All too often, I hear someone say something that I know I’m supposed to understand, but I don’t. Sometimes (rarely) it’s because I just don’t get the intended meaning. Other times (mostly) it’s because I start thinking about the expression itself and realize that it is confusing. But there’s a third kind of emerging difficult expression, the Biblical reference, which depends on the rapidly fading public knowledge of the Bible. So, let’s share our collective ignorance today and come up with all the expressions that baffle us or we think might baffle others.Links:
Expressions explained (World Wide Words)
2 comments:
Sorry, but in Math, no one cares about the greast common denominator, they only care about the least common denominator. For instance to add 1/3 and 1/4 you need to know their least common denominator. The smallest number that can be divided evenly by both of these numbers. In this case it is 12. If it existed, the greatest common denominator would be something like 36, because it is a great number it can be divided by both 3 and 4. But wait, 48 is an even greator denominator. Actually, you could never find the greatest common denominator.
Yes, you're right. I completely flubbed that one. I think I was originally intending to say that the phrase doesn't make sense because you always INCREASE the denominators rather than lowering them in order to create the least common denominator. Hence, to compare it to a reduction in cultural complexity or intellectual vigor as a way of making sure everyone understands just doesn't make sense. The concept of commonality fits, but the concept of lowering standards just doesn't.
But yes, you're totally right. The way i talked about a "greatest common denominator" on the air was particularly stupid of me. Thank you for the correction. =)
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