Reader Opinions
Frank – (knotty problem) August 24, 2023
Obviously with a phrase meaning difficult, complicated or problematic the origin is to do with knots in string/ropes etc. A knot in a tree/piece of wood doesn’t pose a ‘knotty’ problem in the normal sense of that phrase.
Вихрен Костадинов – (clean sweep) August 22, 2023
During World War II, American submarine crews, eager to showcase their many accomplishments, revived the practice. If a boat sank every target with which she engaged over the course of a patrol, the crew attached brooms to the periscope shears so their success, a “clean sweep,” was on display as they entered port.
Peter J Muhleisen – (doozy) August 14, 2023
duzy polish for big. Any thoughts?
DBlay – (at the drop of a dime) August 12, 2023
Not only make a phone call, but usually, to divulge some information, tell someone.
“I’ll do it; I don’t need you dropping a dime on me.”
Summer – (the devil is beating his wife) August 2, 2023
Midwest here. always hear this in what we call a sun shower – when the sun is shining and it’s raining. Sometimes I hear it when something unexpected happens. Moved out to the pacific northwest recently when one day there was a sun shower – I casually said to a group of friends “well- looks like the devil’s beatin’ his wife again” – they all busted up with laughter as they’d never heard the idiom before.
Fred Harvey – (forty winks) July 23, 2023
Somewhere in the ether the real reason exists.
Claire – (a sight for sore eyes) July 22, 2023
If “a sight for sore eyes” is used negatively, that is done in error, not as an alternative meaning. That would do nothing but cause confusion. “A sight for sore eyes” was never intended to have a negative meaning. You rightly say that people confuse it with “eyesore,” which is negative.
Melynda Duh – (the devil is beating his wife) July 19, 2023
I am a Black American. My parents were born 1909 and 1910. They were born and raised on the Georgia/Florida line. I was raised in East Central Florida and have heard and been told and shared all of my life that anytime it is raining and the sunshines, too, the devil is beating his wife. It’s such a strange situation and statement I have no idea how it came about.
Ruth – (the devil is beating his wife) July 16, 2023
Middle Georgia here. My mother’s family always said the devil is beating his wife when it rained while the sun was shining. They were of English and Scots-Irish descent. I’ve never heard it called a sun shower—much more descriptive!
Peter DeHaan – (familiarity breeds contempt) July 13, 2023
This account about Jesus is also in Mark 6:1-6.
