Figures of Speech or phrases that you find weird. - The english language is weird.

[Overcast]

"The whole is better than the sum of it's parts."

Doesn't that kinda go without saying? I mean, a human heart can't really do much by itself.

 

[American Lollinator Mace]

"Meteoric rise," "dropping like flies," and "out like a light." The wrong quality is being emphasized here.

 

[AnOminous]

"nigger in the woodpile"

I'm surprised to see yet another British MP an hero their career over this one.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-40555639

Seriously, there was a British MP who somehow didn't realize this wasn't an acceptable phrase to use, just yesterday.

She claims she just accidentally said "nigger" somehow. Like it was an involuntary tic or she had Tourette's or something.

 

[Un Platano]

"Can't see the forest for the trees" means seeing unimportant details and not the big picture, which is exactly opposite of what the words actually say.

 

[Rokko]

"The whole is better than the sum of it's parts." and "Can't see the forest for the trees" are common in german too.
I always thought "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." is strange. If you lietrally translate the german counterpart, it would "A sparrow in the hand is better than a dove on the roof". How crazy is that.

Bonus: In german dove is "Taube". "Taube" can also be translated to the female version of a deaf person. So the phrase is sometimes perverted to "A mute girl in bed is better than a deaf one on the roof".

I think our language is the reason we come of as rude or unfunny, its just so strange sometimes.

 

[Sperglord Dante]

In Spanish it's "a bird in hand is worth a 100 flying". Never really stopped to think about that one before today.

"Such is life in the tropics" is pretty puzzling, but also has a really nice ring to it. Nobody seems completely sure where it came from, which just adds to its overall "it's just the way it is" vibe.

 

[The Big Vivs]

"You can't have your cake and eat it too."

It's a silly figure of speech. I have to have cake in order to eat cake, don't I? It's the wording that bugs me, really. Same applies to "Can't see the forest for the trees."

Also "Honesty is the best policy" just because it's bullshit.

 

[Carlos Thin]

Ireland is full of these sayings:
"Never had to chase a crow for food." - someone is being described as ignorantly wealthy
"Two hands higher than a duck." - short
"It's a dirty pool that won't cool a hot iron." - the situation is inevitable, used mostly to politely say someone will fuck anything that moves
"Don't make hay on a rainy day." Literally exactly what it means
"Like hen's teeth." - something is as rare as...hen's teeth.
"The fear." any sort of drug/drink induced sickness. Doesn't usually refer to paranoia

 

[Some JERK]

A lot of sayings seem weird now because our vernacular has changed since they were first popularized. In "can't see the forest for the trees" for example, the word "for" isn't in use in the same way it was when that phrase was coined.

 

[AnOminous]

Ireland is full of these sayings:
"Never had to chase a crow for food." - someone is being described as ignorantly wealthy
"Two hands higher than a duck." - short
"It's a dirty pool that won't cool a hot iron." - the situation is inevitable, used mostly to politely say someone will fuck anything that moves
"Don't make hay on a rainy day." Literally exactly what it means
"Like hen's teeth." - something is as rare as...hen's teeth.
"The fear." any sort of drug/drink induced sickness. Doesn't usually refer to paranoia

Ireland is full of nearly unintelligible expressions like this because they're all drunk all the time.

 

[Zarkov]

When the French want to say that someone is weird, they'll say that he "farts sideways".

 

[MerriedxReldnahc]

I'm fond of "not the brightest light on the Hanukkah tree". It confuses stupid people.
This isn't so much a figure of speech as something that I think is weird., when people make a statement like "This is really great, no?"
Why are you saying no? Am I supposed to disagree? Is that something not great?

 

[Despairagus]

When I was in high school, my algebra teacher said (I've forgotten what this was in reference to), "It's not going to do you a hill of beans any good." Over a decade later, I'm still perplexed.

 

[Trans Fat 41g]

"never look a gift horse in the mouth"

So that's not taking into account they shit everywhere and are sketchy about you walking anywhere behind them?