A saying is something that is said, notable in one respect or another, to be "a pithy expression of wisdom or truth."
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12answers
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Phrase for focusing on unimportant details
I'm looking for a idiom or saying that I could use when people are focusing too much on small details and not seeing the big picture.
A couple that come to mind are "being penny-wise and pound ...
17
votes
2answers
705 views
“Some champagne for my real friends, some real pain for my sham friends.”
Some champagne for my real friend, some real pain for my sham friends."
Is there a name for this kind of sentence?
Note: I'm not sure the origin of this, but it is a line in Spike Lee's movie, ...
5
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5answers
13k views
Is it 'Close to the chest' or 'Close to the vest'?
Apologies if this is a duplicate, I am just curious.
Are they both valid? Which originated first?
3
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2answers
317 views
“A wrong answer” vs “the wrong answer”
In English, when presented with a list (real or imagined) or answers that could be given to a question, and the correct one is not given, we will say that somebody has given "the wrong answer". ...
5
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2answers
4k views
“Tit for tat”—Where does this come from?
I always ask myself where this saying originates. I only know the individual words, tit and tat, but why is this a saying?
33
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10answers
2k views
“To shoot out of cannon into sparrows”
In Russian we have idiom/saying "To shoot out of cannon into sparrows" (literal translation) which is used to convey an idea of applying too drastic measures to small problems. I believe there should ...
21
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8answers
813 views
What is a better way to name “The Wrong Question”?
On StackOverflow.com I often find that people ask questions about problems that arise due to poor design choices (typically due to a lack of knowledge about the particular programming language).
For ...
8
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2answers
5k views
14
votes
4answers
391 views
“The whole nine yards”
What is the origin of the phrase "the whole nine yards"? Is it a reference to some game of sports I am not familiar with (as a continental European)?
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3answers
8k views
More idioms like “needle in a haystack” relevant to hidden/hard to find items? [closed]
Are there more idioms, sayings or phrases similar to "needle in a haystack" that are relevant to hidden objects, or difficult to find items?
Also interested in similar nouns relevant to the somewhat ...
