| OliveDage | Дата: Воскресенье, 06.12.2015, 23:57 | Сообщение # 1 |
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| Clear the decks (for action) desperately resort to any inadequate remedy to get help or support a modern reference to the old proverb 'a drowning man will catch at a straw'. Earlier versions, which go back to the 16th century if not before, refer to a stick or a twig; no doubt, these were replaced by a straw because of its even greater inadequacy as a means of support. Clutch replaced 'catch' in the 19th century. A number of expressions use straw to typify anything having negligible importance, substance or value. A man of straw is weak, like a straw dummy, and a straw in the wind is a small hint or fact that may indicate a more important coming event. This last is from the proverbial 'straws show which way the wind blows': just as one may drop a straw to check the direction or strength of the wind (some rugby players about to make a place-kick still do this, using a piece of grass), so one may learn about something significant from small signs.
And here's another act!
The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
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