The 'wondering about stuff' thread

[Woodsinho]

With regard to certain sayings... can someone tell me what or where "...it'll tide you over" comes from?

y'know as in someone may say to you "just have a snack for now, to tide you over?"

What the fuck does that mean????

I presume it must have some connection with sailors at sea, eating/drinking the last of their rations before waiting for the tide to turn, and then they can go ashore to restock...or summat like that?...... waddya think?

Does anyone know?

put me out of my misery ffs....

Alternative Hypothesis - maybe it's something to do with giving something to someone who has fallen on hard times to keep them going 'til things improve or, in other words, 'til the tide turns.

That's a guess but it doesn't sound too out there.

[soundian]

A quick google threw this up:

"It may be that its a deliberate echo of Brutuss comment, in Julius Caesar: There is a Tide in the affairs of men, Which taken at the Flood, leads on to Fortune, or it may at least be taken from the same idea of a ship, say, waiting for the tide to rise and carry it over the bar into a harbour."

I like the Shakespeare quote, because "tide you over" is normally used when someone is having a bad spell, but they already know their fortune is going to change for the better sometime soon.

The phrase isn't first recorded until 1860 though.

There's also a similar wording "tie you over". I don't know which came first but if the original phrase was tie you over then the above suggestions are null and void.

[waltz]

Why do people forget things when they've been drinking? I know it's probably something obvious but I'm an idiot about all that's scientific.

[soundian]

Why do people forget things when they've been drinking? I know it's probably something obvious but I'm an idiot about all that's scientific.

Erm....hang on....I know this one.

[Fast Caz]

The saying " that's like calling the pot kettle black " or along those lines anyway. I understand the meaning but the saying it's self is a mystery to me.

Anyone know the origins of this?

[TelecasterSam]

The saying " that's like calling the pot kettle black " or along those lines anyway. I understand the meaning but the saying it's self is a mystery to me.

Anyone know the origins of this?

here you go.....

GoEnglish.com Idioms = "The Pot Calling The Kettle Black" = Today's English Idioms

[nullmouse]

Why do people forget things when they've been drinking? I know it's probably something obvious but I'm an idiot about all that's scientific.

Alcohol's basically an anaesthetic, which is unfortunately just answering a question with another question: We're not too sure how general anaesthetics actually work - They Just Do. Some people reckon it's due to the agent interacting with specific targets on cells, others reckon it's due to them making the waxy, protective barrier of cells more fluid and, as a result, messing around with the way cells respond - such as impairing the way neurons transmit signals.

My best guess would be that a hefty bender is essentially a titration experiment in administering our own general anaesthetic. Sometimes we get the dose just right, othertimes we end up passed out on a strangers's floor with dignity hanging loosely by our ankles. Hypothetically, of course. I'm not speaking from experience. Much.

[Soda Jerk]

Cockney Rhyming Slang. Who's idea was this? Instead of just saying the word, they make it longer, by adding more words, where the last syllable rhymes with the word it is replicating. I mean... Why? Was it meant to be a secret code? Or is it just pointless waffling? It seems very much like the latter.

Pah. London. I dislike everything about London. Cockney Rhyming Slang. Harry Redknapp. Everything.

[Monster Zero]

Cockney Rhyming Slang. Who's idea was this? Instead of just saying the word, they make it longer, by adding more words, where the last syllable rhymes with the word it is replicating. I mean... Why? Was it meant to be a secret code? Or is it just pointless waffling? It seems very much like the latter.

It did however offer up long lasting comedy gold alongside falling through a recently opened bar hatch and dressing up as Batman and Robin.

[Teabags]

Cockney Rhyming Slang. Who's idea was this? Instead of just saying the word, they make it longer, by adding more words, where the last syllable rhymes with the word it is replicating. I mean... Why? Was it meant to be a secret code? Or is it just pointless waffling? It seems very much like the latter.

Pah. London. I dislike everything about London. Cockney Rhyming Slang. Harry Redknapp. Everything.

"It remains a matter of speculation whether rhyming slang was a linguistic accident, a game, or a cryptolect developed intentionally to confuse non-locals. If deliberate, it may also have been used to maintain a sense of community. It is possible that it was used in the marketplace to allow vendors to talk amongst themselves in order to facilitate collusion, without customers knowing what they were saying. Another suggestion is that it may have been used by criminals (see thieves' cant) to confuse the police."

Rhyming slang - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Bigsby]

Seem to recall learning somewhere that studies have shown you are actually more likely to remember something you learned while drunk, if you get drunk again. So basically drink while doing your driving lessons AND test and you'll be OK.

[nullmouse]

Seem to recall learning somewhere that studies have shown you are actually more likely to remember something you learned while drunk, if you get drunk again. So basically drink while doing your driving lessons AND test and you'll be OK.

I started looking this up, but got distracted when the hits for my vague search terms came back from the publication databases:

Does drinking lead to sex? Daily alcohol-sex behaviors and expectancies among college students.

By Dr ME Patrick and DR JL Maggs, Penn State U.

Published in "Psychology of Addictive Behaviours" in 2009. (Vol 23, pages 472-481).

(In case anyone's interested, apparently drinking a little more than your average on any given day is a pretty good way of significantly increasing your chance of a blowjob, but doesn't increase the chance of penetrative sex substantially. Well, I say "you", but unless "you" happen to be a Penn State U student used to getting wasted on three bottles of diluted gnat's piss, or you happen to share the weird American attitude towards "blowies not being sex, yeah?", then I'm not sure how relevant this research is. In Aberdeen, for example, a quick handjob down the harbour might be a more likely outcome. Still, science eh?)

Now, what was I supposed to be looking for?

[Alan Cynic]

Why do people forget things when they've been drinking? I know it's probably something obvious but I'm an idiot about all that's scientific.

It's called 'Alkie-zheimer's'

[Teabags]

I started looking this up, but got distracted when the hits for my vague search terms came back from the publication databases:

(In case anyone's interested, apparently drinking a little more than your average on any given day is a pretty good way of significantly increasing your chance of a blowjob, but doesn't increase the chance of penetrative sex substantially. Well, I say "you", but unless "you" happen to be a Penn State U student used to getting wasted on three bottles of diluted gnat's piss, or you happen to share the weird American attitude towards "blowies not being sex, yeah?", then I'm not sure how relevant this research is. In Aberdeen, for example, a quick handjob down the harbour might be a more likely outcome. Still, science eh?)

Now, what was I supposed to be looking for?

I want a blowjob now, but I'm at work.

Gutted.

[Alkaline]

I want a blowjob now, but I'm at work.

Gutted.

Same, my boss doesn't seem too keen though

[Lemonade]

Same, my boss doesn't seem too keen though

Keep working at it, I'm sure he'll come around.

[jon]

Keep working at it well and he'll come everywhere.

[Preid]

Why does 1 cup of tea = 1 pint of piss?

[Teabags]

Why does 1 cup of tea = 1 pint of piss?

Because I'm a fucking diuretic.

[Preid]

Because I'm a fucking diuretic.

Ill always love you.

[Frosty Jack]

Because I'm a fucking diuretic.

You're taking the piss.

[Skubbs]

Seem to recall learning somewhere that studies have shown you are actually more likely to remember something you learned while drunk, if you get drunk again. So basically drink while doing your driving lessons AND test and you'll be OK.

Yeah, if you learn something in a certain condition you're best to repeat it in that condition so you'll perform better. So basically, I shouldn't listen to music when revising because I can't listen to music in the exam hall.

[Le Stu]

Can you use pain as a recall method, and if so does this constitute torture?

[Monster Zero]

Why is this country such that a person can go from being a Geordie racist toilet attendant batterer to a National Treasure to the extent that her marriage breakdown has to be analysed on a daily basis when the only real difference in circumstance is sitting next to Simon Cowell on a pish TV talent show?

[Alkaline]

Why is this country such that a person can go from being a Geordie racist toilet attendant batterer to a National Treasure to the extent that her marriage breakdown has to be analysed on a daily basis when the only real difference in circumstance is sitting next to Simon Cowell on a pish TV talent show?

It's coz the people are idiots innit?