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Throw you out on your ear!
October 01, 2011, 21:14
KallehThrow you out on your ear!
My kids and I were having a light-hearted conversation today and I said I'd throw them out on their ears! They'd never heard the phrase and teased me relentlessly that I was crazy. We looked it up online, and there was a reference to it in the Free Dictionary. There were a few other references to it, but not nearly as many as I thought there'd be. It soon went to "Do your ears hang low."
Have you heard of that phrase? Is it rare? Does anyone know where it came from?
October 01, 2011, 21:32
BobHaleI've heard it a lot in the singular "on your ear" but I'm not sure I've heard the plural.
"No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson.
October 01, 2011, 22:38
arnieYes, I've heard it quite often as well.
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
October 02, 2011, 04:54
GeoffMy late mother used it, but I doubt I've heard it in thirty years. Archaic, I suppose, but you aren't crazy!
(Well, not for that, anyhow!)
It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. -J. Krishnamurti
October 02, 2011, 08:52
zmježdJust seems like a euphemism for "out on your arse/ass". Probably wrong, but ...
—Ceci n'est pas un seing.
October 02, 2011, 17:24
BobHaleIt is pretty common in the UK.
"No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson.
October 02, 2011, 20:24
KallehMaybe you are right, z, that it's a euphemism for "ass." My kids thought I was just too goody-goody to say "ass."
quote:
I've heard it a lot in the singular "on your ear" but I'm not sure I've heard the plural.
Ah, but since I had two kids to throw out, I had to have two ears.
October 02, 2011, 23:01
arnieTo use another euphemism for "ass/arse", I've also heard "out on your rear". That could easily become elided into "on your ear".
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
October 27, 2011, 10:20
vazhehI have the feeling that this expression could have something to do with the Old West or at least Hollywood's conception of it. You know the set piece repeated in countless movies where the guy is forcibly thrown out of the bar through the swinging doors and invariably lands "on his ears". It's the "bum's rush" only with more emphasis.
October 27, 2011, 20:55
KallehI just scrolled down and down and down the many "throw" pages in the OED, and I couldn't find "throw out on your ear."
I really can't find it anywhere. I am thinking of asking Quinion.
October 31, 2011, 16:01
CaterwaullerI've heard it used, mostly by my parents or older, or maybe in movies. I can't wait to hear the answer Quinion comes up with!
*******
"Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.
~Dalai Lama
November 01, 2011, 20:04
KallehI emailed him tonight. I know he's a busy man, so we'll see if he gets back to me.
November 03, 2011, 21:26
KallehAh, well. Here was my canned response:
quote:
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November 04, 2011, 03:01
arnie doesn't give any suggestions for the origin of the idiom, but it does indicate it comes from the early 1900s.
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
November 08, 2011, 20:17
KallehI guess that makes sense. Since there is no sexy story about it, Quinion probably won't answer me.