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Non-native speaker here. Can't think of any rude ones, but here are some odd ones: "Sperm whale" always sounds a bit funny to me, but I don't know whether nati
by powersnail 3y ago
Non-native speaker here. Can't think of any rude ones, but here are some odd ones:
"Sperm whale" always sounds a bit funny to me, but I don't know whether native speakers find it funny, too.
"You can't have your cake and eat it, too." I understand the underlying logic, but it always seems a bit weird, since 1). you can eat half a cake; 2) if you don't eat a cake, you will no longer have a cake in a few days anyway; 3) it's a very long phrase for a short idea; and 4) the fact that "have" can also mean "eat".
"blow job": seems to be the opposite of what the job entails.
"first off": Why the "off"?
"ladyfinger": I understand the finger part, but "lady" finger? A bit cannibalistic, isn't it?
- knome 3y ago* sperm whale: yes, this can also exact puerile giggling from native speakers * "You can't have your cake and eat it, too": might be better phrased as "can't eat your cake and have it, too". The idiom is stuck in its given form, however. * blow job: I have read this etymologically arose from "below job". there are occasional humorous anecdotes related to native speakers misunderstanding it as well * first off: never really thought about this before. I would suppose it comes from metaphorically popping the first of many arguments off of the speakers mental list. * ladyfinger: it meant long like fingers, the lady part meant to indicate slender or delicate. there was a plant called ladyfingers as well
- nathansherburn 3y agoI would have thought "first off" came from "first of all". I.e. of all the points I'm about to make, this is the first.
- hnick 3y agoThere is a saying “first cab off the rank” or “first off the mark” (as in running races) so it may be a shorter version of something like that.