65
votes
Washing the skin of a dead rat
A somewhat crude but memorable equivalent is:
"You can't polish a turd."
It also gives an idea of what the result would be if you could do it.
"Lipstick on a pig."
is a similar expression, but ...
- 2,664
61
votes
Meaning of the phrase "womp womp" in American English?
Womp womp is an onomatopaeic approximation of a brief, chromatically descending trombone phrase dating from the days of Vaudeville theater indicating either mock sympathy for the victim of a slapstick ...
- 28.2k
49
votes
Accepted
What does 'Big Hand, Small Map' mean?
Big hands, small maps - that's the way to kill the chaps is a military saying. It is a saying which discourages having masses of resource but not enough fine detail about what to do with that resource;...
- 24.9k
48
votes
Accepted
What is the meaning of Terry Pratchett's idiom/pun "coming and going"?
As mentioned in the comments, the "has me coming and going" part is not a pun but a normal English idiom meaning that no matter what choice you make, the outcome will be something you don't ...
44
votes
Accepted
Washing the skin of a dead rat
A very old saying comes to mind: "you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear" meaning it's very difficult to make a fine article out of inadequate material, or it's impossible to train a very ...
- 50.2k
40
votes
Meaning of "two days either side of a dash" (from a motivational speech)
It's an allegorical reference to a tombstone inscription:
Between the date of your birth and the date of your death is all the rest of your life, represented visually by the dash between the dates on ...
- 3,932
39
votes
Accepted
What does the social idiom "not received" mean in 19th century America?
He's not accepted in society.
In particular, if he tried to call on a lady, or a gentleman, he would be told the other person was "not at home," even if he had seen other visitors received ...
- 4,227
35
votes
What is the meaning of the idiom "cat's in the cradle"?
I may have been missing something here, but my interpretation was that the chorus (of the song Cat's in the Cradle) was referencing childrens stories. Presumably ones that the father in the story ...
- 1,172
34
votes
Accepted
Alternative idiom to "ploughing through something" that's more sad and struggling
There's the similar expression slog through:
slog through
To work at or make progress through something at a sluggish, strenuous
pace, especially for a long period of time.
We had to slog through ...
- 87.1k
25
votes
Meaning of "tapped on the shoulder"
“tapped on the shoulder”
In this British (possibly only English - but I doubt it) legal context, it specifically means "approached for the purpose of enquiring if the person metaphorically ...
- 46.4k
23
votes
Accepted
To take something off someone's plate
To have something on one's plate is an idiom meaning to have something to do, usually work of some sort, that is taking up their time. The person's mentor is implying that the person has enough things ...
- 1,157
19
votes
Accepted
“Out of the mouths of babes”: Is this idiom strictly used to refer to children?
Most dictionaries explain that this biblical passage has survived in modern English as a proverb about children. For example, Dictionary.com points out two qualities of babes this proverb refers to:
...
- 36.9k
18
votes
What is the meaning of the idiom "cat's in the cradle"?
snopes.com discusses an (obviously untrue) urban myth about cats smothering new born babies, so cat is in the cradle may be a reference to that old wives tale, with the implication that a cat in the ...
- 22.6k
18
votes
Accepted
What is the meaning of the phrase to "wake up dead"
It's a way of saying that a person might die in his sleep, and thus never wake up at all.
- 2,681
18
votes
Accepted
English equivalent for the idiom "mother-in-law has forgotten to wear her saree (dress)"
She would lose her head if it wasn't attached.
would lose one's head if it wasn't attached
(humorous) Said of a person who habitually mislays things.
Alternative forms
would lose one's head...
• if ...
- 24.1k
17
votes
Accepted
What does "third leg of the stool" mean?
The whole citation explain quite well what are the other legs (emphasis mine) of the metaphoric stool. The offer from the vendor is composed of three main lines of product, two of them seeming more ...
- 4,106
17
votes
Meaning of "tapped on the shoulder"
In the U.S. tap alone is used to mean selected/designated. In my opinion, it's more common here than "tap on the shoulder."
Edit: in AmE. to tap is neutral, without a connotation of ...
- 24.1k
16
votes
What does "If you are playing the Yankees, you don’t want the umpires to show up wearing pinstripes" mean?
In American Major League Baseball, the New York Yankees traditionally wear pinstripes on their uniforms.
https://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/04/yankees-pinstripes-origin-babe-ruth 1
Thus, for the umpires, ...
- 3,108
16
votes
Washing the skin of a dead rat
I would choose Flogging a dead horse
"to waste effort on something when there is no chance of succeeding"
- 1,714
16
votes
What does GB Shaw mean when he says "like the butcher's wife in the old catch" here?
OED
Catch (n.) 3. Music. Originally: a short, simple song for three or more unaccompanied voices, each singing the same melody, the
second singer beginning the first line as the first goes on to the
...
- 46.4k
14
votes
Meaning of the phrase "womp womp" in American English?
When I first read about the alleged joke, I charitably assumed that it meant, “What an embarrassing mistake by the agency. They sure failed this time.” While that is an alternative possible meaning ...
- 7,597
14
votes
Accepted
Does the idiom "step on a rake" mean making the same mistake twice?
Stepping on a rake evokes the visual "joke" of someone walking carelessly onto a lying rake and getting violently struck in the face and torso, it's been used in cartoons and slapstick ...
- 92.9k
13
votes
What is the meaning of the phrase "slam home"?
As Andy Bonner points out in a comment beneath the posted question, "slam home" is a variant of the more common idiomatic phrase "drive home." Here is the entry for that phrase in ...
- 169k
13
votes
“Out of the mouths of babes”: Is this idiom strictly used to refer to children?
It's not only used when the very young come up with something wise (or intelligent) beyond their years. It's used when wisdom comes from any unexpected source ... but there is necessarily an ...
- 87.1k
12
votes
Accepted
Can there be a sarcastic meaning to "top gun" in a (non-)linguistic context like this?
Arthur is claiming (probably falsely) to be a top military pilot in reference to the old Tom Cruise movie Top Gun. He is attempting a put-down of Person A by making himself out to be more 'manly' than ...
- 17.2k
12
votes
What is the meaning of the idiom "cat's in the cradle"?
Cat's cradle is a cooperative game in which two people transfer looped string back and forth, stretching it into shapes that loosely resemble various objects. See example here. Often, at least one of ...
- 386
12
votes
How is "eff and blind" used?
You might say something like "Then he burst into the house, effing and blinding." As the dictionary suggests, it is a verb (or a verb phrase). It refers to swearing in general, without ...
- 1,153
11
votes
Accepted
Haste or no haste? That is the question
I have found this confusing too, so I looked it up.
The OED gives a number of sayings, and a number of forms of this expression, including
The more haste the lesse spede. [1546]
With more hast, then ...
- 77.8k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible