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.