And let's not forget one of Stephen Sondheim's best lines, from West Side Story:
"I like the island Manhattan.
Smoke on your pipe and put that in!"
“Put that in your pipe and smoke it”
41–47 of 47 posts
Re: “Put that in your pipe and smoke it”
#42My mom had a list of these. She used it as, "well ponder that, but it's not going to change.' She also said: "go sew buttons on your underwear" - what your doing is just about as useless "and, if horses were wishes, beggars would ride" - stop wishing and just do it
So, did you ever stop wishing and make the usefully-buttoned underwear of your dreams? :-)
ha! No, but I do remember thinking as a child, "That would be super uncomfortable and maybe even hurt!"
Re: “Put that in your pipe and smoke it”
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m from Ireland and always thought it meant “tough luck, deal with it”
'deal' itself seems to have a different meaning depending on the country In the USA it seems to mean 'cope' or put up with. In Australia / UK it means do something about it.
"I told you to take care of him, not to take care of him!"
Re: “Put that in your pipe and smoke it”
#44My mom had a list of these. She used it as, "well ponder that, but it's not going to change.' She also said: "go sew buttons on your underwear" - what your doing is just about as useless "and, if horses were wishes, beggars would ride" - stop wishing and just do it
> if horses were wishes, beggars would ride" - stop wishing and just do it I know the saying, but I just see it as expressing "wishing won't make something happen". No implication that you should, or even could, actually do anything to realize your wish.
Since this is bothering me when I view my comments, I'll note that the saying actually goes "if wishes were horses...".
Re: “Put that in your pipe and smoke it”
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's even weirder than that. With an unspecified subject "deal with it", it does mean "put up with" or abide. However, if your boss told you that "We haven't been paid yet; deal with it!", odds are good that you're expected to be on the phone or otherwise chasing down the tardy clients.
What's weird about it? This is true of essentially all words.
Could you share some other examples?
The only thing that came to mind is "bite/eat it" (i.e., fall), and there "it" is presumably the dirt/snow/pavement/etc that the person fell onto. The "it" in "hit it" and "cool it" seems to refer to the on-going action/attitude too, even if it's not precisely specified.
Re: “Put that in your pipe and smoke it”
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's weird about it? This is true of essentially all words.
Could you share some other examples? The only thing that came to mind is "bite/eat it" (i.e., fall), and there "it" is presumably the dirt/snow/pavement/etc that the person fell onto. The "it" in "hit it" and "cool it" seems to refer to the on-going action/attitude too, even if it's not precisely specified.
What are you thinking of? Your original comment just illustrates that "deal" has multiple senses. This followup suggests you think there's something special about the "it", which I agree with in the case of "bite it", but not in the case of "deal with it".
If you're curious about dummy objects, there is a short list of examples on wikipedia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dummy_pronoun#Dummy_objects ), such as make it [achieve success].
Re: “Put that in your pipe and smoke it”
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
Could you share some other examples? The only thing that came to mind is "bite/eat it" (i.e., fall), and there "it" is presumably the dirt/snow/pavement/etc that the person fell onto. The "it" in "hit it" and "cool it" seems to refer to the on-going action/attitude too, even if it's not precisely specified.
What are you thinking of? Your original comment just illustrates that "deal" has multiple senses. This followup suggests you think there's something special about the "it", which I agree with in the case of "bite it", but not in the case of "deal with it". If you're curious about dummy objects, there is a short list of examples on wikipedia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dummy_pronoun#Dummy_objects ), such as make i…
Deal is the only verb I can think of where an expletive object flips the meaning 180 degrees vs. a concrete one.
Taking more examples from your link:
- "I don't get it" == "I don't understand [something]", in the same way that "I don't get math" == "I don't understand math."
- "He made it" == "He succeeded [generally]", but you can drop in several concrete goals: "He made the team/grade/partner" == "He was successful at ..."
- "Deal with the problem" == "Take some action to solve the problem", but "Deal with it" == "Abide the current situation because it will not change".