Reader Opinions
Stephen Ulicny – (blast from the past) December 21, 2022
I first heard the phrase Blast from the Past on 1010 WINS Radio New York. DJ Murray Kaufman, also called Murray the K. His line as Its Murray the K with the Swinging Soiree with a blast from the past: let the time slide role. Early 60s.
Elaine – (forty winks) December 13, 2022
It doesn’t make sense. If you are winking you aren’t asleep.
Ysabet – (call a spade a spade) December 8, 2022
Ugh; always thought this had to do with the suite of playing cards. The things you learn… Thank you!
Abhisri – (barking dogs seldom bite) November 15, 2022
A barking dog seldom bites, which is a metaphor for people who are weak on the inside but threaten to harm us.
Marco Benincasa – (the rose that grew from concrete) November 15, 2022
It is to me a great expression, because on the one hand, the concept of “concrete” suggests the squalor and poverty of some urban areas, which is just as opposed to the refreshing and exiling scent of the rose, which brings about emotional life and the magnetic attraction of love.
Mark – (take with a grain of salt) November 15, 2022
“Take it with a grain of salt” implies that a grain of salt has more value than the claim being made. Other idioms clearly place value on salt, so I don’t know why the official explanations don’t mention this.
Nikki – (call a spade a spade) November 7, 2022
I once read the phrase in an old Nancy drew book, but she said, “let’s call a spade a spade and not a pointed digging implement.”
Ahona – (like a cat on a hot tin roof) November 7, 2022
I think as school goers we learnt “monkey on hot bricks.”
Jay Gilpatrick – (when pigs fly) November 2, 2022
Pigs like mud too much. They’ll be the last species to ever fly.
Anonymous – (you can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs) October 26, 2022
M Roine,
I would bet the bulldozing of farm land, pesticides, and tilling of soil kills more animals to feed you than the entire population of people on carnivorous diets.
