OT: More grammar stuff - irreversible binomials

[DennieEddy]

Pride & Joy
Balls & Strikes
Hit & Run

Seriously, all baseball fans: isn't the hit & run play ACTUALLY run & hit. The baserunner takes off first to draw an infielder out of position to create a gap for the batter to hit through!

 

[DennieEddy]

Law & Order
Prim & Proper
Fire & Brimstone
Cockles & Mussels
Literally I never thought binomial meant anything outside of algebra . . .

Cackles & who??

 

[Sifaka]

I actually remember it as vim and vigor or sometimes vip and vigor.

Definition of VIM AND VIGOR

energy and enthusiasm… See the full definition

www.merriam-webster.com

No doubt it was a well known collocation as you remember it. Given the popularity of Dr. Seuss's Horton Hears a Who, which reversed the order, we now have two well known collocations. As they are directionally opposites, I wonder if the term “irreversible” can be applied to either?

 

[jcoton56]

Tit for tat, but I really don’t know what tat is.

 

[Sifaka]

Tit for tat, but I really don’t know what tat is.

In the context of this phrase, the meanings are not what you may have expedted.

“What's the origin of the phrase 'Tit for tat'?
It’s tempting to assume that this little phrase is another way of saying ‘this for that’ and, in a way, it is. ‘Tit’ and ‘tat’ are both the names of small blows which originated as ‘tip’ and ‘tap’. These are recorded by Charles, Duke of Orleans in a book of poems that he wrote while captive in England after the battle of Agincourt and first published circa 1466:

“Strokis grete, not tippe nor tapp.” “

source: Tit For Tat - Meaning & Origin Of The Phrase

 

[DaddyChoc]

Bells & Whistles

 

[Sifaka]

Belts and braces.

 

[WiseWillie]

I must admit I am an absolute beginner in some respects and while fully aware I deeply regret to never reach a clear understanding of what the Boneyard considers common knowledge even when the dogs bark. It's the ying and yang of it that takes getting used to but between you and me it can be either/or strength and endurance but I will neither confirm nor deny the results.

 

[Kolumbo]

Stockton to Malone
1st & 10
dollars to donuts
hide nor hair

I'm gonna put a huge pet peave of mine here. "You can send it to Joe or I." So many people use "I" as a direct object and it makes me cringe. Tonight we were at a high school open-house and one session was led by two English teachers. These are ladies who have extensive education and read many many books. How an English can wrap up the session by saying "The best way to reach us is to send an e-mail to Lori or I" is just so incomprehensible to I.

 

[jcoton56]

Hammer & Tongs

 

[Kolumbo]

horseshoes & hand grenades

 

[fomalhaut]

Catch and release

Some of these couldn't possibly be the other way: how can you release something before you catch it?

 

[fomalhaut]

I must admit I am an absolute beginner in some respects and while fully aware I deeply regret to never reach a clear understanding of what the Boneyard considers common knowledge even when the dogs bark. It's the ying and yang of it that takes getting used to but between you and me it can be either/or strength and endurance but I will neither confirm nor deny the results.

as long as we're being pedantic, it''s yin and yang.

 

[Blond D.]

John, Paul, George and Ringo....the FAB FOUR

There ya go...two for the price of one.
...did I just make two more?

 

[sno-cat]

Finders Keepers - Losers Weepers!

 

[veivoli]

Finders Keepers - Losers Weepers!

Now, now... That's a quadratic! Or is it two binomials? 🤓

As I said earlier, I prefer calling them binaries (like binary stars) rather than binomials, that has a fairly narrow definition in maths.

 

[Jackcatscal]

Addison & Steele, eighteenth century English writers who published The Spectator, a periodical of essays that was the ancestor of modern-day newspapers. The Spectator (1711) - Wikipedia.

 

[Jackcatscal]

Ellington and Strayhorn
Evers Tinker Chance
Geno and Chris

I've always heard it as "Tinker to Evers to Chance." See Baseball's Sad Lexicon - Wikipedia.

And it makes more sense from a baseball prospective. You're talking about double plays, so shortstop to second baseman to first baseman should be the proper order.

 

[Jackcatscal]

Shakespeare has to count for something in discussing binomials. One great example: "Sound and Fury" from Macbeth.

And, if you haven't had enough, here are two painfully academic analyses of binomials in literature:

• BINOMIALS IN AN HISTORICAL ENGLISH LITERARY PERSPECTIVE: SHAKESPEARE, CHAUCER, BEOWULF
• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309733937_Binomials_in_an_historical_English_Perspective