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Position:Home>Poetry> Where does the expression, "Beating a dead horse" come from?Question: Where does the expression, "Beating a dead horse" come from!? *****
Dr!. Oldman by TD Euwaite The sorry old sap still mumbles the classics as if one of his students was listening…he has no idea that their dreams are of… Free from interruption, his placid meandering through Homer is a solitary sojourn…except when his thick accent makes a funny… He rides in the horse, again!. Battles against Agamemnon!. The rage and wrath of Achilles, fall on incurious ears… *****Www@QuestionHome@Com Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: There are ways of riding that old horse through their absinthe-filled brains I am sure, and surprising their slumbering minds!. The Muse is still there, somewhere, asleep, waiting to be waken up!.Www@QuestionHome@Com "Beating a dead horse" is an idiom that means a particular request or line of conversation is already foreclosed, mooted, or otherwise resolved, and any attempt to continue it is futile!. In British English and Australian English, the phrase is usually expressed as "flogging a dead horse"!. The first recorded use of the expression with its modern meaning is by British politician and orator John Bright, referring to the Reform Bill of 1867, which called for more democratic representation in Parliament, and which Parliament was singularly apathetic about!. Trying to rouse Parliament from its apathy on the issue, he said in a speech, would be like trying to flog a dead horse to make it pull a load!. The Oxford English Dictionary cites the Globe, 1872, as the earliest verifiable use of flogging a dead horseWww@QuestionHome@Com Just like the other one about leading a horse to water if they want to drink they will!.!.!. When a horse is down for the last count you shouldnt be there beating him to get up!.!.Beating a dead horse is like most humans!.!. you cant force something from them if its not there!. You can sway them to do what U want them to do!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com I had a young lecturer from Liverpool when I was in college!. He taught us about the Roman hoplight phalanx!. Most of the time we didn't understand one word in 10, but he was so cute, we all tried!. He gave me an A in his course, probably because I sat in the front row and stared at him!.Www@QuestionHome@Com I don't know, but when I urge a horse to move faster by beating it, it doesn't seem to help when the horse is dead!. That doesn't make sense to me, but I keep trying!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Inner guilt: The sorry old sap is Hectored by the ghost of his dead Trojan horse when he comes Homer drunk on Grapes of Wrath!.Www@QuestionHome@Com I do not believe that this gentleman is a "sorry old sap" - he is living his dream of the Wooden Horse - I heard - many men rode in this monument to the gods!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Sorry, what!? *continues texting*Www@QuestionHome@Com The horse is listening!.Www@QuestionHome@Com You know all dinosaurs end up as stew digested and forgotten!. Can't beat a dead horse!.!.!.but wouldn't hurt none!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Ya never know!. Maybe Dr!. Oldman reached one!. Time will tell!.Www@QuestionHome@Com If someone is trying to convince people to do or feel something without any hope of succeeding, they're beating a dead horse!. This is used when someone is trying to raise interest in an issue that no-one supports anymore; beating a dead horse will not make it do any more work!. flog (or beat) a dead horse!. Though he supported the measure, British politician and orator John Bright thought the Reform Bill of 1867, which called for more democratic representation, would never be passed by Parliament!. Trying to rouse Parliament from its apathy on the issue, he said in a speech, would be like trying to 'flog a dead horse' to make it pull a load!. This is the first recorded use of the expression, which is still common for 'trying to revive interest in an apparently hopeless issue!.' Bright's silver tongue is also responsible for 'England is the mother of Parliament,' and 'Force is not a remedy,' among other memorable quotations!. He was wrong about the Reform Bill of 1867, however!. Parliament 'carried' it, as the British say!." From the "Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997!.) UsingEnglish!.com defines "beating a dead horse" the same way, with an actual dead horse!. However, I have also heard it came from sailors: A dead horse was the seaman's term for the first month at sea, a month for which he was already paid and spent the money soon afterwards!. To the seaman, with his money gone, he was working that first month "for free!." To mark the end of this "dead horse" month, the crew would make an effigy of a dead horse, beat the thing, and dump it overboard in celebration!. To officers on the ship, beating a dead horse described the difficulty in getting the crew to do any extra work during this first month at sea!.Www@QuestionHome@Com |