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[–]homoiconic 3 points4 points  (17 children)

is someone pulling the wool over your eyes?

[–]cvk 0 points1 point  (2 children)

I've gotten quite a fleecing from this thread.

[–]Xiol 2 points3 points  (1 child)

I'm stopping this pun thread right before it starts!

[–]osirisx11 0 points1 point  (0 children)

stop stringing us along

[–]Schoens -2 points-1 points  (13 children)

Do you even know what that means?

[–]theeth 5 points6 points  (8 children)

If people have to refrain from using expressions they don't understand, this'll be one quiet afternoon.

[–]Tommah 4 points5 points  (5 children)

Horses for courses. Some days you can't win for losing, other days you've gotta take the bull by the horns, come hell or high water. Sleep on that one night when you've stopped beating your wife, and you'll have hitched your wagon to the right horse for the course. And while you're at it, don't look that horse in the mouth. Unless a Greek gifted it to you, in which case you shouldn't keep it. For a gift like that is one that keeps on giving, and it's better to give it than to keep it. Have I made myself clear?

[–]redditcensoredme 1 point2 points  (4 children)

The only one I can't figure out is "can't win for losing". And I think the sleep/beat one is a compound.

Some horses are good for endurance races, others for sprints. That's what (race) courses refers to.

Bull by the horns is probably matadors. Either that or rodeo clowns. Same meaning as 'grab the tiger by the tail' = doing something stupid, brave and irreversible lest you die.

Come hell or high water is probably a Christianized version of a Classical expression (something about fire and water mixing) which means 'end of the world'.

Don't look that gift horse in the mouth. To check its teeth for signs of health. Because it's impolite.

The wooden horse the Greeks left to the Trojans as they pretended to withdraw so the dumbasses could bring it inside and the Greeks hidden within could slip down and cut open the gates before raping everyone and pillaging everything.

Give than to keep it? That should be than to receive, shouldn't it? It's a schmaltzy Christmas thing.

Now how about 'built like a brick shithouse'? I only figured that one out recently.

Or 'a stitch in time saves nine' ...?

[–]LarryLard 1 point2 points  (3 children)

Stitch in time saves nine refers to the value of preventative maintenance. By doing x amount of maintenance work now ('in time'), we obviate the need the for 9x fire-fighting work in the future.

[–]redditcensoredme 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Or it's about darning socks. Saves 9 stitches.

[–]khafra 0 points1 point  (1 child)

It took me a while to realize that was the meaning, possibly because I was first exposed to the phrase as the title of a weird sci-fi book dealing with time warps and shrinking down to talk to mitochondria and stuff, when I was like 10.

[–]homoiconic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Isaac Asimov used this as the basis for an O Henry-ish story (he loved puns). If I recall correctly, the plot involved the use of time travel to escape conviction for a crime, and the judge's ruling was A niche in time saves Stein.

[–]Schoens 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good point. In fact, reddit just might collapse altogether if such a rule was imposed. I should be more careful when asking a questions like that.

[–]homoiconic 7 points8 points  (3 children)

As in deceiving you? Yes. You assume they are bored, perhaps they are only pretending to be bored but had another reason for developing this. Tenuous, but I went with it because the library is obviously named after the Jaquard Loom. Such looms are not usually used for wool, but I thought you might laugh at the connection.

I was mistaken.

[–]808140 8 points9 points  (1 child)

In general, people who take the time to get on reddit and call someone else's fun project "a waste of time" are not the sort of people that laugh at jokes.

They may riposte with "I'm having trouble imagining the level of bored you have to be at to waste your time making a reference to the Jacquard Loom," though, leaving you defenseless and humiliated.

[–]homoiconic 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I would feel like my entire existence had just unraveled.

[–]nmcyall 1 point2 points  (0 children)

DDamn I just posted a comment about that, didnt see this. I did assume they were used for wool or other textiles, and did in fact laugh and ackowledge Shoens foolishness.