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!
