Idioms - Use 'em or Lose 'em

[Redbirds Fan]

This may be too odd or nit-picky for others to play, but I was reading something a while ago and it reminded me how many idiomatic expressions are being misused today in part because the objects from which they were derived are unknown to today's speakers. The example I saw was someone who said that someone, or it may have been something, "folded like a cheap suit". As many of you may recall, the expression is "folded like a cheap suitcase". In the really old days, super cheap luggage was mostly cardboard and would flatten out after it was well worn. It completely lost its structural rigidity, shape, and ability to stand. Nonetheless, if you google "...cheap suit", you will get tons of hits.

The expression was "all over him like a cheap suit" because there was no tailoring. Folding like a cheap suit makes no apparent sense.

Anyway, are there any other idioms you guys see used in which people seem to have forgotten what they were originally about?

[baldgriff]

I work with a bunch of idioms

[Judge Jude]

Tickets don't sell like hotcakes anymore

but is anything still the greatest thing since sliced bread?

[virgonomic]

I use "strike while the iron is hot". I have to explain it to my students.

They don't grasp "flip a coin", either. They don't realize it's an idiom.

[fuhrdog]

Usually hear "I could care less" when they mean the opposite.

[Judge Jude]

today my 45 yr old spouse used "now we're cooking with gas!"

was she even born when that was a thing?

[The Feral Slasher]

This may be too odd or nit-picky for others to play, but I was reading something a while ago and it reminded me how many idiomatic expressions are being misused today in part because the objects from which they were derived are unknown to today's speakers. The example I saw was someone who said that someone, or it may have been something, "folded like a cheap suit". As many of you may recall, the expression is "folded like a cheap suitcase". In the really old days, super cheap luggage was mostly cardboard and would flatten out after it was well worn. It completely lost its structural rigidity, shape, and ability to stand. Nonetheless, if you google "...cheap suit", you will get tons of hits.

The expression was "all over him like a cheap suit" because there was no tailoring. Folding like a cheap suit makes no apparent sense.

Anyway, are there any other idioms you guys see used in which people seem to have forgotten what they were originally about?

My favorite is when they mix them up. I've heard "You're giving me the raw end of the stick", a cross between a raw deal and the short end of the stick. Also "ghosts in the closet" as a combo of skeletons in the closet and ghosts in your past. At work I often hear people say "touch bases" which kills me because I think it should be singular "touch base". Maybe it's just me.

[Gregg]

Tickets don't sell like hotcakes anymore

but is anything still the greatest thing since sliced bread?

Oh, oh, I am pretty sure I have used the sliced bread quote in the last 12 months.

[Kevin Seitzer]

Usually hear "I could care less" when they mean the opposite.

I could care less, but it's really just not worth the effort.

[Controller Jacobs]

today my 45 yr old spouse used "now we're cooking with gas!"

was she even born when that was a thing?

I have a gas stove, and (along with what I assume is many others) have a gas grill.

[Redbirds Fan]

today my 45 yr old spouse used "now we're cooking with gas!"

was she even born when that was a thing?

Are you just using this as an opportunity to remind everyone that you have a 45-year old spouse? If so, I say "well-played, sir!"

The saying originated in the mass movement from wood-burning ovens to gas a hundred years or so ago. It stuck around, but it seemed to come back when people started wanting gas stove-tops in their kitchens again. It didn't hurt that everyone was watching cooking shows where all the chefs cook on gas burners. I certainly like gas better.