SAY WHA...?

I was talking out loud (also known as talking to myself - when you live alone in the middle of nowhere, you end up during a lot more of that than you would care to admit) and used the expression (to myself - yes, I know, it's sort of sad) "like shutting the barn door after the cow is gone."

And got to thinking about how idioms will make our American English completely unintelligible to any future generation/ species/ extraterrestials who finds our records/recordings.

A lot of them seem to be related to animals.

Some are ridiculous - "cat got your tongue" - where the hell did that come from?

And "letting the cat out of the bag", "being the cat's meow" - "you are such a copy cat" - "raining cats and dogs" - "more than one way to skin a cat" (YUCK!!)

Some of them make sense in some strange way - "killing two birds with one stone" (I've always hated that one - it's just a mean thought!) - "the early bird gets the worm" - "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush"

But "naked as a jay bird"? Do most other species of bird wear clothes when we're not around?

 Some make sense if you know the animal pretty well - "don't look a gift horse in the mouth" (has to do with telling age by teeth) - "beating a dead horse" - "hold your horses."

But how does "straight from the horse's mouth" work? The only thing I ever get from any of my horses' mouths is big teeth!

Okay - feel free to add any ones that drive you batty too!