The meaning of "I'd give my eyeteeth.."

[Emproph]

Everything you ever wanted to know about eyeteeth but were afraid to ask.

(in one short article)

http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20010412

[u-dog]

When my mother would get tongue tied she used to say that her "tongue got wrapped around her eyeteeth and she couldn't see what she was saying"


Another interesting figure of speech is "the whole nine yards" Nine cubic yards of concrete is what would fit in an old concrete mixer truck. If you were building something and needed all of it, you ordered "the whole nine yards."

[Emproph]

When my mother would get tongue tied she used to say that her "tongue got wrapped around her eyeteeth and she couldn't see what she was saying"

That's classic,not that I would actually know or anything, but I trust you on that.

Another interesting figure of speech is "the whole nine yards" Nine cubic yards of concrete is what would fit in an old concrete mixer truck. If you were building something and needed all of it, you ordered "the whole nine yards."

I heard it was the nine yards of bullet belts that used to go into machine guns. And that was definitely in regard to the movie "The Whole Nine Yards," so, ya know.. :shifty:

[u-dog]

sounds like some research is needed. but I heard that on NPR so it couldn't posssibly be wrong.

[BrentRichards]

sounds like some research is needed. but I heard that on NPR so it couldn't posssibly be wrong.

The machine gun story is the one I'm familiar with, too, but here's an interesting link: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_252.html

This highly respectable source (it is "the straight dope" after all ... the origins of which expression are not currently up for debate) has quite a few possible theories, most of which (including the ammo one and the concrete one) the scholarly author is skeptical about.

[BrentRichards]

Be sure to see http://www.word-detective.com/ Much fun.

[u-dog]

The machine gun story is the one I'm familiar with, too, but here's an interesting link: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_252.html

This highly respectable source (it is "the straight dope" after all ... the origins of which expression are not currently up for debate) has quite a few possible theories, most of which (including the ammo one and the concrete one) the scholarly author is skeptical about.

The concrete theory is backed by no less a light than WILLIAM SAFIRE! I rest my case.