Welcome to Cliche Thursday, where each week we deconstruct 5 expressions that we’ve all become a little too familiar with and ask you for some of your own least favorites.
Today we’re getting a little violent…
Here we go…
“Don’t shoot me, I’m just the messenger” – and for future reference, even if I’m not just the messenger next time, don’t shoot me then either.
In fact, here’s a rule of thumb to go by for all of our future interactions. No matter what I am, never shoot me.
“Bite the Bullet” – Legend has it that they used to give wounded soldiers a bullet to bite on when undergoing surgical procedures before the invention of anesthesia.
Maybe I’m an idiot, but couldn’t we have found something less dangerous for these guys to stick between their clenched teeth than a live round? How about a rock? A piece of wood? An angry mongoose? I guess it wasn’t bad enough that these guys were having limbs amputated with no pain meds, we wanted to try and blow all the teeth out of their mouth as well.
“I’ll be a son of a gun” – But to be honest, I didn’t have much of a choice. My daddy really did love that female rifle of his.
“He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword” – That’s because most people die in their houses.Truth is, this expression works no matter what you live next to.
Move next to a pumpkin patch and suddenly this expressions becomes “He who lives by the gourd, dies by the gourd.”
“Let’s bury the hatchet” – and let’s hope no one around here owns a metal detector, because if they dig that thing up, our fingerprints are all over it. And blood. There’s a lot of blood on that hatchet. And maybe carving the names of our victims into the wooden handle was too much? Yeah, it probably was. So was autographing the blade in a sharpie.
You know what? Less talking, more digging.
What About You: Any expressions really silencing your gun lately?
Add them to the list so we can skewer them in the coming weeks.
Posted by Bryan AllainTags: Bite the Bullet, Bury the Hatchet, Cliche Thursday, Son of a gun
Since “he who lives by the sword shall die by the sword” comes from the Bible, I’m not sure you’re allowed to pick it apart like most cliches. I don’t know who makes the rules on the cliche picking-apart, but I just have a feeling that would be against them.
I love this feature of your blog, though.
Thanks Sarah! I make the rules on the cliche picking and I’ve decided that anything is fair game, even the Bible. Doesn’t mean I disrespect it, though. I believe the Bible is the inspired word of God, and I’m okay with using it to poke fun at ourselves and other things from time to time.
It’s kinda like throwing the Office characters into Noah’s Ark and having Jack Bauer write a Psalm.
appreciate the kind words too!
I’m with Sarah. haha
1) You’re a chip off the old block
2) Like a beaten mule
…I’m outta cliches….
The Beatles are awesome…just saying.
“Between a rock and a hard place”
“on (something) like white on rice”
“raining cats and dogs”
“on my(its) last leg”
“the proof is in the pudding”
Apologies if some of these have already been deconstructed.
How about “Hit the nail on the head.” But my all time favorite (for which you can actually by a flag) is “The beatings will continue until morale improves!”
“Stick to my guns” since it is weaponry cliche today.
I’m not sure where it came from, but it appears synonymous with being stubborn. Truthfully, I tend to be stubborn. But that doesn’t mean I use guns to get my way…
I was thinking about Cliche Thursday earlier this week when I heard someone say, “Don’t kill the messenger.” And I was going to suggest it, but you apparently read my thoughts (which, by the way, are 95% consumed by Tuesday’s episode of Lost)
Lovin’ these, Bryan!
So oddly enough, “son of a gun” supposedly comes from an old western tale daughters told their fathers to explain their unwed pregnancies. The idea was that they were standing behind a man who was being shot at. The bullet hit the man in the groin,things exploded, and that is how the woman got pregnant. Likely story!
This morning I thought of “walking on eggshells”. “I feel like I’m walking on eggshells when I’m around you.” Maybe instead of being concerned about not crushing those eggshells, we should ask the question, “Why ARE there so many eggshells around this guy?” Or, maybe since the person is so sensitive, THEY should be called the eggshell.
I have a bone to pick with you.
No, really – I do. I submitted this one a couple weeks ago, and no dice since then. I’ve looked for the dice but so far, no cigar.
Smoking’s not good for you either, Bryan. If you keep it up, it’ll be the bane of your existence.
So anyway, we really should pick that bone I was talking about. It would be a real bonding experience.
But then we’d be stuck together like two peas in a pod.
Cliches:
Curiosity killed the cat
Dont look a gift horse in the mouth
hes as Wise as an elephant
(I dont know why i can only think of animal cliches)
I’m sick of hearing, “This isn’t a hill I want to die on” OR “This IS a hill I’ll die on”…used in the church by my boss/pastor. Isn’t there another phrase out there that we could use? Share it with me, please!