I really love the English language. I know it’s kind of an amalgam of lots of languages, and some of the rules and pronunciations don’t make sense. Still, I love it. I love finding just the right word or phrase. I love the sound of it and the rhythm. I love the way people who aren’t native speakers sound when they speak it. I just love language.

What I don’t love are some of those quaint old phrases people use. I guess they’re called idioms. I don’t love some of those.

These are my three least favorite.
3) “Beating a dead horse.”
I understand what it means, don’t belabor a point or don’t go on about something that is already resolved, but it just sounds so horrible. And I’m sure it comes from the days when people used horses a lot more, got frustrated with them, and beat them to death. Why are we keeping idioms about animal cruelty around?
2) “Kill two birds with one stone.”
Again, I understand what it means—to solve two problems at once, but can’t we say it in a nicer way? I’m sure killing two birds with one stone is very difficult and impressive, but why are we killing birds?
1) “There’s more than one way to skin a cat.”
What? Why would anyone skin a cat? Now, maybe I just like cats more than your average person (I have two), but this seems really cruel. I researched the idiom a bit, and some people say cat is short for catfish in this idiom. Still, what’s with all the killing of animals?

So what about you? Any idioms you think are kind of weird or that you really like?