Timeline for What is "a fresh spin on laundry day"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
10 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jan 25, 2018 at 21:15 | comment | added | Jay | @jr Yes. It is well and good to invent a new metaphor. But it is a very bad idea to take an existing, well-known idiom and try to use it in a totally different way. Even if the metaphor might be very apt if the established meaning didn't exist. It's just likely to confuse the reader. | |
| Jan 25, 2018 at 17:54 | comment | added | J.R.♦ | @Lambie - RE: "It is not that words dirty laundry mean an unwanted chore." Except that's exactly what this answer says: "Dirty laundry" .. could also mean something you don't wish to do. If someone wants to use a metaphorical household chore to refer to helping with homework, then I'd advise picking a different chore, as dirty laundry has another meaning and connotation, and learners deserve to know that meaning. As for what I said about a metaphor, I was trying to give Neil the benefit of the doubt. | |
| Jan 25, 2018 at 17:14 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| Jan 26, 2018 at 2:40 | |||||
| Jan 25, 2018 at 17:11 | comment | added | Lambie | @EllieK never mind. I think his explanation was excellent. "I don't want to help you with your dirty laundry" could be something you don't want to do, whatever it is. Hide it, do it, deal with it, etc. Literal or not. | |
| Jan 25, 2018 at 16:33 | comment | added | EllieK | @Lambie Laundry is often an unwanted chore, unfortunately, no one said anything about doing laundry. Neil gave a nod toward the literal usage, everything beyond the literal is metaphor. | |
| Jan 25, 2018 at 16:33 | comment | added | Axeman | @Lambie, but the example illustrates doing something that you don't want to do; I imagine the helping with homework is not a secret that needs to hidden from the world. | |
| Jan 25, 2018 at 16:09 | comment | added | Lambie | @J. R. Doing laundry is an unwanted chore for many people. It is not that words dirty laundry mean an unwanted chore. You misunderstood what Neil said. He never said it was a metaphor, it is a real thing and a pain in the patoutie [my coinage]. | |
| Jan 25, 2018 at 15:21 | comment | added | J.R.♦ | I agree with what @EllieK said. I just checked several dictionaries, and couldn't find a single entry using the idiom to mean "an unwanted chore." However, I did find: personal matters that could be embarrassing if made public; private, personal matters, especially that which may be embarrassing; unflattering facts or questionable activities that one wants to remain secret. (I suppose it could be used figuratively, but that's not how it's typically used.) | |
| Jan 25, 2018 at 14:33 | comment | added | EllieK | Good answer but I don't think 'dirty laundry' is metaphor for something you don't want to do but instead something you want to keep hidden. | |
| Jan 25, 2018 at 12:53 | history | answered | Neil | CC BY-SA 3.0 |