Coffee Table Declarations
Thursday, April 28, 2005
I'm really exhausted today. It's been a long week. You'll have to excuse me therefore, if I take this opportunity to throw a question-post out to the audience.
The other night, my roommate said something was "the bee's knees" which had me laughing hysterically and had my other roommate who is from Switzerland, staring at her confused. That made it even funnier and we had to explain to her that it's an old expression that doesn't make a lot of sense - I even drew a picture of a bee (smiling widely, as most of my drawn creatures are - apparently my brother got the designated art gene in the family) with legs bent in the middle and a little arrow pointing to his knees. Imagine being able to speak a language really well, but not understanding every phrase and nuance, and then having someone throw a curveball like "bee's knees" at you. I mean, bees don't even have knees. It got me thinking so here's my question. What other expressions can you think of that are funny in English and would baffle a non-native English speaker?
The other night, my roommate said something was "the bee's knees" which had me laughing hysterically and had my other roommate who is from Switzerland, staring at her confused. That made it even funnier and we had to explain to her that it's an old expression that doesn't make a lot of sense - I even drew a picture of a bee (smiling widely, as most of my drawn creatures are - apparently my brother got the designated art gene in the family) with legs bent in the middle and a little arrow pointing to his knees. Imagine being able to speak a language really well, but not understanding every phrase and nuance, and then having someone throw a curveball like "bee's knees" at you. I mean, bees don't even have knees. It got me thinking so here's my question. What other expressions can you think of that are funny in English and would baffle a non-native English speaker?
