₦airaland Forum

MsDelilah:
[color=Blue]You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Nigerians are fond of turning it the other way around. [/color]

ItuExchange:

7 Phrases You've Been Misquoting

That doesn't mean what you think it means.


It's an ancient tradition - words of wisdom passed down in short phrases from one generation to the next. The problem with this is that sometimes, things get switched around and the original meaning is lost. We often misquote famous phrases without even knowing it. In fact, do you know that the most famous misquote is from "Apollo 13"?

Thankfully, we have the internet; where there is always someone there to fact check you. These phrases look a little different when you get to see the whole picture.

1. Blood is thicker than water.
The full saying is actually “the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.” Basically, it means exactly the opposite of what most people think. It refers to the idea that the bonds you choose to make can mean much more to you than the ones you were born into and don’t have much of a say in.

2. Curiosity killed the cat.
This phrase continues: “but satisfaction brought it back.” This makes sense, considering the whole idea that cats get nine lives. I often heard the first half when I was little and asking too many questions, but the full phrase suggest that there is no such thing as too many questions.

3. A jack of all trades is a master of none.
This saying got cut short as well and originally said “A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.” Unlike what our version would lead you to believe, having multiple interests but not being an expert in anything could actually prove advantageous.

4. Great minds think alike.
“Small minds rarely differ” is the following line to this once reassuring quote. I would advise you try not to think about that too much the next time you and your classmates are on a roll with your group project, sometimes phrases get cut short for good reason.

5. Money is the root of all evil.
Again, the original version is a little longer. This biblical phrase originally reads “The love of money is the root of all sorts of evil.” There’s a difference in making more money than you could possibly spend and keeping it.

6. My country, right or wrong.
This is often used to justify supporting bad wars, the original actually says “My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong to be set right.” This puts the responsibility on the citizen to make sure their country is a good one, not the other way around.

7. Starve a cold, feed a fever.
I’ve only heard this a couple times and it could have multiple meanings just by reading it differently. Not only is it terrible advice, it’s poorly quoted. The original states “if you starve a cold, you’ll have to feed a fever.” Now, that’s advice I can take to heart.


Source: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1Y6oNH/:1vW@GYZ3G:WGwv-02W/www.theodysseyonline.com/7-phrases-youve-been-misquoting




Perfect Money/Payeer here: www..com.ng

deeMarc:
Ayamatanga in that old mount Zion movie which is really "I AM AT ANGER "

OldBeer:
Bless you for this.
I thought I was the only sane person who knew the correct phrase.

The order of the clauses in the saying has been the subject of some debate, and was even used in forensic linguistics (contributing to the identification and arrest of the so-called Unabomber[7]).

An early recording of the phrase is in a letter on 14 March 1538 from Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, to Thomas Cromwell, as "a man can not have his cake and eat his cake".[8]

The phrase occurs with the clauses reversed in John Heywood's "A dialogue Conteinyng the Nomber in Effect of All the Prouerbes in the Englishe Tongue" from 1546, as "wolde you bothe eate your cake, and have your cake?".[9] In John Davies' "Scourge of Folly" of 1611, the same order is used, as "A man cannot eat his cake and haue it stil."[10] In Jonathan Swift's 1738 farce "Polite Conversation", the character Lady Answerall says "she cannot eat her cake and have her cake."[11]

The order was reversed again in a posthumous adaptation of "Polite Conversation" in 1749, "Tittle Tattle; or, Taste A-la-Mode", as "And she cannot have her Cake and eat her Cake."[12][13][14] From 1812 (R. C. Knopf's "Document Transcriptions of War of 1812" (1959) VI. 204) is a modern-sounding recording as "We cannot have our cake and eat it too."[15]

According to the Google Ngram Viewer, the eat-first order was more common until about 1935, since which time the have-first order has become much more popular

jidxin:
experience is the best teacher has bin cut off too. the complete one is ... EXPERIENCE IS THE BEST TEACHER FOR A FOOL

Crixina:
Op, cutting those phrases short gives another meaning which, as you have pointed out in some are the opposite of the complete phrase, so I think it serves both ways, if you want to mean anything either ways, you choose the one that best suits what you want to say.

Blood is thicker than water- to express familial love or something.
The blood of covenant.....is thicker....the womb...to express it the other way.

MsDelilah:
[color=Blue]You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Nigerians are fond of turning it the other way around. [/color]

thesicilian:
Knowledge is good, for with knowledge comes the ability to make informed decisions. Having now known the original phrase & meaning of the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb, I still prefer the latter version blood is thicker than water. For to me, there is no greater bond than that which binds a family together, from personal experience.
****
Just like I believe the phrase You can't eat your cake and have it makes more sense in all ramifications than the one that is generally accepted to be correct: You can't have your cake and eat it. (For heaven's sake, why can't I eat what I have?)

thesicilian:
from personal experience.

drexx:
I beg to differ...........Personal experience though

OldBeer:
Bless you for this.
I thought I was the only sane person who knew the correct phrase.

ItuExchange:

7 Phrases You've Been Misquoting

That doesn't mean what you think it means.


It's an ancient tradition - words of wisdom passed down in short phrases from one generation to the next. The problem with this is that sometimes, things get switched around and the original meaning is lost. We often misquote famous phrases without even knowing it. In fact, do you know that the most famous misquote is from "Apollo 13"?

Thankfully, we have the internet; where there is always someone there to fact check you. These phrases look a little different when you get to see the whole picture.

1. Blood is thicker than water.
The full saying is actually “the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.” Basically, it means exactly the opposite of what most people think. It refers to the idea that the bonds you choose to make can mean much more to you than the ones you were born into and don’t have much of a say in.

2. Curiosity killed the cat.
This phrase continues: “but satisfaction brought it back.” This makes sense, considering the whole idea that cats get nine lives. I often heard the first half when I was little and asking too many questions, but the full phrase suggest that there is no such thing as too many questions.

3. A jack of all trades is a master of none.
This saying got cut short as well and originally said “A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.” Unlike what our version would lead you to believe, having multiple interests but not being an expert in anything could actually prove advantageous.

4. Great minds think alike.
“Small minds rarely differ” is the following line to this once reassuring quote. I would advise you try not to think about that too much the next time you and your classmates are on a roll with your group project, sometimes phrases get cut short for good reason.

5. Money is the root of all evil.
Again, the original version is a little longer. This biblical phrase originally reads “The love of money is the root of all sorts of evil.” There’s a difference in making more money than you could possibly spend and keeping it.

6. My country, right or wrong.
This is often used to justify supporting bad wars, the original actually says “My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong to be set right.” This puts the responsibility on the citizen to make sure their country is a good one, not the other way around.

7. Starve a cold, feed a fever.
I’ve only heard this a couple times and it could have multiple meanings just by reading it differently. Not only is it terrible advice, it’s poorly quoted. The original states “if you starve a cold, you’ll have to feed a fever.” Now, that’s advice I can take to heart.


Source: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1Y6oNH/:1vW@GYZ3G:WGwv-02W/www.theodysseyonline.com/7-phrases-youve-been-misquoting




Perfect Money/Payeer here: www..com.ng

MsDelilah:
[color=Blue]You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Nigerians are fond of turning it the other way around. [/color]

TheABOMINATION:
Thank you jare.

This is the first time I am seeing this correction. But I have always believed that the common statement was incorrect, because of the saying that 'A fool only learns from his experience, but an intelligent person also learns from the experience of others'.

deeMarc:
Ayamatanga in that old mount Zion movie which is really "I AM AT ANGER "

thesicilian:
Knowledge is good, for with knowledge comes the ability to make informed decisions. Having now known the original phrase & meaning of the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb, I still prefer the latter version blood is thicker than water. For to me, there is no greater bond than that which binds a family together, from personal experience.
****
Just like I believe the phrase You can't eat your cake and have it makes more sense in all ramifications than the one that is generally accepted to be correct: You can't have your cake and eat it. (For heaven's sake, why can't I eat what I have?)