Lame Ass Idioms

[Metis]

Post your least favorite idioms in any language.

"I'm not comfortable..."

Examples:

1) "I'm not comfortable posting in this thread."

2) "I'm not comfortable paying you for these goods."

3) "I'm not comfortable with your expression."

It's meant to be a trump card: As long as I claim to be "uncomfortable", you're obligated to cater to my discomfort. :/

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I always thought the phrase "war on terror" sounded really stupid. It sounds like you are fighting the emotion of terror. It would make more sense to call it a "war on terrorism."

 

[Peter Deadpan]

No skin off my back. (sounds like it has roots in slavery and whippings)

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I always thought the phrase "war on terror" sounded really stupid. It sounds like you are fighting the emotion of terror. It would make more sense to call it a "war on terrorism."

Agreed. I also prefer "war on enemy combatants", although I guess it just doesn't have a nice ring to it like the others.

Actually "war on " anything is an overused expression, IMO. "War on drugs" is another one that has always annoyed me. "War on women", "war on boys", and I'm sure there's probably many more.


Then the funny thing is how we sometimes use other terms to describe actual wars, I.E. "police actions", just because of a technicality.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

"cat's out of the bag"

 

[prplchknz]

Post your least favorite idioms in any language.

"I'm not comfortable..."

Examples:

1) "I'm not comfortable posting in this thread."

2) "I'm not comfortable paying you for these goods."

3) "I'm not comfortable with your expression."

It's meant to be a trump card: As long as I claim to be "uncomfortable", you're obligated to cater to my discomfort. :/

not if i'm an asshole

 

[Coriolis]

I always thought the phrase "war on terror" sounded really stupid. It sounds like you are fighting the emotion of terror. It would make more sense to call it a "war on terrorism."

I don't like that phrase either, because as you say, it is a misnomer since it is usually applied to efforts directed against people. That being said, we would do well to address the emotion of terror, as doing so would deprive terrorists of what they seek. Give them and their actions minimal media exposure, and just treat them like the criminals they are.

I have little patience for needlessly wordy expressions like "at this point in time". Why not simply say "now"?

Also, phrases like "it is what it is" seem like lazy substitutes for otherwise pointing out the futility of trying to change something, or your personal resignation to it, or whatever else you really think on the matter.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I don't like that phrase either, because as you say, it is a misnomer since it is usually applied to efforts directed against people. That being said, we would do well to address the emotion of terror, as doing so would deprive terrorists of what they seek. Give them and their actions minimal media exposure, and just treat them like the criminals they are.

I agree about the emotion of terror, but most people don't actually think about the problem on that level. It usually is focused on people.

 

[Qlip]

I like all the idioms. The more words and phrases we have to express various nuances is always an improvement to me. My favs are "throwing shade", "it goes to eleven", and "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra"

And as an aside, "I'm not comfortable" is not an idiom, it's just a statement.

 

[Metis]

I like all the idioms. The more words and phrases we have to express various nuances is always an improvement to me. My favs are "throwing shade", "it goes to eleven", and "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra"

And as an aside, "I'm not comfortable" is not an idiom, it's just a statement.

It doesn't have to be off-the-wall to be an idiom. "The term idiom refers to a set expression or a phrase comprising two or more words. An interesting fact regarding the device is that the expression is not interpreted literally. The phrase is understood to mean something quite different from what individual words of the phrase would imply. Alternatively, it can be said that the phrase is interpreted in a figurative sense." Idiom - Examples and Definition of Idiom

A couple of decades ago, people were commonly using the phrase in a more literal sense, saying that they weren't comfortable asking a teacher to review a grading decision, or that they wouldn't be comfortable letting their kid fly in an airplane alone. They meant that they experienced a sense of inner unease at those ideas that was telling them that they didn't want to do them.

In the past ten years, I almost always hear the phrase used in a different sense, the one I described in the OP. It has nothing to do with a sense of unease telling them that something might not be a good idea. They just say it because they think it sounds too direct if they just say, "I don't like it."

 

[Metis]

"cat's out of the bag"

LOL Why?

not if i'm an asshole

That itself would make a good one.


"Prpl, will you do me a favor and take out the garbage?"

"Not if I'm an asshole!"


"Can I borrow $1000? I promise I'll pay you back by the end of the week."

"Not if I'm an asshole!"


"Hey, baby, want to hear the dream I had about you last night?"

"Not if I'm an asshole!"

 

[Coriolis]

"If I were you" -- well, since that can never be, perhaps we should choose some other frame of reference.

 

[Cellmold]

"Do as I say, not as I do".

This one is terrible right away, it's premise being an authoritarian stance of hypocrisy.

I'm not a fan of "throwing shade" either, but that might be because my first exposure to it was as a way to exclude those who didn't use the term.
It seemed to be part of a kind of emotional culture centred around self - congratulatory, vacuous behaviour along the lines of shouting "you go girl!" or "awesome, dude!" for activities of (from my perspective) little actual worth, which hadn't been earned.

It's also one of those that people seem to invent definitions for, as it suits them.

I always picture people with eyes a little too glazed and appeals a little too group oriented for my taste. Like talking to someone's ideas rather than the person.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

People using the phrase "in a minute" to refer to something that happened a much longer time ago. Yeah, I get that how we experience time is kind of relative and subjective, but I'm talking about people using it to denote much longer stretches of time, for example months to years.

Ex: "I ain't seen that movie in a minute!"

This is different than saying something like "I'll do it in a minute", "I'll call them back in a minute", "it happened a few minutes ago" etc, where the meaning of the word minute is synonymous with something like moment, and therefore less confusing, if not always entirely accurate.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

LOL Why?

it just bugs me.

 

[Forever]

"asking for a friend"

WHO ARE YOU SPEAKING FOR?!

 

[Stigmata]

"asking for a friend"

WHO ARE YOU SPEAKING FOR?!

That's easily my favorite one, especially when used in the context of something absurd and/or embarrassing.

 

[Forever]

That's easily my favorite one, especially when used in the context of something absurd and/or embarrassing.

*shudders*

hey asking for a friend, how much do you like me?

 

[Stigmata]

*shudders*

hey asking for a friend, how much do you like me?

* A wild question appears *
* Stigmata used: Dodge! *
* .....it's super effective! *

 

[Maou]

"Talk shit, get hit"

"Brother from another mother"

"Swiggity swooty"