devriesj
 
  1  
Thu 7 Jul, 2005 03:09 pm
onion dip
0 Replies
 
yitwail
 
  1  
Thu 7 Jul, 2005 03:18 pm
(chocolate) dipped softserve Smile
0 Replies
 
devriesj
 
  1  
Thu 7 Jul, 2005 03:21 pm
softserve icecream. (Mmmmmmmmmm!)
0 Replies
 
yitwail
 
  1  
Thu 7 Jul, 2005 03:23 pm
ice cream sundae!
0 Replies
 
firefly
 
  1  
Thu 7 Jul, 2005 04:19 pm
sundae with whipped cream
0 Replies
 
bombom
 
  1  
Thu 7 Jul, 2005 05:53 pm
Cream & Coffee
0 Replies
 
devriesj
 
  1  
Thu 7 Jul, 2005 06:01 pm
coffee black
0 Replies
 
yitwail
 
  1  
Thu 7 Jul, 2005 06:02 pm
black pudding Razz
0 Replies
 
spendius
 
  1  
Thu 7 Jul, 2005 06:09 pm
sticky pudding.
0 Replies
 
devriesj
 
  1  
Thu 7 Jul, 2005 06:12 pm
pudding pie
0 Replies
 
bombom
 
  1  
Thu 7 Jul, 2005 07:03 pm
pie recipe
0 Replies
 
devriesj
 
  1  
Thu 7 Jul, 2005 07:05 pm
recipe for disaster
0 Replies
 
bombom
 
  1  
Thu 7 Jul, 2005 07:06 pm
disaster news
0 Replies
 
devriesj
 
  1  
Thu 7 Jul, 2005 07:12 pm
news of the unusual
0 Replies
 
bombom
 
  1  
Thu 7 Jul, 2005 07:37 pm
unusual names
0 Replies
 
devriesj
 
  1  
Thu 7 Jul, 2005 07:40 pm
name game
0 Replies
 
hamburger
 
  1  
Thu 7 Jul, 2005 07:44 pm
game is over ! (you have been found out)
0 Replies
 
devriesj
 
  1  
Thu 7 Jul, 2005 07:45 pm
Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

over the hill
0 Replies
 
hamburger
 
  1  
Thu 7 Jul, 2005 07:55 pm
hill of beans

(from : worldwidewords
" A hill of beans in colloquial American is a symbol for something of trifling value, as in expressions like "it ain't worth a hill of beans". Its most famous appearance, which brought it to the notice of a wide international public, was at the end of the film Casablanca, in which Humphrey Bogart says to Ingrid Bergman, "Ilsa, I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world".
The mundane bean has for at least eight centuries been regarded as the epitome of worthlessness. Even if you know how many beans make five you are unlikely to consider any one of them to be valuable. Part of the strength of the fairy tale of Jack and the Beanstalk is the contrast between the valueless beans Jack was given in exchange for the cow and the riches revealed by the full-grown beanstalk.
The expanded formula of a hill of beans is American. From the evidence, it seems to have appeared in the modern sense about 1860. It is yet another example of the expansive hyperbole so typical of US English in that period. An example from rather later is in The Indiscretions of Archie by P G Wodehouse: "Here have I been kicking because you weren't a real burglar, when it doesn't amount to a hill of beans whether you are or not".
The original sense of hill of beans was literal. For example, a book on rural affairs by one J J Thomas dated around 1858 used it in describing how to grow lima beans: "A strong wire is stretched from the tops of posts placed at a distance from each other; and to this wire two diverging cords from each hill of beans are attached". A little drawing alongside makes clear that the writer is referring to the mounding along the row of bean seeds.
It would seem that this is the origin of the phrase, and that it was then applied figuratively to the illogical idea that if one bean was worthless, a whole hill of them would be even more so.
World Wide Words is copyright © Michael Quinion".
just picked up michael quinlon's book at the library, great fun to read )
0 Replies
 
devriesj
 
  1  
Thu 7 Jul, 2005 07:57 pm
'bean' around (you have!)
0 Replies
 
 

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