Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

With this being the mud season at the farm, I thought of two idioms which literally mean the same thing: "in a (the) groove" and "in a rut". But, the first has a positive connotation and is where one wants to be, while the second has a negative connotation and one wants to get out of the rut.

Any thoughts as to why the difference?

Emmett

Some of the funniest idioms are, alas, also the least polite.

In Happy Gilmore, Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald) says to Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler), as best as I can remember:

SM: You just watch yourself, buster! I eat pieces of s--- like you for breakfast!
HG: (incredulously mocking) You eat pieces of s--- for breakfast?!
SM: (embarrased) NO!

This is, of course, a take on the old threat: “I eat people like you for breakfast!” Kind of like something the giant would have said to Jack (in “Jack and the Beanstalk”).

Another threat/idiom is: “Your ass is grass and I'm the lawnmower!” A metaphor mostly used in the armed forces, apparently. Why?? I don't know. That's not my bag… 😉 (Sorry.)

One of my all-time faves is “Step off!”, which is said to someone who is being a bit too overbearing. It's alot better than “Sit on it!”, which is rather dorky now. Another phrase to express frustration is “Simmer down!” which can be funny, at times.

One that I can't find the origin of (—or— for which I can't find the origin), but find fascinating nonetheless, is “X, eat your heart out!” This is usually said when someone thinks (s)he is outdoing someone in something that is usually the latter's area of expertise. Yeah, it's kind of corny, but I find that if you're aware of the potential corniness of something, you can still use it to great effect: i.e., with tongue planted firmly in cheek. Heck, there's another one! “Tongue-in-cheek”—I never did quite get the image of this one. I would just as soon wink to show my facetiousness as put my tongue in my cheek. But, then, I guess that's what makes it an idiom. Like: “head over heels” or “upside-down” or “once upon a time” or “How do you do?” (also, “How are you doing?”), etc. And notice how many of them use prepositions in such weird ways.

German idioms use prepositions in very unusual ways, as compared with literal translations into English. When you are on the phone with someone and you want them to hold, you say (or used to): “Bleiben Sie am Apparat!” which translates literally as “Remain you on the apparatus!” Isn't that something?

Hot damn! I'll be a son of a bitch! Well, why the hell didn't ya tell me that b'fore? What the hell's this world comin' to? I'm losing my damn mind! 😉

(Sincerious apologies for any undue offense.)

BTW—Thanks, Grant! I just thought it might be going overboard to use profanity here.

PS—I do realise the irony of the first five sentences of this reply…

Did she say it in English (as you gave it here) or did she say it in Spanish (something like: “No tengo plumas en la boca.”)?

Emmett Redd said:

With this being the mud season at the farm, I thought of two idioms which literally mean the same thing: "in a (the) groove" and "in a rut". But, the first has a positive connotation and is where one wants to be, while the second has a negative connotation and one wants to get out of the rut.

Any thoughts as to why the difference?

Emmett

Well, if you are in the groove, you are moving at a steady pace without any ruts, right? "Rut" implies you are stuck. Even the "ut" sounds like an abrupt stop, whereas groooooooove is smooooooooth.

Bob's your uncle (Aussie for Quicker'n you can say Jack Robinson)
(Or should I say quicker'n you can say Jack Robinson = Yank for Bobs your uncle)

In Around the World in 80 days some guy said "Well I'll be a rattlesnake's uncle!" (I think it means don't that beat all)

And a coupla Spanish ones:

sin pelos en la lengua (without hair on the tongue) = without beating around the bush; without hemming and hawing; flat-out; etc

Por un pelo de rana calva (by a bald frog's hair) = by the skin of one's teeth.

In German, very outspoken people (read Berliners) are said to "Talk the way their beak grows".

All of these posts are great, and I've never heard some of these, in spite of my living in pretty much every region of the country except New England. I just wanted to add two things, one a statement and the other a question.

First, it's amazing that we have so many idioms in English, yet we almost never think of them as idioms -- we just accept them as language as it is. I became profoundly aware of this fact when I taught ESL in North Carolina. My students -- almost entirely Spanish speakers -- would ask me about something they had heard at work or on errands, and they would tell me that the direct translation made no sense to them. There were numerous examples, but the only one that comes to mind right now is "raining cats and dogs", which apparently has a meaning in direct translation in some regions of Mexico, but my students from Ecuador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Argentina, and Nicaragua had no idea what that meant. Really? Animals falling from the sky? What does that mean? Some of them -- from different countries, no less -- used the phrase "lloviendo a mares", which means "raining seas" (it technically should be "esta lloviendo a mares", which means "it is raining seas", but I only know Spanish academically). One student from Central Mexico said the phrase was "estan lloviendo los maridos" (or something like that), which means "it's raining husbands". I have no idea what that saying means, except that it is apparently the equivalent of "it's raining cats and dogs." Anyway, I always found idioms interesting in my capacity as an ESL teacher.

Second, my question is: there is a saying in French that roughly translates to "the witch under the house [or stairs, I'm not sure]", but I believe it roughly means that unexpected thing for which you cannot account in advance, the "wild card", as it were. So, from that, (a) does anyone know the French saying? And (b) is my gist of the idiom correct?

lux, you may be right about bobs ur uncle. Perhaps the closest equivalent would be "et voilà" which doesn't really have an American translation, so we use the French expression. There are quite a number of French expressions in the English language that simply sound more right "as-is" than translated. Speaking of which, if you visit this board often, you'll be right as rain in no time.

BTW where did "quicker'n you can say Jack Robinson" come from?

About "Bob's your uncle"; I see it a lot in British authors, and I think of it as a British saying, not particularly Aussie.   And I maintain that it means "easy as pie"; the fact that it comes at the end of instructions means it's intended to convey something like "you can't miss it", though I would never, ever make that claim, being as it were the kiss of death to lost motorists.

Two of my favorite idioms:

L'esprit de l'escalier, "the spirit of the staircase", which is what comes to a Frenchman on his way out of the building and he suddenly realizes what he SHOULD have said to that so-and-so...!

"I don't have a dog in that fight", meaning I don't really care who wins it, or I have no stake in the outcome.   It doesn't necessarily prevent me from offering an opinion, but it certainly wouldn't be an impassioned opinion, just a mild suggestion on how the issue might best be decided.