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Origins of Sayings and Idioms
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- Lemon Quarter
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Origins of Sayings and Idioms
Easy to google them of course but that would not be cricket.
Being in a limelight
Thin red line
Being in a limelight
Thin red line
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- Lemon Slice
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Re: Origins of Sayings and Idioms
Being in the limelight - think that's because of some kind of arc lighting used in theaters in the good old days.
Thin red line - wasn't that British soldiers wearing red tunics, so a line of men opposing an enemy could be described as a 'thin red line'?
Thin red line - wasn't that British soldiers wearing red tunics, so a line of men opposing an enemy could be described as a 'thin red line'?
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- Lemon Slice
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Re: Origins of Sayings and Idioms
PS: I notice JMN2 that I've been a member of TLF for 50 minutes longer than you!
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- Lemon Slice
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Re: Origins of Sayings and Idioms
Just for whimsy, here's something I learned recently.
What is the English language word for 'the day after tomorrow?'
What is the English language word for 'the day after tomorrow?'
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- Lemon Quarter
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Re: Origins of Sayings and Idioms
NomoneyNohoney wrote:Just for whimsy, here's something I learned recently.
What is the English language word for 'the day after tomorrow?'
You wrote that on sunday, so the answer is.... tuesday
--kiloran
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- Lemon Slice
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Re: Origins of Sayings and Idioms
JMN2 wrote:
Being in a limelight
Remembered from my O-level chemistry!
When quicklime is heated to a high temperature it emits an intense light, used to illuminate the stages of theatres before electric light came along. Not sure what was used to do the heating though.
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- Lemon Slice
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Re: Origins of Sayings and Idioms
One saying that used I used to speculate on the origins of is "Got up like a dog's dinner". Not heard so much these days but meaning flashily dressed or overdressed.
I finally managed to get a sensible explanation (these were pre-Google days), anybody know what it is?
I finally managed to get a sensible explanation (these were pre-Google days), anybody know what it is?
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- Lemon Slice
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Re: Origins of Sayings and Idioms
Kiloran, I applaud your logic! It's not what I meant though, there is an actual word for 'the day after tomorrow.'
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- Lemon Half
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Re: Origins of Sayings and Idioms
malkymoo wrote:JMN2 wrote:
Being in a limelight
Remembered from my O-level chemistry!
When quicklime is heated to a high temperature it emits an intense light, used to illuminate the stages of theatres before electric light came along. Not sure what was used to do the heating though.
Hydrogen and oxygen , apparently.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limelight
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- Lemon Half
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Re: Origins of Sayings and Idioms
NomoneyNohoney wrote:Just for whimsy, here's something I learned recently.
What is the English language word for 'the day after tomorrow?'
Perhaps "threemorrow" ?
John
(I notice that I am primogenita to you by 85 minutes)
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- Lemon Slice
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Re: Origins of Sayings and Idioms
As tomorrow technically doesn't exist the day after therefore also doesn't exist. So for something that is non-existent I nominate the English language word for 'the day after tomorrow' as 'myth'
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- Lemon Half
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Re: Origins of Sayings and Idioms
JMN2 wrote:Easy to google them of course but that would not be cricket.
... Thin red line
Scotland recently lost to Papua New Guinea at cricket but their thin red line showed more steel at Balaklava.
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- Lemon Half
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Re: Origins of Sayings and Idioms
panamagold wrote:As tomorrow technically doesn't exist the day after therefore also doesn't exist. So for something that is non-existent I nominate the English language word for 'the day after tomorrow' as 'myth'
On that basis, does yesterday exist?
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- Lemon Slice
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Re: Origins of Sayings and Idioms
PinkDalek wrote:
On that basis, does yesterday exist?
Ah, that would be the past and that existed.
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- Lemon Slice
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Re: Origins of Sayings and Idioms
Just to close out the question, the answer to 'the day after tomorrow' is an archaic word, "overmorrow."
If you search for the word, it seems to have equivalents in European languages (qv: http://www.yourdictionary.com/overmorrow) and its just a fine word that needs resuscitating. I'm trying to inveigle it into conversations when I can.
(As a digression, the Georgian language for once is really brief with these words:
today : dges
tomorrow: hwal
the day after tomorrow: zeg
the day after the day after : mazeg
Every language should have a word for the day three days hence.)
If you search for the word, it seems to have equivalents in European languages (qv: http://www.yourdictionary.com/overmorrow) and its just a fine word that needs resuscitating. I'm trying to inveigle it into conversations when I can.
(As a digression, the Georgian language for once is really brief with these words:
today : dges
tomorrow: hwal
the day after tomorrow: zeg
the day after the day after : mazeg
Every language should have a word for the day three days hence.)
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- Lemon Half
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Re: Origins of Sayings and Idioms
I was told by a Swedish friend that they (Swedes) have different words for maternal and paternal grandparents, which makes sense. She may have been winding me up of course.
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- Lemon Quarter
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Re: Origins of Sayings and Idioms
AleisterCrowley wrote:I was told by a Swedish friend that they (Swedes) have different words for maternal and paternal grandparents, which makes sense. She may have been winding me up of course.
She's not winding you up, maternals are mormor and morfar and paternals are farmor and farfar.
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- The full Lemon
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Re: Origins of Sayings and Idioms
JMN2 wrote:AleisterCrowley wrote:I was told by a Swedish friend that they (Swedes) have different words for maternal and paternal grandparents, which makes sense. She may have been winding me up of course.
She's not winding you up, maternals are mormor and morfar and paternals are farmor and farfar.
Uncle and aunt are likewise distinguished according to which side they're attached to. But once you get to cousins, you have a word that sounds a lot like ours, and following the tree (e.g. farbrorson, mosterdotter, for all-male or all-female connections, with the obvious permutations for mixed lines) would be unusual.
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