over-egg the pudding
The black pudding were so black that even over-egging yon just made 'er blacker, it did.
Archive for Idioms
Neither to the right nor the left
The thing about the physical impossibility of bees' flight is also not true, I believe.
More recombinant idioms
The following bit from an old Dr Who episode popped into my head this morning: Seventh Doctor: Time and tide melt the snowman. Mel: Doctor, "wait for *no* man." Doctor:...
There can be only one (or two)
Heard an unintentionally funny line on the radio this morning: "There's only one person who can answer this, and that's y'all." —Car Talk caller, 4 April 2010. Of course, "y'all"...
in the wind
Just happened across a remarkably poetic phrase that I've never heard used this way before. I was reading an article about a woman who stabbed an attacker; the woman fled...
Another recombinant idiom
From TechCrunch, December 3, 2009: "Don't shoot the gift horse that feeds you."...
Recombinant idioms
There was a good Frank Rich opinion piece in the New York Times a week ago on Sarah Palin. But the reason I'm mentioning it here is not the topic...
go down a storm
Hadn't encountered this idiom before; apparently it means about the same thing as "go over well." (And not at all the same thing as "go down the storm drain.") I...
foul play
It struck me the other day that "foul play" is an odd sort of euphemism for murder. "Play"? What kind of play? The Phrase Finder says Shakespeare probably coined the...
Proverbs
The other night, Mary Anne noted that the sheets for the air mattress were in the dryer, and that once they were dry, I would have to make my own...