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Popular sayings you just don't understand
- Thread starter Easy 10
- Start date
"Thank you very much."
"No problem - it's the least I could do."
Well, thanks a f***ing bunch! So I'm supposed to be grateful that you've just done the least you could do!!!
"No problem - it's the least I could do."
Well, thanks a f***ing bunch! So I'm supposed to be grateful that you've just done the least you could do!!!
SJ's Love Monkey
Ambrose-ia
I will make you smile on the other side of your face
Pissed as a newt
Pissed as a newt
Nemesis
SERIOUSLY!
I'll knock you into the middle of next week you little sod!
SJ's Love Monkey
Ambrose-ia
Can i go to the shops? Shops, i will shops you my boy!
Leekbrookgull
Well-known member
All because 'the lady loves milk tray' 
Lord Bracknell
On fire
This is an example of what the French anthropologist, Marcel Mauss, in his Essai sur le Don, called "reciprocity"."Thank you very much."
"No problem - it's the least I could do."
Well, thanks a f***ing bunch! So I'm supposed to be grateful that you've just done the least you could do!!!
When a gift is given, something must be given back in exchange, otherwise a debt lingers on, with the potential to damage the relationship between giver and receiver.
The fact of giving creates a debt and an imbalance in the relationship between the giver and the receiver. Hence the phrase "it is better to give than to receive".
"It's the least I could do" effectively denies the existence of the gift and avoids both the need for it to be repaid and the need for the imbalance in the relationship to be acknowledged.
Wikipedia explains this in more detail:-
The giver does not merely give an object but also part of himself, for the object is indissolubly tied to the giver: "the objects are never completely separated from the men who exchange them" (Mauss). Because of this bond between giver and gift, the act of giving creates a social bond with an obligation to reciprocate on part of the recipient. Not to reciprocate means to lose honour and status, but the spiritual implications can be even worse: in Polynesia, failure to reciprocate means to lose mana, one's spiritual source of authority and wealth. Mauss distinguished between three obligations: giving - the necessary initial step for the creation and maintenance of social relationships; receiving, for to refuse to receive is to reject the social bond; and reciprocating in order to demonstrate one's own liberality, honour and wealth.
Incidentally, one of the more bizarre transactions of my student life was going into a bookshop to order a copy of the English translation of Essai sur le Don.
Me ... "I'd like to order a book called The Gift, please".
Sales Assistant ... "What's the name of the author?"
Me ... "M Mauss".
Sales Assistant ... "Is that Mickey?"
Thanks for clearing that one up, Lord B.
I'll be forever in your debt...
I'll be forever in your debt...
Lord Bracknell
On fire
Course you will. It took me fuckin' ages to type that up.
Lord Bracknell
On fire
"Little things please little minds" was how it came out in my household.
Horsham Gull
H Block Offender
ringtones
Kanchelskis
fixtures
Kanchelskis
fixtures
Pevenseagull
meh
- Jul 20, 2003
- 20,697
"Too many cooks spoil the broth", yet, "many hands make light work"
so:
a) tasteless light broth
b) spoiled broth in a well illuminated kitchen
c) bad soup, pronto
d) f*** your aphorisms I'm busy cooking
e) a dynamo system allowing the appropriate number of cooks to produce a nice broth
f) other
so:
a) tasteless light broth
b) spoiled broth in a well illuminated kitchen
c) bad soup, pronto
d) f*** your aphorisms I'm busy cooking
e) a dynamo system allowing the appropriate number of cooks to produce a nice broth
f) other
Nibble
New member
- Jan 3, 2007
- 19,238
Or for people who don't need a fancy explanantion for everything it means "it really was no problem and caused me no great effort.".
jonny.rainbow
Well-known member
- Oct 29, 2005
- 6,847
One for the future.
[QUOTE=Lord Bracknell;2316096]This is an example of what the French anthropologist, Marcel Mauss, in his Essai sur le Don, called "reciprocity".
When a gift is given, something must be given back in exchange, otherwise a debt lingers on, with the potential to damage the relationship between giver and receiver.
The fact of giving creates a debt and an imbalance in the relationship between the giver and the receiver. Hence the phrase "it is better to give than to receive".
The giver does not merely give an object but also part of himself, for the object is indissolubly tied to the giver:
................................ Thats why you should always put your hand round the front and help them along as well.
When a gift is given, something must be given back in exchange, otherwise a debt lingers on, with the potential to damage the relationship between giver and receiver.
The fact of giving creates a debt and an imbalance in the relationship between the giver and the receiver. Hence the phrase "it is better to give than to receive".
The giver does not merely give an object but also part of himself, for the object is indissolubly tied to the giver:
................................ Thats why you should always put your hand round the front and help them along as well.
Trufflehound
Re-enfranchised
"You can't polish a turd."
Can't you? How do they know? Has anyone, ever, actually TRIED this?
"Rough as a badger's arse."
Not that I have any hands-on experience personally, but every badger's arse I've seen Bill Oddie getting all excited over has seemed quite smooth and furry to me. Not rough at all.
On the other hand, "rough as Bill Oddie's arse" - now I could understand THAT.
Can't you? How do they know? Has anyone, ever, actually TRIED this?
"Rough as a badger's arse."
Not that I have any hands-on experience personally, but every badger's arse I've seen Bill Oddie getting all excited over has seemed quite smooth and furry to me. Not rough at all.
On the other hand, "rough as Bill Oddie's arse" - now I could understand THAT.