Figurative Language (you can bet your bootie)

[ASD_Geek]

Mine was "You can't have your cake and eat it too." I used to think, "What's the sense of having cake if you can't eat it?"

It wasn't until I was 47 that I finally realized that it meant that if you ate your cake that you would no longer have it.

 

[hoeffelt]

Ya that makes no sense to me...... even with you describing it... like what is even the point of saying somrthing like that.... ?

Mine was "You can't have your cake and eat it too." I used to think, "What's the sense of having cake if you can't eat it?"

It wasn't until I was 47 that I finally realized that it meant that if you ate your cake that you would no longer have it.

 

[Brink4ce]

.

 

[Adora]

Mine was "You can't have your cake and eat it too." I used to think, "What's the sense of having cake if you can't eat it?"

It wasn't until I was 47 that I finally realized that it meant that if you ate your cake that you would no longer have it.

I actually use to get confused about the idea of why if you have a cake and you can't eat it which thought was odd but I do know now what it means.

 

[Myrtonos]

How about 'You can't eat your cake then have your cake'?

 

[goofygoobers]

I still don't understand "Having to eat crow" since I first heard it. I thought my mom literally ate a crow and she couldn't stop laughing. [emoji20]

 

[hoeffelt]

I still don't understand "Having to eat crow" since I first heard it. I thought my mom literally ate a crow and she couldn't stop laughing. [emoji20]

No clue either. Maybe its to do with crows not being eaten, so its like a poverty food. If you dont have anything else you might have to eat crows. Just a guess...? I only get the common ones. The one i like most, which i understand easily is "calling a spade a spade." Luckily with figurative language its not oft that people will say any of them that I wouldnt know from past context. People dont seem to use much figurative language where i live.

 

[xudo]

No clue either. Maybe its to do with crows not being eaten, so its like a poverty food. If you dont have anything else you might have to eat crows. Just a guess...? I only get the common ones. The one i like most, which i understand easily is "calling a spade a spade." Luckily with figurative language its not oft that people will say any of them that I wouldnt know from past context. People dont seem to use much figurative language where i live.

My Mum says that I'm not afraid to "call a spade a spade", because apparently I'm often very blunt.

 

[megcounter]

I have an extremely hard time understanding them so I don't even try anymore. I just don't get it and that's OK with me.

 

[Full Steam]

I don't get this. Surely no one gets these without explanation or context.

They are not obvious and often use archaic language.

I do think of cats and dogs raining, but once you know what it means the association in made and burnt in synapse.

 

[Butterfly88]

I had trouble understanding "when it rains it pours" and would often say it when it was heavily raining.

 

[ksheehan88]

I always picture whats been said in my head.

"apple of my eye" I always picture someone having an actual apple in their eye

"kick the bucket" I picture someone literally kicking a bucket

"raining cats and dogs" I picture cats and dogs dropping out of the sky

I understand what alot of them mean, such as I know "kick the bucket" means to die... But I don't understand WHY it means that... same for many other ones... Does that make sense?

 

[Koowie]

"pull out all the stops"
My art teacher said we were going to do that in the county fair one year and for ages I had this image in my mind of going around in my grandfather's pickup truck and rooting up stop-signs

 

[Koowie]

Mine was "You can't have your cake and eat it too." I used to think, "What's the sense of having cake if you can't eat it?"

It wasn't until I was 47 that I finally realized that it meant that if you ate your cake that you would no longer have it.

Thank you!! never got that one until I read your explanation!

 

[Nitro]

"pull out all the stops"
My art teacher said we were going to do that in the county fair one year and for ages I had this image in my mind of going around in my grandfather's pickup truck and rooting up stop-signs

Pulling out all the stops is a reference to playing a pipe organ with all of the features turned on.

 

[NothingToSeeHere]

I still can't figure out what "don't throw stones in glass houses" is supposed to mean... I know that throwing a stone in a glass house would probably break the house, but... how is that relevant to anything?

 

[Alcyon]

I still can't figure out what "don't throw stones in glass houses" is supposed to mean... I know that throwing a stone in a glass house would probably break the house, but... how is that relevant to anything?

I am assuming that the phrase evokes the biblical parable wherein Jesus says "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" to a crowd that was going to stone a prostitute. Couple that with the glass house revealing all one's flaws, even those things done behind closed doors, and there's an explanation. Possibly...

 

[NothingToSeeHere]

I am assuming that the phrase evokes the biblical parable wherein Jesus says "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" to a crowd that was going to stone a prostitute. Couple that with the glass house revealing all one's flaws, even those things done behind closed doors, and there's an explanation. Possibly...

Oh that makes sense! Thanks My theory about not breaking your own windows was way off

 

[LittleLemon]

This isn't really a figurative saying, but I strongly dislike the insult "***hole" because well, you're calling someone a hole and holes are just empty spaces. Maybe if they were saying "the organ that results in a hole"---then maybe.

 

[NeoPhile]

I always get confused when people say, "I could care less" when they mean, "I couldn't care less." That confused me for years.