Re: Common World Idioms

--- Steve Cooney <stevencooney@...> wrote:

> This is an extremely good one, mostly because
> its puzzling about what it actually means in
> *English to
> begin with, let alone its connection to
> another.
> I have no idea why "gall" is a colloquialism at
> all -
> perhaps it's partly onomonopaeic, (what grunty
> words arent).
It is (onomotopoetic), but for an entirely
different reason. Gall, is a thick, alkaline,
extremely bitter fluid, secreted (oddly enough)
by your gall bladder. I suspect that when one
says "oo, the gall!" means "how bitter and
unpalatable are his actions!" Especially
understood if you've ever spit up some gall! (I
don't know if that's the real reason or not! ;)

Padraic.


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