LIKE A BUMP ON A LOG and SET YOUR TEETH ON EDGE:

FROM SAMPATH’S DESK:

 LIKE A BUMP ON A LOG and SET YOUR TEETH ON EDGE:

 

LIKE A BUMP ON A LOG:

 

Meaning:

 

Inactive - not responding - unmoving - idling – inert – stupidly silent without doing anything -  சும்மாவே இருத்தல்

 

Origin of the idiom:

 

Mark Twain, the author of ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’ and ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’, among other great books, used this simile (a comparison often using ‘like’ or ‘as’) in 1863. A BUMP ON A LOG is an immovable lump of wood. In this idiom, it represents a fixed, motionless person.

 

The exact words used by Mark Twain in 1863 were – “You have been sitting there for thirty days LIKE A BUMP ON A LOG.”

 

The idiom was also used by popular writers like Kate Douglas Wiggin in his ‘The Birds’ Christmas Carol’ (1899).

 

 

Example sentences:

 

 

Don’t just sit there LIKE A BUMP ON A LOG; help me lift this bag.

 

Mr. X just sat there LIKE A BUMP ON A LOG while everyone else joined in the fun.

 

See, how he is sitting around LIKE A BUMP ON A LOG without doing anything while everybody else is working.

 

I don't know whether the student understood what I was saying. He just sat there LIKE A BUMP ON A LOG.

While I was helping my father in re-arranging the furniture, my younger brother just stood there LIKE A BUMP ON A LOG.

I remember Geetha’s first presentation. She was so nervous that for the first 15 seconds, she just stood there LIKE A BUMP ON A LOG.

 

 

SET YOUR TEETH ON EDGE:

 

Meaning:

 

Annoying one very much - discomfort to someone - getting irked or irritated – ‘something such as a sound sets your teeth on edge’ means you feel it is very unpleasant, nasty, hostile, or unlikable – to cause someone to be upset, nervous, uncomfortable or vexed -

(கடுப்பாகுதல் –-கடுப்பாக்குதல்)

 

 

Example sentences:

 

 

The kids screaming in the next room really SET MY TEETH ON EDGE.

 

The jarring sounds from the nearby auditorium SET MY FAMILY MEMBERS’ TEETH ON EDGE.

 

That whining voice of his always SETS MY TEETH ON EDGE.

 

Her overbearing manners usually SET MY TEETH ON EDGE. 

The very thought of doing that SETS HIM TEETH ON EDGE.

 

His nasty loud laughter SET HER TEETH ON EDGE.

 

 

Proverbs:

 

 

தண்ணீரும் கோபமும் தாழ்ந்த இடத்திலே.

Water and anger seek low-persons or places.

 

வெறும் புளி தின்றால் பல் கூசும்.

Tamarinds, if eaten alone, will set the teeth on edge.

தூக்கு உண்டானால் நோக்கு உண்டு.

Gravity inspires respect.

(R.SAMPATH)

28/3/2022