It seems weird, but I have "Ah-ha!" moments for expressions that I've heard all my life. Like "never look a gift horse in the mouth" - I never really got it until today. This is probably going to make me seem like an idiot, but not having ever looked in a horses mouth, or understood why you would do so, or hearing about anyone giving a horse to someone else, it always seems a bit of an odd expression.
Today for whatever reason I figured it out. "Never check the quality on a gift".
I'm not sure what caused this moment of clarity, but I'll accept them when ever they come. ;-)
I always figured it had something to do with the trojan horse. I never really got the saying either. Who gives a horse as a gift?
ReplyDeleteApparently it used to be a common thing to do:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_teeth#In_popular_culture
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/117000.html
Since reading this stuff, I've also learned where "long in the tooth" comes from too. Yay wikipedia. ;-)