Define "something and nothing"

[Amie]

All the rage in BDSM circles. Dom "baits" sub to misbehave, after which the "switch" is produced. Often results in addling of brain, as evidenced by writing and / or reading any of the "Fifty Shades" series.

PUTTING THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE

[Jo Bannister]

A term from golfing.  A "cart" is an easy putt - unless someone kicks it out of the way, it's going in.  A "horse" is much more temperamental - when audible obscenities are heard on the green, mostly a "horse" is to blame.  In golf as in life.

MOTHER KNOWS BEST

[Mark H]

One of the reasons given in support of arranged marriage.

NEVER TRUST A MAN WHO WEARS Y-FRONTS.

[Amie]

A corruption of the common Roman phrase from the 4th century, "Never trust a man with why-fronts". This was an admonition not to trust people who ask too many questions (ie, people who front every utterance with "why"?). This suspicion lead directly to the collapse of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the period known as the Dark Ages.

TO BE OR NOT TO BE

[Mark H]

So what happened, right, was like Shakespeare was due to fly to Copenhagen for some elocution lessons, but when he got on the plane he found his seat (2B) was occupied by a skeleton with a sign round its neck reading: I'm the jester, call me Ricky. Billy got confused and spent the entire trip in the toilet, off his face on dry roasted peanuts, writing a story about ghosts and shit.

AY, THERE'S THE RUB.

[Spell Chick]

The sign over a massage facility, sometimes called a parlor.



IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT

[Amie]

Another corrupted spelling, the original being: "it was a dark and stormy knight". This was the beginning of a play discussing the infiltration of goths and emos into the medieval military.

STRONG AS AN OX

[Mark H]

The latest fragrance form Calvin Swine.

A LEOPARD CAN'T CHANGE HIS SOCKS.

[Spell Chick]

A poetic reference to the idea that fog comes in on little cat feet because ... well, you know how poets are.



ELEMENTARY MY DEAR WATSON

[Jo Bannister]

Reply to the question, "Did you ever actually go to school, Sherlock?"

HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL

[Amie]

Faith frees electronic aviary for terns. It's a niche phrase, but very useful when you need it.

COME HELL OR HIGH WATER

[Mark H]

The motto of UK Environment Agency.

FOOLS RUSH IN.

[Jo Bannister]

The essence of the US overseas policy: "It don't matter what in hell we do, as long as it fools Rushins." 

TALK'S CHEAP

[Mark H]

An independent commission spent 5 years and 10 millions pounds investigating why UK TV and radio (radios 3 and 4 notwithstanding) had been dumbed down to the point that a night in watching BBC 1 was less pleasurable than a nasty rash, and produced a 1 page report stating this.

WAR - HUH! - WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?

[Amie]

A challenge to get people to put on their creative thinking caps. If you can think of a good use for war, you can come up with a good use for anything!

THINKING CAP