2007-10-29 08:46:35 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
Deader than a bribe-refusing cop during Prohibition in Chicago ;)
2007-10-29 09:18:59 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
door nail. Is the original completion of the phrase. Since ordinary nails aren't used in making doors, perhaps the 'nail' in this phrase, which can be traced all the way back to 1350, was a small metal plate nailed on a door that visitors pounded with the knockers attached to it when announcing their arrival. Life would eventually be pounded out of the 'nail' in that way. Then again the 'nail' could be the heavy-handed decorative nails outer doors were studded with, though why these doornails would be regarded as any 'deader' than say, coffin nails is a mystery. It has even been suggested that since nails were ordinarily used for doors, the phrase means 'dead as something that never existed.' Anyway, people are still getting good mileage out of the expression, as did Langland in 'Piers Plowman,' Shakespeare more than once, and Dickens in 'A Christmas Carol. "Dumb as a doornail' and 'deaf as a doornail' are variations on the phrase that appeared after its coining." From the "Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson (Fact on File, New York, 1997)
2007-10-29 08:53:02 · answer #2 · answered by jurydoc 7 · 2⤊ 2⤋
A deed Do-do, the extinct bird, not pap-poo.
2007-10-29 09:05:07 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
grey matter of a 20th Century Fox employee...
2007-10-29 10:23:51 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Doornail. Actually I think it's "Dead AS a doornail..." or at least that's what I've heard.
2007-10-29 08:52:39 · answer #5 · answered by Amanda 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Who?
2007-10-29 08:49:47 · answer #6 · answered by smellyfoot ™ 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
the joy of receiving a fruitcake.
2007-10-29 10:55:50 · answer #7 · answered by tyler durden Oƒƒicial 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
door nail
2007-10-29 08:54:04 · answer #8 · answered by ♥ Teri ♥ 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
door nail
2007-10-29 08:53:53 · answer #9 · answered by operaphantom2003 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Old man beneath an 18yr old whore.
2007-10-29 08:52:30 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋