Apropos of nothin', but "line in the sand" is an idiotic figure of speech

[radiclib]

Poppy Bush coined it when sabre-rattling at Saddam, and it was cute for "Desert Shield". But now everyone uses it in any context even though a mild breeze could erase it.
I'm sorry, but shit like this makes me nuts. :crazy:

[gateley]

1. Chamomile tea. Really. nt

[ithinkmyliverhurts]

2. I think it goes farther back than Chimpy's pappy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_in_the_sand_%28phrase%29

And if you've never read the story of Saint Herman of Alaska using an icon of Mary to keep a tidal wave at bay, well, then, that's a line in the sand.

[timtom]

3. Check your parameters

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_in_the_sand_%28phrase%29

[Kaleva]

4. The phrase has been around for a long, long time

From Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_in_the_sand_(phrase)

[radiclib]

11. Read the last paragraph in Wiki

It makes my point.:bounce: The current popular usage is STOOPID.
But I was wrong to give Poppy credit for originality.

[Igel]

16. Current popular usage of

"stay the course" (as opposed, apparently, to "change the course") is also stupid. Rather like saying the opposite of "stay the night" is "change the night".

Well, in some sense the current usage is stupid. Calling an idiom's usage "stupid" is only appropriate for a while after an idiom's shifted its meaning, and then only by those accustomed to its prior meaning. Then those calling the new usage "stupid" die or adapt and the problem's solved.

[madeline_con]

23. The opposite of "stay the night" is to leave. The opposite of "stay the course" is to leave it. n/t

[Maru Kitteh]

5. What would you prefer?

Most people use it to indicate a stance or action they will not be willing to tolerate, a limit to how far they are willing to go.

What metaphor do you find suitable?

[Paladin]

6. William Barrett Travis At The Alamo, 1836.

May or may not have actually happened, but it's a striking image......

[texanshatingbush]

8. Paladin, what you said is what we were taught in Texas History..... n/t

[Paladin]

10. Hence My Conspicuous Declaration.....

....that it may or may not be true. Problem?

[texanshatingbush]

27. No problem with "may or may not".......

As they say, history is written by the victors, and although the battle at the Alamo was not a success, the Republic of Texas was ultimately born out of Sam Houston's final victory at San Jacinto.

There were actually a couple of survivors of the Battle of the Alamo, as I remember (a woman, and a black man). They may have reported the "line in the sand" story, OR historians may have embellished something. We'll probably never know with absolute certainty.

[mitchum]

7. I hate "boots on the ground"...it just smacks of a microscopic penis attached to a lardass...

attached to a LA-Z Boy

[madeline_con]

24. ... with hands on keyboard, ready to "fight".

[Obamanaut]

9. I dislike "in close proximity" "just saying" and "you know" nt

[Orsino]

12. This is Amurka....you can have our tired, macho posturing when you pry it from...

...from something chilly....chilly and handy. Yeah, that's it.

[BlooInBloo]

13. Everybody stupid enough to believe that it's a bush-coined phrase, please raise your hands...

Because I want to make sure I never listen to anything you say.

[madeline_con]

25. ...

:rofl:

[Kaleva]

14. LSSU list of banished words

http://www.lssu.edu/banished/archived_lists.php

[Obamanaut]

26. What a great site! I just read the entries for several of the years, and

discovered that many of them are seen quite regularly here on DU.

[pipi_k]

15. Buzzwords and annoying phrases...

One of the phrases that annoys me is

"...in these tough economic times..."


every single day some newsperson is saying it. At least on the local channels here.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. go back further, to El Alamo

that is where that one comes from, at the very least.

:-)

Now it is a figure of speech that is used way too often, agreed

[Lex]

18. I'm hoping this is a joke thread.

nt

[BlooInBloo]

19. Sort of. It was made by an American.

[Boojatta]

21. Why is there no birth certificate controversy in this case?

[Stinky The Clown]

20. Don't credit Poppy. He's not old enough

The idiom goes back to least as far a the Romans, and likely to the Greeks and Etruscans.

[madeline_con]

22. That idiot didn't coin the phrase. n/t

[LeftinOH]

28. But the MOST idiotic analogy is the "like an ostrich with its head in the sand" comparison-

-as, of course, ostriches: 1. Don't do that 2. Would suffocate if they did.

[Blue For You]

29. Honi the Circle Drawer drew circles in the sand.

Supposedly, he was stoned to death by an angry mob. Maybe he should have just stuck with lines.