Timeline for Is there any English/American equivalent for the Hungarian phrase "beating the nettle with someone else's penis"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
5 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jan 19, 2015 at 19:35 | comment | added | neminem | Guinea pig isn't an exact match, but it is close-ish - it doesn't necessarily mean risky research, but it does mean research where you probably don't know the risk, because you have basically no idea what's going to happen until you try it. (Which isn't quite the same as the idiom in the OP, where they're pretty sure they do know what the risk is, and it's bad.) | |
| Jan 19, 2015 at 19:20 | comment | added | Taryn | I think guinea pig is inappropriate because they are not seen as actors made to do a dirty task, they are the objects of the dirty tasks, an even lower state than cannon fodder or nettle beater. | |
| Jan 17, 2015 at 20:17 | comment | added | peterG | But Guinea Pig doesn't always carry the connotation of risky research (or cannon fodder) - merely research of any stripe. I don't think it's a good fit. | |
| Jan 16, 2015 at 23:42 | comment | added | yuritsuki | Guinea Pig sounds like the most closest interpretation of the idiom, which is to have someone else (ally or not) used as cannon fodder for you. | |
| Jan 16, 2015 at 17:43 | history | answered | Oldcat | CC BY-SA 3.0 |