Re: Idiom construction

Sometimes it's appeals to divine agents - eg, the (execrable) Victorian
expletive "Zounds!" is a former religious oath "[By] God's Wounds!"

Sometimes it's a story people know and use as an example.

Sometimes it's a phrase referring to an absurdity, eg, "He's as useless as
tits on a bull!"  or a commonly-understandable situation, eg, "He's ropable
[like an outraged bull], so I'd stay clear if I was you."

Wesley Parish

On Friday 28 March 2008 17:23, Eric Christopherson wrote:
> What strategies do people use for creating idioms, sayings, clichés,
> etc. in their conlangs? I am struck by how idiosyncratic, unexpected,
> and sometimes even seemingly nonsensical they are in natlangs.
--
Clinersterton beademung, with all of love - RIP James Blish
-----
Gaul is quartered into three halves.  Things which are
impossible are equal to each other.  Guerrilla
warfare means up to their monkey tricks.
Extracts from "Schoolboy Howlers" - the collective wisdom
of the foolish.
-----
Mau e ki, he aha te mea nui?
You ask, what is the most important thing?
Maku e ki, he tangata, he tangata, he tangata.
I reply, it is people, it is people, it is people.