Tuesday, March 06, 2007

idiomology

we all know what cliches are, and we all try not to use them, except facetiously and to prove just how above that we are, but this guy and these guys simultaneously put forth contests to bring new idioms into the world. one has you reinvent the old, the other asked for completely fresh material, and the results are hi-larious. i, personally, plan on referring to things as being 'the bee's pajamas' in the near future.

at any rate, the one guy is considering making this an on-going feature and asked for continued submissions, so i sent him a funny story which i will reiterate for you now.

i was teaching english in thailand, and looking up resources on the internet. my friend hannah and i came upon a quiz that tests english slang and idiom. 'to mean something completely different is:
a. a whole other barrel of monkeys
b. a whole other kettle of fish (correct)
c. a whole other sack of ferrets'
i thought option c. was the funniest thing i'd ever heard, while hannah favored option a. regardless, we started interspersing our vocabulary with these revamped versions, and were suprised to find how few people (even native english speakers) caught on. i was discussing something with my supervisor, and i said 'but that's a whole other sack of ferrets,' to which she replied 'tell me about that sack.'

there you have it, straight from my 'sent items' folder to you.

and now, my friends, everyone gets ice cream.

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