Very nice! Amazing how ingrained they’ve become. “That new recruit is a car without brakes” just doesn’t ring the same does it?

I would like to subscribe to your history newsletter.

Great examples! ‘champing at the bit’ also comes to mind. I think cars fill in pretty nicely as a horse substitute. ‘Saddle up’ has ‘buckle up’. Hold your horses has ‘Hit your brakes’. As for gift horses… ‘Don’t look a gift car under the hood?’ Hmm doesn’t quite work

No real reason, just something to talk about while we all wait around to die really 🤷. I agree with your sentiment - the stories and imagery behind old idioms actually make them more interesting, I dont think they’ll be going anywhere soon!

If wishes were horses, birthday cakes and stargazing would be a lot more dangerous.

It’s a touch stilted but it gets the idea across! May I ask your first language? Any old idioms there that no longer make literal sense in the modern world?

Wow, great examples! I never realised that first one had a historical meaning. I suppose even without the context it still makes sense because of the adjective ‘bitter’.

I wonder if any common sayings nowadays will catch on and become long lived idioms in the future?

Don’t remember where I heard it, but I thought the origin was related to actors and performers. It was a superstitious thing that if you wished someone good luck on stage you would jinx it so instead they did the opposite and wished for the worst. I could be very wrong!

Mouselemming thank goodness you’re still here. I scrolled up and you disappeared for a second, I was so worried!

Good one! I would offer ‘Draining the house battery’ as a replacement but it doesn’t really have a ring to. Maybe ‘You’ve been living in low blue light mode’. No that’s even worse! somebody help me here 😅.

Touché!

Until I looked it up I thought it was about the literal colour of the pot and the kettle. I even thought there might be racist undertones 😅. What’s a good replacement for ‘Pennywise and Pound foolish’? Maybe ‘Steam saler, LootBox whaler’

That sounds like a great candidate for a modern replacement if I’ve ever heard one! What’s something that you can only get at night these days? Seems like everything, especially information, is 24 hours now. Maybe someone more creative than me could chime in?

As a software dev I’ll offer ‘Kill two bugs with one patch’ as a replacement.

Great example! That one is so ingrained that I never even realised it didn’t make literal sense! Maybe a modern replacement could be something like ‘You’re hiding a camera’

Came looking for Fallout! I don’t know about you but before Fallout3 I kind of had the impression that catchy music began with rock and roll in the 50s. Fallout’s 1940s music was quite an education and a great jumping off point to find more pre-rock and proto-rock music. These days my oldies playlist is one of my favourites. For anyone curious check out the Ink spots, Mills Brothers, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Fats Waller and The Platters; Not to mention all of the great big band and jazz music from that era!