Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with sayings

Polish Translation for "I have nothing"?

rickim — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 08:57:20 -0800

Polish translation for "I have nothing"? At a recent family event my uncle told me my grandfather used to say something along the lines of "E monYETS" meaning "I have nothing" or "I am poor" in Polish. My google-fu has failed me, is this a common phrase? Does someone have the correct spelling in Polish?

I Haven't Had So Much Fun Since the Pigs Ate My Brother

eccnineten — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 15:28:52 -0800

"I Haven't Had So Much Fun Since the Pigs Ate My Brother." Aside from this post, what year and where was the first time you heard this phrase? A variant of the phrase appears in a past askmifi post. I'm hoping someone has a few more details. Google searches show the phrase here and there, but I'm curious what this particular audience has to say. Thank you.

pulsus a mortuus equus

usonian — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:44:31 -0800

I'm looking for a Latin translation of an American colloquialism (knowing that such translations are at best approximations/don't work because the idiom never existed in Latin.) I'm hoping the hive mind can help translate this phrase (which I should stress refers to the poor treatment of horses back in the day) into Latin:

"Rode Hard and Put Away Wet"

I've spent some time with Latin translators and dictionaries and may have gotten part of the way there, but never having taken any Latin I'm sure it's crude at best. I found the verbs "equito" (to ride a horse,) and "repono" (to deposit or store) and the adjectives "severiter" (harshly) and "madidus" (wet/moist/damp.) So, my uninformed attempt to string these together comes out as:

"Equito Severiter Et Repono Ut Madidus"

Which, when run through a translator comes out to:

"To ride harshly and to deposit when wet"

Am I in the ballpark? I appreciate any refinements you scholarly types can offer.

I'm wearing dog tags, but I'm not some dog on the internet...

titantoppler — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 04:28:30 -0800

What quotations / sayings have you found to be helpful to you in getting through daily life? So I'm getting a couple of dog tags engraved for myself, with a few quotations I find to be personally meaningful.

Two such quotations are:
"This too shall pass" (on coping with difficult situations)
"I shall step into this river but once" (on doing the best I can for everything because I will only do this once)

What other quotations / sayings have you personally found meaningful? I'm leaning towards quotations dealing with regret, living a fulfilling life and inspirational quotes.

/Caveat: As far as possible I'd like to refrain from profanities, and being engraved on dog tags, they'll have to be short.

Thanks!

Too much time make lady go crazy.

Emilyisnow — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 15:32:24 -0800

"Time on his hands and himself on his mind". This is a real saying, right? I was thinking about this saying, but when I tried to google it, I only got unrelated e-books. And the people that I've asked don't know what I'm talking about. I didn't just hallucinate it, did I? Is it perhaps a quote? Or is there something very similar out there and I'm just getting confused?

If it is real, what does it mean? I always thought it meant that if you have too much free time you'll get a bit introspective. But now I'm beginning to wonder about that, too.

How would an Indian say "Oh my gosh"?

Artw — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 23:48:55 -0800

What would a good Indian expression of suprise be? Specifically a pleasant suprise, such as the realisation that one is going to make a large amount of money, possibly from someone who is none too reputable. The Hindi (or other language) version and a literal translation would be most useful.

Help me remember this phrase, if it exists!

rivenwanderer — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 22:26:43 -0800

Is this phrase or saying real? Something along the lines of "The play never changes, only the players". It pops into my head now and then, or at least a similar sentiment, but googling for that and related phrases isn't turning up anything. The phrase I am trying to think of (or perhaps have invented?) is about the way that people repeat the same basic stories and dramas over and over again. Am I making this all up? Or is a similar phrase quite famous and I've just got the words slightly wrong in my head?

parents say the darndest things

roger ackroyd — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:46:46 -0800

Help me compile a list of vintage hokey parental catchphrases. "Shape up or ship out," "goodnight, nurse!" and "like it or lump it" will be forever tied the adult figures who loomed large in my childhood. What colorful sayings did your parents and grandparents overuse? The mustier and more inexplicable, the better.

The Mad Menagerie Manager

emhutchinson — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 14:19:46 -0800

"The Mad Menagerie Manager imagined that he managed an Imaginary Menagerie"--who wrote this? Apocryphal, or is there a source? I am a child of the seventies and was taught this one in elementary school. Now I am in a postition to foist it upon young others. Where did it come from?

Who said it first?

applemeat — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:45:58 -0800

Where did the saying "It's 5 'o Clock Somewhere" originate? Yeah, I know the Parrothead reference. But wasn’t this phrase encouraging daylight debauchery long before Jimmy Buffet? (I guess I’d rather picture an F. Scott Fitzgeraldian flapper coyly whispering it between puffs from her mother-of-pearl cigarette holder than to imagine the drunken choruses powered by a 4-top full of Realtors in Hawaiian print shirts.) Cheers (or a pint!) to anyone who can help.

when you say jump, i say stfu?

raztaj — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 07:27:27 -0800

I'm looking for sayings/proverbs/idioms etc. that convey or state, of one refusing to be told what to do (or think, or say). "When I say jump, you'll ask: 'how high?'" -- the *opposite* of something like this. Quite simply, I'm looking for short sayings dealing with refusing to respond to the beck and call of a higher authority (whether it be socially, political, religious, or another dimension.) Any ideas?

As slow as ... what?

Fuzzy Skinner — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:29:27 -0800

What are some good - or bad - similes for slowness? (Like "As slow as molasses in January" but not so archaic.)

The gig/jig is up

vizsla — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:39:18 -0800

MajorDomesticDebateFilter : What is up? She says jig. I say gig. Google is undecided. ...and should we use the original usage or the commonplace usage (if they differ)?

Satisfaction brought it back

markovich — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:14:22 -0800

What are retorts for some common sayings? For example, when people say: "The early bird gets the worm", you could retort "The second mouse gets the cheese". Which other ones are out there?

That Atlanta airport saying

tinkertown — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:37:44 -0800

Isn't there some saying about "before you die/live life, you'll connect through Atlanta", referring to ATL being a huge hub airport? How does it go exactly? Google-fu failing and all that.

2 Good 2 Be 4 Gotten

amyms — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 17:52:06 -0800

I'm compiling a list of popular bon mots of the kind that are usually written in yearbooks, memory books, autograph books, etc. Things that are typically written by adolescents and teenagers to their friends and classmates. The things I'm looking for are sometimes in the form of a short poem, sometimes jokey, sometimes an "insult" of sorts, sometimes sentimental and heartfelt, sometimes vulgar. The jargon and abbreviations have evolved over the years for different generations but, from the examples I've seen so far, the subject matter stays the same (i.e. "don't ever change," "best friends forever," various good wishes and predictions for friends' future plans, including careers, marriage and baby-making, etc.) I want to gather examples from different eras and generations. Please tell me some of the things you've written or read that fit this description. Thanks!

Hey, it's a free country

ALongDecember — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 08:44:40 -0800

Do other non-U.S. countries/cultures use the phrase "It's a free country?" To my best knownledge, this phrase is used in a few ways, and of course Simpsons quotes can be used as examples:

1. To say "yes" to a simple request.

Skinner: Mind if I sit down?
Krabappel: It's a free country.

2. To say that an impossible goal can be achieved.

Dr. Nick: With my diet, you can eat all you want, any time you want.
Marge: And you lose weight?
Dr. Nick: Uh, you might. It's a free country!

3. To state why a person is allowed to do anything they want to.

Lisa: Bart, just get outta here.
Bart: Hey: it's a free country. _You_ get out.

This phrase seems to be used often in the United States (it's shown up a few times on AskMe) but I'm not sure if it's used in other "free" countries. Is there a similar phrase in other nations? I was wondering if the idea of relating essential rights and liberties to trivial things is a uniquely American phenomenon.

So answer if you want to. Or don't. It's a free country.

Things About Fruit

KevinSkomsvold — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 10:06:22 -0800

I'm looking for phrases, sayings, anything that incorporates a fruit. For example: "Apple of my eye" or "Cherry on top." Thanks!

Origina of "Local Boy Makes Good"

abbyladybug — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 08:56:52 -0800

What is the origin of the phrase "Local Boy Makes Good"? I Googled it and see that it was a Mervyn LeRoy movie from 1931, so it's at least that old.

Who coined this phrase?

beelover — Tue, 15 May 2007 12:56:07 -0800

What is the origin of "Nothing about us without us"? "Nothing about us without us" has been used for quite some time in the context of oppression of those with disabilities. Does anyone know who coined this phrase and whether it was used initially by a specific advocacy group? There is a book with this title, but I am really trying to tie it to a particular group if that's possible.

Thanks.

I hope that you all succeed at solving my problem

ChrisR — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 18:22:45 -0800

What's a good alternate well-wishing statement to "good luck" that doesn't have anything to do with luck, fate, deism of any kind, or assorted other superstitions that still conveys good wishes? I realize that my constraints limit things significantly, but I'm hoping that people here will come up with some suitably well-thought-out, brief equivalents.

I'm trying to move away from the 'good luck' thing because I feel that it implies that the person to whom I'm speaking needs luck to succeed, which is not the message I want to convey (explicitly, implicitly, or imaginarily). I also intend to avoid long-winded replacements, anything religious (I'm not) or referential to fate/karma et al.

So, how about it?

Whence the beatings?

bumpkin — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 14:21:21 -0800

What is the origin of the phrase "the beatings will continue until morale improves". Google has failed me on this, only the hive mind will save me.

What is the origin of the phrase, "Carving nature by its joints"?

barbelith — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 05:35:26 -0800

Does anyone know the origin of the term, 'carving nature at its joints' when used to describe the process of dividing up a territory into its constituent parts? I believe it goes back to Ancient Greece, but I don't know much more than that...

who said this?

Postroad — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 06:32:31 -0800

A notable saying by an author. I would like to find out who the author is. I had come across this somewhere: a Great mind talks about ideas. A Good mind, about events. The average person talks about people.

Who said this? is it fairly accurate an assessment?

More like "Ready or not here I come!"

typewriter — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 12:36:29 -0800

Help me think of phrases that come exclusively from game play. Some examples would be: "Ollie ollie oxen free" and "ready or not here I come" and "ring a round a rosy".