Five stupid sayings (part 3)

Previously on the Charles Fudgemuffin blog I've taken a look at various silly sayings found in the English language. There are many more stupid Engish sayings though, so here are five more, focusing on the themes of insect anatomy, poor Geography and unusual precipitation.

"Look at the knees on that bee! Wow! Amazing!"

1) The bee's knees

This is a weird English saying which refers to something which is excellent or outstanding. However, if you ask me, knees aren't particularly impressive, and if I was to be impressed by a pair of knees then I very much doubt that they would belong to a bee!

There are various theories on how this saying originated, but the most plausible is that the saying originated as 'the be all and end all'. This was then shortened to 'the Bs and Es', and if you say this really fast it sounds a bit like 'the bee's knees'.

So it's not as stupid as it sounds after all!  Although, admittedly it's still quite stupid.

The four corners of the world ...
atlas.

2) The four corners of the world

I don't know who invented this saying but they clearly failed their Geography exams if they think that our spherical* planet has four corners. Even in the olden days when people still thought the world was flat, the saying still wouldn't make any sense because at no time in history have people thought the world was square. Apparently in ancient times the Earth was previously believed to be a flat disc, so it still wouldn't have any corners.

Despite the lack of logic to this expression though, I have to admit that it has a nice ring to it, so presumably the expression 'the four corners of the world' became popular based on its poetic linguistic appeal, rather than its logic.

* In actual fact the Earth is slightened squashed at the poles so mathematicians would more accurately describe the Earth as an 'ellipsoid', but to normal people the Earth is a sphere.

3) Save your money for a rainy day

If you saved your money for a rainy day on this beach,
you'd be saving for a long time.

If you lived in a tropical part of the world such as Thailand or Africa, then I could understand the logic behind this saying, because during the dry season it often goes for several weeks without raining which would give you a chance to save up a reasonable sum of money.

However, given how often it rains in England, it's rather unusual that this is an English saying. For example, based on the weather over the last few days, if I had started saving for a rainy day then I would have barely started saving before the rainy day arrived!

4) The type of rain that gets you wet

Precipitation in the making.

Continuing with the rainy theme, this isn't a common saying, but I have heard it said occasionally, and it always makes me smirk. 'The type of rain that gets you wet'?  I've never actually experienced rain which gets you dry, so I'm not sure you need to clarify a specific type of rain which gets you wet. Surely all rain gets you wet.

Apparently though, 'the type of rain that gets you wet' refers to...

"A fine rain, almost like a mist, which you almost don't notice until you get back in the house and notice that you're wet."

Even sillier is a comment told to me by a mate who plays for a local cricket team. One day when it was slightly wet, one of his team-mates commented, "We just need a drying rain to dry out the outfield."

Really? A drying rain. A rain which dries? I have to admit I've never yet come across a rain which dries, but it sounds so much better than every type of rain I've ever encountered, which have all been wetting rains.

5) The funny bone

This skeleton has lots of funny bones judging by the smile on its face.

Anyone who's ever accidentally hit their funny bone against something hard can confirm that it's not a funny experience at all, and surely a better name for the funny bone would be the 'painful bone'.

If you've never hit your funny bone then try it out for yourself and you'll discover that I'm right. However, unless you're a fan of pain, I would personally recommend that you just take my word for it.

You can find more silly English sayings below:
Five stupid sayings (part 1)
Five stupid sayings (part 2)