Useless InformationDid you know that crabs wee through their eyes? That maidenhair moss is so called because Anglo-saxons thought it looked like pubes? That Albanians have 17 different words for moustache? Astound us with your utterly useless and obscure knowledge.
(
chthonic, Thu 17 Mar 2005, 14:48)
« Go Back
Utterly uselessThe phrase 'don't look a gift horse in the mouth' comes from old, old, incredibly old times (mainly when horses were used for everything).
Anyway, if someone presented you with a horse as a present, it was apparently very bad etiquette to inspect the horse's teeth. The person giving away the horse might think you were insinuating that he was giving you a knacker, and take the horse away again. So it basically means, don't question something good happening to you, because it might go away again.
I can't even remember where I learned that, but it always used to bug me and it's quite amusing imagining two peasants having a set-to over horse teeth.
(, Fri 18 Mar 2005, 2:36, Reply)
« Go Back