt – (bird of passage) January 18, 2019
It is difficult to find a bird of passage
Peter – (that’s the way the cookie crumbles) January 17, 2019
When I was young (1940’s) , whenever my mother made a summer pudding which had to be upturned to come out of the dish, the person who was sitting facing the place where the pudding broke always was served first. I always assumed that was the origin of the phrase!
John Cooper – (Punctuation) January 16, 2019
So very helpful and refreshing to an “ole timer'” hell-bent on rediscovering correct english
