What the heck is a doornail and why does it mean something to be "deader" than one?

Answer 1

A long time ago, especially on farms, doors were made by nailing planks together. Over years of continual slamming and banging shut, the door nails would eventually loosen and fall out. When they hit the ground, instead of "ringing" like a new nail would, they would simply make a "tink" sound, i.e. they were dead. In the same sense in which a door nail is dead, it has no ring, it has no "life", similarly a person who is dead as a doornail, or deader than a doornail is really really dead, unrevivably dead.

Answer 2

Deader Than A Doornail

Answer 3

Doors are not (generally) thick. Standard nails, especially years ago when many sizes were not readily available, would go all the way through.

To keep the nail from being a safety hazard, the protruding pointy end would be bent over and flattened out. A "dead" nail is one that can't be used again - and all the nails on a door (then) were "dead."

The saying is of course strengthened by the fact that nails are inanimate. Therefore if someone is 'deader than a doornail,' he's not going to be useful again, and is, in fact, now an inanimate creature, permanently!

Answer 4

Doornail

Answer 5

Three possibilities:

The classic “Door nail” was a large headed nail placed directly under a door’s knocker. The doornail is the thing you strike when you hammer up and down on a door’s knocker.

Possibility One:
The doornail is “dead” because it’s had its head hammered on so many times. Mildly amusing today – but meaningful in medieval times – we know that the pope and various royalty were actually hammered on their heads with silver hammers upon their death to make sure they were actually dead, not just unconscious.

Possibility Two:
The Doornail (getting so much abuse) often worked its way loose. To prevent this, the pointy end, on the other side of the door, was hammered down flat (called clinching – i.e. you have heard of “clinching a deal”, etc). This nail couldn’t be removed or re-used; it was therefore “dead”.

Possibility Three:
The last physical doorway you go through is your coffin. Your coffin “Door” (lid) is hammered tight with nails. [Note that coffins lids are usually hinged on one side, just like doors!] So these coffin nails could also be called “door nails” and anybody on the other side of them was very dead indeed.

Answer 6

I'm a guy, and individually, I don't like long nails. I know a lot of like long, painted nails cause they're "so pretty", but I don't like them.

Answer 7

A little bit of nail is fine... but I agree together with you. Long nails are kinda low.

Answer 8

Dead as a doornail means that it's DEAD. Stick a fork in it --- it's done.

Answer 9

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-dea1.htm

this site will explain everything...i hope this helps :)