Common Phrases You Can't Visualize

[EdLincoln]

There are lots of common phrases that have become so common in literature I don't even notice I can't quite picture what real world action they are supposed to refer to. For instance, "He scoffed". What does it look like when someone scoffs? What does a scoff sound like? I turned on closed captioning on my TV because the train outside was loud, and a couple times the captions said "scoff". The scoff was not at all what I pictured.

Similarly, I am not clear what a "sh*t Eating Grin" or a "sneer" actually look like. I don't think anyone has ever sneered at me. Not sure what "sitting on your heels" is. Bashful expressions aren't terribly distinctive to me...I probably wouldn't notice it if someone looked bashful or shy.

Can you think of common phrases in fiction that describe actions you can't quite visualize?

 

[KiraAnn]

No, not really. I haven’t an issue with those phrases.

To me, scoffing is expressing disbelief in a sarcastic manner.

For a sneer, just watch any Billy Idol video like “White Wedding”.

“Sitting on your heels” has two meanings for me. First is the common American expression meaning to procrastinate. Second is literally keeping your feet flat on the floor or ground and setting your butt on your heels. My grandfather could sit like that for hours up in his 70’s.

For “sh*t eating grin”, think of the grin of a practical joker.

 

[Danny McG]

For “sh*t eating grin”, think of the grin of a practical joker.

I was thinking more of '2 girls, 1 cup'

 

[tinkerdan]

I used to have smirk all wrong.
Now::
I got smirk down good.
Yeah.

I told that snake-oil salesman he could get off my porch and leave.
Instead of following instructions he took a sip from his water bottle and smirked at me.
I swear he almost didn't get off the porch alive.

Yeah.
I got smirk.

 

[KiraAnn]

I was thinking more of '2 girls, 1 cup'

And now I can’t unsee that!!

 

[Mirannan]

I was thinking more of '2 girls, 1 cup'

You had to do that? I need more brain bleach now.

 

[Guttersnipe]

As for me, with "sh*t-eating grin," I just imagine someone high on marijuana trying to pull off a more "sober" grin, or a dog grinning at its owner after eating out of the garbage.

 

[Ray Zdybrow]

What about "lolled"? Laid about floppily and unenergetically, while laughing out loud?

 

[Wayne Mack]

"I'm at the end of my rope." Why would someone be on a rope in the first place?

 

[Venusian Broon]

Why would someone be on a rope in the first place?

I'm sure there have been a number of people in the past, who have been very naughty, who have possibly thought this thought just before the trapdoor dropped.

 

[The Judge]

"I'm at the end of my rope."

If that means the same as "at the end of my tether" then it's most likely connected to animals who are tethered, allowing them to graze only in a specific area. If the tether isn't moved regularly, then they soon will have grazed everything they can reach, and though they can see more grass they can't get to it, so they've used up their resources and while they know there is something better around them, it's unattainable. So from there I imagine it was first used as an analogy to being exhausted and unable to stretch oneself further, and from then it would easily have morphed to include also being angry at being tied in a situation one cannot change.

So the visuals are a rope around your neck, tying you to something that doesn't allow you to move far.