Idioms

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One of the videos I'm working on for Autism Awareness month is on "Idioms." My most confusing idiom is "putting the cart before the horse." It doesn't matter which you put first, as long as the horse is not facing the cart. But, it's not phrased that way.

Are there other idioms that frustrate you? Please let me know which ones and why. I want to incorporate them into the video.

as easy as pie (how easy is that?)

a piece of cake!

I'm all ears (then what are you using to say that to me?0

beat around the bush

burn the midnight oil

by the skin of one's teeth (that must be the part that's not ears in 'I'm all ears')

call it a day (or 'at the end of the day')

cost (someone) an arm and a leg

Cut it out!

Don't count your chickens until (before) they hatch (they're hatched).

get a kick out of something

"Customer is always right." (Does that mean I can walk into McDonalds and expect a to get $5.99 meal for $1.99 because I don't want to pay that much so I want them to charge me for it less? After all the customer is always right. )

get a kick out of something

give someone a hand

(you)had ('d) better (better than what?)

have something down pat (pat?)

How come?

jump the gun

leave well enough alone

can't make heads or tails of

Not on your life!

pay the piper

rain cats and dogs (and what? there were poodles in the road?)

rub someone the wrong way

Someone's made his/her bed; now let her/him lie in it

under the weather

until you're blue in the face

wet behind the ears

would just as soon

you know all this reminds me of that StarTrek TNG episode where Picard must find a way to communicate with the Tamarians who, he learns, speak entirely in metaphors from mythology.


or maybe I am making a mountain out of a mole hill?

Merle

You ever try to PUSH something? It IS easier to PULL!

I'm all ears.(Probably to emphasize that they are listening)

beat around the bush(Probably because it is a way to get something in the bush to reveal itself)

burn the midnight oil(Obviously an old saying meaning you are working late into the night, and must "burn the oil at midnight")

call it a day (Your workday is over)

cost (someone) an arm and a leg(An unreasonable cost! BTW the SPANISH version translates as "costs an eye of the face"!)

Don't count your chickens until (before) they hatch (they're hatched).(Obviously from ranchers that might count eggs as chickens, even though they may not be viable.)

Customer is always right.(Probably to state that THEY should be given preference)

leave well enough alone(It is better that you "leave [it] alone"(don't do anything))

can't make heads or tails of(probably from not knowing what end you are looking at)

Not on your life!(This is weird. I think it means "I wouldn't bet your life on it")

pay the piper(supposedly an old reference to the pied piper of hamlin. He caused problems when he wasn't paid.)

rub someone the wrong way(Well, animals can get angry if you rub against the hair.)

Someone's made his/her bed; now let her/him lie in it(They did it themselves, they should relax.)

until you're blue in the face(A LOT of exertion COULD make you blue.)

would just as soon(would be as quick(do as soon) at doing)

making a mountain out of a mole hill(A mole hill is TINY. A mountain is BIG. You are implying something is bigger than it is.)

Although I know the meaning of the rest, I couldn't begin to explain the origin, or possible origin, off the top of my head. SOME I believe are really just terms that use bad grammar, regional dialects, or miss words.

I thought this thread was about idioms that don't make sense to us or confuse us. "Customer is always right" doesn't make any sense to me because it's stupid because the customer isn't always right and gave an example why.

I'm using a lot of these in my video. Thanks so much!

And yes, I'm looking for examples of idioms that annoy and confuse us, NOT explanations of what the idioms mean.

2ukenkerl just explained it so that there can be no possible way to confuse you.

He didn't say you were clueless

Throw the baby out the window (I think that's the correct phrase, I never understood it)

I believe it's "throw the baby out with the bathwater."

Knee high to a Grasshopper is the one I really don't understand.
Something walked over my grave.
Let sleeping dogs lie.
Pull your socks up. (I still don't understand that one, I know what it means, but jesus it's confusing.)
Give them hell.

if there is an idiom or adage i do not understand, then i learn what it means. so i know what they mean, but i am bewildered how the words mean anything in themselves.

like i know "make hay while the sun shines" means to work while you can, but if i was not told, i would maybe think that they were referring to viruses that infect lucerne chaff if harvested at night. apparently normal people can sense without instruction, what the implication of these sentences mean.

anyway, everyone has covered most of the ones i was going to suggest except 2 that i can still think of.

one is "head over heels". while standing, my head is always over my heels. i was told it meant that the person was giddy and in love. it still made no sense, and then they told me it is like the person has fallen over in love. but then their heads would be level with their heels. (i actually thought that "heels over head" may be a better description for some people in love)

the other is "bend over backwards". i do not have a dirty mind, but when a woman says it is seems rude.
a few weeks ago a middle aged woman at work said of her boss "i'd bend over backwards for david". i could not help but laugh to myself but they noticed.

There's quite a few idioms that are confusing. Last weekend I was at my friend's house and we were watching "catchphrase" and there was this one idiom that said "pie in the sky" and I asked my friend what it was and he's like "I dunno, just means that,a pie in the sky?" which didn't help.
That programme is quite confusing when I don't know what the phrases mean, there's more but I forgot them.

According to a website I just Googled, 'throw the baby out with the bathwater' means when someone tries to improve something but they get rid of a good things as well as bad things, and 'pie in the sky' is something good that won't happen.

Interesting point on how many of our idioms don't make sense like 'head over heels'. Other weird ones are when people swear and say "Excuse my French" (Isn't that kind of rude to French people?) and when people say "He'll get a taste of his own medicine" to mean "He'll get a taste of his own cruelty/bad behavior" because medicine is good for you and when do you ever take anyone else's medicine rather than your own?!

Most confusing one I've heard was "I didn't know you from Adam". Apparently it's an idiom meaning that they don't know who you were at all, but if you haven't heard it it's very easy to take literally and ask who Adam is!

Not really an idiom, but I hate it when people say "I could care less" when they are trying to say "I couldn't care less". "I could care less" would mean you care about it at least slightly so it makes no sense to say it to mean "I don't care at all."