If you can make neither moss nor sand of something, then if you can’t make sense of it. This phrase is particularly common in Northern England. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Neither Moss Nor Sand”
We were talking earlier about gifts from listeners.
That is, things that they’ve shared with us that we didn’t know about.
And here’s one from Jennifer Bishop Cole.
She writes, my mother is from West Yorkshire,
And I thought I knew all my mom’s colloquialisms by now,
But this morning she threw a new one on me.
I couldn’t make moss or sand of it.
Moss or sand of it?
Yeah.
I haven’t heard that one either.
Never heard that either, but…
It’s kind of opaque to me, too.
I don’t know why moss and sand would be involved.
Sort of like chalk and cheese.
Just things that heads or tails.
Oh, I see.
Moss and sand.
Can’t make any sense of it.
I like that.
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Or you can always call us, 877-929-9673.
