No pussy-footing around with metaphors

In order to walk silently while plodding against the nefarious, enforcers eschewed leather soles in favor of rubber-based shoebottoms. Shoes based with the slightly translucent rubber-gum were said (by extension) to be "gumshoes." By further extension, the shoes made the person into a "gumshoe."

At first issued to uniformed police, they were retained for use when some became detectives, and somehow over the years came to be the shoe of choice -- and for a time, the sobriquet -- of private detectives.

Today, "gumshoe" is pretty much old hat in the USA. When the official term became Private Investigator, gumshoe gave way to "P.I." and "Private Eye" (from the I-nitial of "Investigator").

Originally posted by David Moody of La La land

All the Als

And now for something Altogether Alternate...

I was just noticing, being Always Alert, that, of the 8 listed contributors thus far, we have an Alex, Alvin and Al. We just need to Allocate an Alan, Albert, Alfonso, Alfred, Ali, Allen, Allie, et Al.

Reminds me of a line from the song "I Couldn't Care Less" by Canadian band The Barenaked Ladies:
"When I grow up I'm going to name my children Alice, Albert, and Alfred.
I'll call them for supper like this: 'Dinner's ready, Als!"

- Matt -

Mixed Metaphors (or Maxims)

Don't blame me, Alex; your gems may have opened a can of chickens coming home to roost--e.g.:

> A pretty kettle of worms
> May the best man hit the ceiling
> A stitch in time can move heaven and earth
> He sank like a tower of strength
> Pride goeth before prejudice

Alvin

Euphemistic expiry by K in Denver

Since Alex is accumulating deathly euphemisms, here are a few fairly old-fashioned contributions:

...turned up his toes
...stuck his spoon in the wall
...pegged out
...joined the great majority
...gave an obolus to Charon
...breathed his last
...left behind this world of woe
...went to his long home
...went to his eternal rest
...paid the debt of nature

I also here submit my favorite excretory euphemism, "to go where even the czar walks" -- an expression which had a number of my college acquaintance saying, "I'll be right back; I'm just going to walk my czar."

But what about more lively euphemisms, such as euphemisms for euphoria, or euphony? There are many expressions, including metaphorical, for these; but are any of those expressions euphemisms?
Can there be a euphemism for something already euphemic in itself?


K in Denver
toes curled under, spoons in drawer, often unpeggable, distinctly among the minority, definitely breathing, reasonably at home in this world and unconvinced that it's inherently woeful, frequently restless, and still in debt (though not to Charon)

The parrot by Izzy Cohen

Pastor Matt wrote:>> Alex's euphewisms (that's a substitute phrase that stinks) remind me of Monty Python's Pet Shop sketch - in which John Cleese returns to a pet shop manned by Michael Palin and complains that his African Grey was only on its perch because it had been nailed there. It had, in fact, joined the choir invisible, met its Maker, passed on, shuffled off this mortal coil; it was, indeed, an ex-parrot. <<

Of course, the standard etymology of parrot is tripe / nonsense. From the Online Etymological Dictionary:
>> parrot c.1525, perhaps from dial. M.Fr. perrot, from var. of Pierre "Peter;" or perhaps a dial. form of perroquet (see parakeet). Replaced earlier popinjay. The verb "repeat without understanding" is first attested 1596. The Ger. naturalist Alexander von Humboldt in S.America 1800 encountered a very old parrot that was the sole speaker of a dead Indian language, the original tribe having gone extinct. <<

Parrot probably has a derivation that is closely related to the verb prate c.1420, from M.Du. praten "to prate" (c.1400), from a W.Gmc. imitative root (cf. M.L.G. praten, M.H.G. braten, Swed. prata "to talk, chatter") ... and the related word prattle = to chatter. Ultimately, it may be a reversal of Greek trop = to turn, return. Yiddish trop is a musical "turning". The parrot returns what you say (without understanding it?). What it says is "tripe" = nonsense.

There may be a semantically similar derivation for the Hebrew word for parrot: TuKi. It seems to be a reversal of KiSHKeSH = to prattle, at a time when the letter shin had a dental D/T-sound. The plural taf-[vav]-kaf-yod-yod-mem TooKiYiM appears in the Old Testament twice: at 2nd Kings 10:22 and as a near repetition at 2nd Chron. 9:21. The customary translation for 2Kings 10:22 is: >> For the king [Solomon] had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram [king of Lebanon]; once every three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold and silver, ivory and apes, and peacocks. <<

I have also seen this word (TooKiYiM) translated as guinea fowl. I suspect those peacocks/guinea fowl were actually parrots because parrots that could "speak" would fetch a much higher price than edible birds that were worth little more than the local 3oF TaRNaGoL = chicken.

Old joke that I'm sure you've heard before:Delivery Boy: I have a parrot for Mr. Poy-rot. Mr. Poirot: It's pronounced pwa-row. Delivery Boy: Forgive me, sir. I have a pwa-row for Mr. Poy-rot.

>> Of course, what with recent events in my life, this thread seems somewhat odd. The Greeks would say the thread had been measured short by Clotho ... <<

The connection between cloth/fabric and falsehood really is ancient. These concepts are near homonyms in Hebrew:BahD = cloth, fabric, BahDaH = a cognate of myth (a false story). He made it up out of whole cloth. There is not a stitch of truth in it. Hans Christian Anderson used this connection in his "Keiserens nye Klæder" (The Emperor's New Clothes) fairy tale.

>> ... and untimely snipped by Atropos, but that's all Greek to me. Matt <<

Which reminds me of this excerpt from my own "Groundhog Day Party":

>> Atropos: I'm here. In a reversal of Fate, I give everyone a Sport-ing chance.Izzy: Do you cast a die? or just a shadow?Atropos: of nothing. Life hangs by a Hare...Grim Reaper: ... that I cut with my scythe.Tortoise: People say I'm an infernal animal. They confuse me with Tartarus. If I were a sea turtle I'd be a martyr.Oyster: Who's going to Host this party?Izzy: I nominate Walt Quader. Where is that guy?Quader: The phrase 'dead as a doornail' appears as though it might be a stubbornly persistent corruption of this disputed fragment from Shakespeare's otherwise lost notebook of sketches for his (alas, also lost) last comedy, 'The Grim Knocker': ...dead, Isadore? / Nay! I'll... -- Walt

ciao,
Izzy

The Pet Shop

Alex's euphewisms (that's a substitute phrase that stinks) remind me of Monty Python's Pet Shop sketch - in which John Cleese returns to a pet shop manned by Michael Palin and complains that his African Grey was only on its perch because it had been nailed there. It had, in fact, joined the choir invisible, met its Maker, passed on, shuffled off this mortal coil; it was, indeed, an ex-parrot.

Of course, what with recent events in my life, this thread seems somewhat odd. The Greeks would say the thread had been measured short by Clotho and untimely snipped by Atropos, but that's all Greek to me.

- Matt -

Casualties of Political Correctness

For some good reasons, metaphors are sometimes intentionally used to avoid the use of the primary terminology. This usage is called euphemism. The topics that are commonly fraught with euphemism are sex, bodily excretions, and death. In recent years euphemism has become widespread by politicians and the politically correct movement.

Below are examples of euphemistic expressions that are used to talk about death. Feel free to add to the list:

Bought the farm
He kicked the bucket
He croaked
Cashed in his chips
Cocked his clogs
Went to his reward
Pushing up daisies
Six feet under
Passed away
He is beyond the grave

Alex - being evasive