CherryTeresa.com
Menu
  • Home
  • Music
  • Videos
  • Blog
  • Updates
  • Pictures
  • Links
  • Contact
  • About Me
Menu

Writer’s Block: Idiomatic Confusion

Posted on November 9, 2008 by cherryteresa

 

Whether it's a canary in the coal mine or a waitress in the weeds, idiomatic expressions can sometimes stump us even in our own language. What common expression puzzles you the most?

 

 View 500 Answers

There are a bunch that don't make a lot of sense. But here are the ones I can think of right now:

  • Clean as a whistle – Aren't there a lot of germs in one?
  • Cute as a button – When was the last time you heard someone raving about how cute a button was? I should start saying Cute as a Kitten, haha. JK.
  • Could care less – It's not that the saying doesn't make sense but that people say it wrong. The correct saying is "I couldn't care less". Think about it.
  • Fat chance – Wouldn't that mean you have a big chance? Slim chance makes sense.
  • Dense – Calling someone dense means they're dumb. But when I think of someone's brain as being dense, I think that it's highly compacted with information, making them smart, not stupid. Then again, dense also can mean "thick; difficult to penetrate" so it could mean if their brain is dense, then it's hard to get things through. I guess it just depends on how you look at it. It's probably not the best adjective to use.
  • LOL – It used to mean Laughing Online. But people use it when they're texting or otherwise not "online". Now it means Laughing Out Loud. But most of the time someone uses LOL, they're not really laughing out loud. (People aren't actually rolling on the floor, laughing when they used "ROFL" but we know that it's meant figuratively).
Category: Blog

Recent Posts

  • New Music: Cocaine (in the White House)
  • Gwen Stefani isn’t guilty of cultural appropriation, just cringe
  • Why Keyboardist Andy Fletcher of Depeche Mode Was A Big Deal
  • September 11, 2001: Time Perception
  • New Music: Skitzo Calypso “Eulogy of Me”

Categories

  • Blog
  • Updates
© 2026 CherryTeresa.com | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme