Social Question

Pandora's avatar

Can you think of any other wacky statements that can be phrased better?

Asked by Pandora (32398points) April 26th, 2011

My husband said he caught the bus. I couldn’t help but laugh when I had a vision of him catching the bus.
Properly I suppose he would say I got on the bus. (Although I don’t know why we say got on instead of got in the bus?)
We can also say we are riding the bus.
Any how we say caught, grabbed, or jumped on.
So it got me wondering how many things we say sound silly because it can have a double meaning.
My girlfriend wanted to go all the way downtown but I don’t care for it?
Let’s cruise the mall.
He gave me the bird or flipped me the bird.
Lets try to keep this clean

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31 Answers

Seelix's avatar

To throw a party
To lend an ear

yankeetooter's avatar

How about when people say “I could care less”? (I’m stealing this from someone near and dear to my heart, hope he won’t mind…) When they say this, they probably are implying that they don’t care at all about whatever the issue is. But if one could care less, that means that they must care a little bit, since there exists a lower level of caring accornding to their statement…

Pandora's avatar

Ah, run like the wind.
Sit down for a spell.
Better get cracking.

JilltheTooth's avatar

To expand on @yankeetooter ‘s example, “I could give a rat’s ass..” Like most of us have easy access to the asses of rats for donation purposes. And what do we do with the fronts of the rats whose asses we gave that are not utilized? ew

Pandora's avatar

@JilltheTooth LOL. Thats a good one.
@yankeetooter That always did puzzle me.
@Seelix, yes lending an ear sounds (get it) a bit much

morphail's avatar

There are a number of expressions that mean the same whether or not they are negated.

Seelix's avatar

To go along with @JilltheTooth‘s hilarious rat ass comment, what about those who say they “couldn’t give two shits” about something? Like, okay, it’s worthy of one shit, but two? Nosirree!

Kardamom's avatar

You don’t know squat

Or the lengthened version, you don’t know doodly squat

Or you don’t know doodly (or diddly as it’s sometimes said)

JilltheTooth's avatar

And to work off of @Kardamom : “You don’t know Jack.” Wait…what? Look at my name, of course I know Jack!

You guys are giving me some great material, here!

Pandora's avatar

They all screw around.
(hide your tools)

ucme's avatar

Hit the lights….what & shatter glass all over the place? Not on your nelly young fella me lad!

Pandora's avatar

Omg. My husband use to say that all the time. Or hit the switch. I would smack the switch everytime he said it. It got old fast for him. I miss him saying that one.
LOL

Pandora's avatar

Run down a taxi. That would also be difficult.

ucme's avatar

My Mother used to say this when I was a kid, only if i’d been cheeky though…..“Ooh, you’ll be smiling on the other side of your face when I get hold of you!!” What like on the back of my head you mean!?!

Pied_Pfeffer's avatar

To beat a dead horse.

yankeetooter's avatar

I love when people say, “Can I see your stapler (or whatever)?” I then take it out of my desk and hold it up on display.

@Pied_Pfeffer One of my favorite old Star Trek lines was when Kirk said something about beating a dead horse to Mr. Spock, who promptly replied, “Captain, I fail to see the logic in continuing to inflict punishment on an equine who has ceased to exist…” You gotta love the old Star Trek!

Pandora's avatar

@ucme I bet your mom wished she could. :0
@Pied_Pfeffer Yeah, poor horse.
@yankeetooter Oh, I love it when people ask to borrow some gum. I let them hold it for a second and then snatch it back before they put it in their mouths. Then I say, You didn’t ask to keep it.

Pied_Pfeffer's avatar

@yankeetooter Good one! And how about when they ask if they can borrow a tissue or a piece of gum? “Here ya go, and you can keep it, too!”

A co-worker was facilitating a class and used the phrase ‘to beat a dead horse. One of the participants, who had just moved to the US from another country, raised his hand and asked the facilitator why he would do such a thing.

edit: @Pandora, your response time is much better than mine. :)

Pandora's avatar

@josie. I don’t know. Lots of fresh air and leg room.

Can I borrow your time. As if they are going to return it. Time vampires!

Pandora's avatar

@Pied_Pfeffer Oh, I just realize your comment on the tissue. LOL Yes, I always wonder why they just don’t ask for it straight out. I don’t want it back!

MyNewtBoobs's avatar

Have your cake and eat it, too. I mean, I finally get it, but I spent years being tortured over how in hell that worked.

The proof is in the pudding. It made more sense when it was the long version – the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

yankeetooter's avatar

I won’t even mention “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse…

Pandora's avatar

@MyNewtBoobs So true. And who would get cake and not eat it anyway.
@yankeetooter True. Makes more sense to say, I’m so hungry I can eat a cow. Much bigger. True one could say an elephant but you’ll probably starve trying to cook one.

MyNewtBoobs's avatar

@Pandora That’s what threw me.

Skaggfacemutt's avatar

After recovering from laughing at @JilltheTooth ‘s comment, my friend’s favorite saying came to mind, “I don’t give a flying f***.” With that mental picture in mind, I don’t think I would give one, either!

JilltheTooth's avatar

@Skaggfacemutt : I wouldn’t want to give one, I’d want to keep it for myself! Sounds like fun. Mile High Club, anybody?

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