Here’s an idiom or saying that is on the verge of incomprehensibility:
dumb as a post
For people who do not know that dumb means not speaking, the phrase is peculiar. For them, dumb means only stupid and has nothing to do with speaking.
So after a time, when dumb (also seen in dumbbell, dumbwaiter) no longer “means” non-speaking, it will have to be explained that no one is talking about the IQ of posts in the ground but that dumb once meant not talking.
Then, of course, we’ll have to explain post no doubt, b/c everyone will think we are talking about an e-mail message to a blog or listserv.
Pat’s Polemics
On-going brilliance
