An Autistic Guide to Meaningless Phrases

Have you ever been talking to someone when they suddenly say something that makes absolutely no sense at all? One minute you are discussing a school project or a job task, and the next minute they are telling you to catch a flying axe head, pull up your socks, or look for an elephant hiding in the middle of the room. If you think very literally, these moments can be incredibly confusing. You might find yourself looking around the room for a real grey elephant or wondering why on earth you need to adjust your footwear when you are just trying to do your work.

The truth is that everyday conversations, especially at work or in school, are completely packed with these strange sayings. People use them so often that they do not even realise they are doing it. They call them idioms, metaphors, or colloquialisms, but to a literal thinker, they can feel like completely meaningless phrases. It can feel like everyone else was handed a secret codebook for language, and you were left out. This can make communication feel exhausting, because you have to spend extra time translating what someone said into what they actually meant.

Understanding what people really mean

This guide will help you decode some of the most common confusing phrases you will hear in everyday life, at school, or out in the community. We have gathered a list of 70 popular sayings, sorted them neatly from A to Z, and explained exactly what people mean when they use them. We have also included a little bit of history for each one, because knowing where these strange phrases came from can help make sense of why people still use them today.

It is very important to remember that this is not a complete list of every single odd phrase you will ever hear. People are inventing new sayings all the time, and different towns or workplaces have their own unique ways of talking. Think of this guide as a helpful starter pack for your communication toolkit. It will help you get used to how non-literal language works so you can feel more confident when navigating the confusing world of everyday conversation. So let's get started!

1. All hands on deck

   A command for every single person in a group to stop what they are doing and help out immediately because there is a big problem to solve. It comes from old pirate and navy ship days when a captain would order the entire crew up to the top deck to fight a storm or a battle.

2. An open book

   A person who is very honest and easy to understand because they do not hide their secrets, feelings, or thoughts from anyone. It compares a person's life to a storybook that is left wide open so anyone can read the pages.

3. At the eleventh hour

   When something is done or happens at the very last possible minute right before a deadline. It comes from a story in the Bible about workers who were given a job at the eleventh hour of a twelve-hour workday.

4. Back to the drawing board

   A phrase used when a plan or idea completely fails and you have to start thinking of a brand new idea from the very beginning. It comes from the engineering and airplane industries long ago, where designers sketched out their ideas on huge tables called drawing boards.

5. Ballpark figure

   A smart guess or an approximate number when you do not know the exact number yet. It comes from the American sport of baseball, where a ball hit anywhere inside the stadium or "ballpark" is still considered in the game.

6. Barking up the wrong tree

   Following a completely mistaken idea or blaming the wrong person for a problem. It comes from hunting dogs in America that would stand at the bottom of a tree and bark, even though the animal they were chasing had already jumped into a different tree.

7. Beat around the bush

   When someone avoids talking about the main topic because they are nervous or embarrassed, so they talk about unimportant things instead. It comes from an old hunting game where people would hit the bushes around a forest to scare out birds without going directly into the dangerous woods.

8. Bite off more than you can chew

   Trying to do a task or a job that is far too big, difficult, or overwhelming for you to finish. It started as a warning to people long ago who would stuff a giant piece of chewing tobacco into their mouth all at once.

9. Bite the bullet

   Forcing yourself to do something difficult, scary, or unpleasant and just getting it over with. This started a long time ago in the army, when wounded soldiers had to literally bite down on a soft lead bullet to help them stand the pain during medical treatment.

10. Blessing in disguise

    Something that seems like a really bad or unlucky event at first, but ends up leading to a wonderful result later on. The phrase was first written down in a church songbook from the 1700s.

11. Break a leg

    A special way to wish an actor or a musician good luck right before they perform on stage. It started in the theatre world because actors believed that saying "good luck" out loud would actually bring bad luck, so they said something bad instead.

12. Burn the midnight oil

    To stay up very late into the night working on homework, a project, or a job. It refers to a time long ago before electricity, when people had to light a lamp filled with oil to read or write after dark.

13. Burn your bridges

    Doing something that destroys a relationship or a pathway so completely that you can never go back to how things were before. It comes from army history, where soldiers would set fire to a bridge they just crossed so the enemy could not follow them and they could not run away.

14. Caught between a rock and a hard place

    Being stuck in a tricky situation where you have to choose between two choices, and both choices are equally bad. It comes from an ancient Greek story about a sailor named Odysseus who had to steer his ship between two dangerous sea monsters.

15. Climb the corporate ladder

    The process of working hard at a company to get promoted to higher and more important jobs over time. It compares a big company to a playground ladder, where you have to step up one rung at a time to reach the top.

16. Cold shoulder

    To deliberately ignore someone, act mean, or pretend they are not there because you are upset with them. It comes from an old custom where a host would give an unwelcome guest a cold piece of meat from a sheep's shoulder to show it was time for them to leave.

17. Costs an arm and a leg

    A way to describe something that is extremely expensive and costs a huge amount of money. This might come from a time when famous people paid artists a lot of extra money to include their arms and legs in a painted portrait.

18. Cry over spilled milk

    Wasting your time crying or worrying about a mistake that has already happened and cannot be fixed. It comes from an old wise saying that points out once milk is dropped on the floor, crying will not put it back in the bottle.

19. Don't count your chickens before they hatch

    A warning not to make big plans based on something good that has not actually happened yet. It comes from a very old fable about a girl carrying a bucket of milk who dreamed of selling it to buy chickens, but she dropped the bucket before getting any eggs.

20. Down in the dumps

    Feeling very sad, lonely, or unhappy about something. It comes from a very old word from the 1500s, "dumps", which meant being in a gloomy or confused mood.

21. Face the music

    To bravely accept the punishment or the bad results of a mistake you made. It probably comes from the army long ago, where soldiers who did something wrong were sent away to the loud sound of military drums playing.

22. Fly off the handle

    To suddenly get extremely angry and lose your temper over something very small. It refers to a poorly made chopping axe, where the heavy metal head would suddenly slide off the wooden handle while being swung.

23. Get your ducks in a row

    An instruction to organize your things, tasks, or ideas neatly before you start a project. It probably comes from target shooting games at old funfairs where rows of metal ducks had to line up perfectly before you could shoot at them.

24. Head in the clouds

    When someone is daydreaming, not paying attention to what is happening around them, or thinking of unrealistic things. It is a visual description of a person who is thinking so far away from the ground that their head is up in the sky.

25. Hit the ground running

    To start a brand new job or project with a huge amount of energy, speed, and success from the very first second. It comes from soldiers or skydivers who had to start running the exact moment their feet touched the dirt so they would not fall over.

26. Hit the nail on the head

    To say or do the exact right thing, or to give the perfect answer to a problem. It comes from woodworking, where a carpenter hits a nail perfectly on its flat top so it goes straight into the wood.

27. Hit the sack

    A casual, friendly way to say that you are going to bed to get some sleep. It comes from early American history when mattresses were just giant cloth sacks stuffed with itchy straw or bird feathers.

28. Hold your horses

    An instruction telling someone to slow down, wait a minute, and be patient before they do something too fast. It started in the American wild west when drivers had to pull hard on the leather straps to stop a team of horses from moving a wagon.

29. In the loop

    Being included in a group of people who share secrets, news, and information about what is happening. It refers to a closed circle or a computer loop where information travels around to everyone inside the circle.

30. In the pipeline

    Something that is currently being made, planned, or worked on and will be ready in the future. It comes from the oil industry, where fuel travels through long hidden pipes underground before arriving at a petrol station.

31. Jump on the bandwagon

    To start doing something just because it has become popular and everyone else is doing it. It started in American politics when politicians would ride on a music wagon during a town parade to get people to vote for them.

32. Keep your chin up

    An encouraging phrase telling someone to stay happy and brave even when things are going wrong. This matches the body language of a brave person who holds their head high instead of looking down at the floor.

33. Keep your eyes on the ball

    An instruction to stay totally focused on your main task and not get distracted by other things. It comes from sports like tennis, cricket, or baseball, where a player must watch the ball every second to hit it.

34. Kick the bucket

    A slang phrase used to say that a person or an animal has died. One explanation is that it comes from old farming slaughterhouses, where a wooden beam used to hang up animals by their feet was called a "bucket".

35. Lend me your ear

    A polite way to ask someone to quieten down and listen very carefully to what you are about to say. It is famously used in a play written by William Shakespeare where a character asks a crowd of citizens to listen to his speech.

36. Let the cat out of the bag

    To accidentally reveal a secret that you were supposed to keep hidden. It probably comes from an old market trick where dishonest sellers hid a cheap cat inside a sack and told buyers it was a tasty piglet, which was ruined if the cat jumped out.

37. Low-hanging fruit

    The easiest tasks or goals to finish because they take the least amount of effort. It describes a fruit tree, where the apples or pears growing closest to the grass are the easiest for a person to grab without a ladder.

38. Move the goalposts

    To unfairly change the rules or the targets of a game or a project after it has already started. It comes from sports like football, where it would be impossible to win a game if someone moved the metal goals while you were playing.

39. Off the cuff

    Saying or doing something completely from memory or by making it up on the spot without any preparation. It comes from a habit of speakers who would scribble quick notes on the white sleeve cuffs of their shirts right before speaking.

40. On the fence

    When you cannot make up your mind and are stuck between two different choices or opinions. It uses the picture of a person sitting right on top of a wooden garden fence, not leaning toward either side of the yard.

41. On the same page

    When a group of people completely agree with each other and understand the plan perfectly. It comes from a school classroom or a singing choir, where everyone has to look at the exact same page number to read together.

42. On the tip of my tongue

    When you know a word or a name perfectly well, but you cannot quite remember it at that exact second. It describes the funny feeling that a word is waiting right at the front of your mouth ready to be spoken.

43. Over the moon

    Feeling incredibly happy, excited, and delighted about some wonderful news. This phrase comes from the very old children's nursery rhyme where a cow jumps over the moon.

44. Piece of cake

    A job, task, or school test that is incredibly easy to do. It comes from a dancing game in America in the 1800s where the best dancers won a giant cake as a prize.

45. Play it by ear

    To handle a situation as it happens instead of following a strict guide or plan. It comes from musicians who can play a song on the piano or guitar just by listening to the sound instead of reading music books.

46. Pull out all the stops

    Making the absolute biggest effort possible and using every tool you have to make something succeed. It comes from playing a massive church pipe organ, where the musician pulls out all the wooden knobs called "stops" to make the music as loud as possible.

47. Pull someone's leg

    To tease someone or tell them a playful, friendly lie as a joke. It comes from old street thieves in London who used wires to physically trip people over so they could steal their money.

48. Pull your socks up

    An instruction telling you to work much harder, improve your behavior, and try your best. It comes from football and sports teams long ago who would pull up their knee socks before trying harder in a game.

49. Put it on the back burner

    To stop working on a task for a little while so you can focus on something more urgent. It comes from cooking in a kitchen, where a chef moves a pot to the back of the stove to simmer slowly while cooking on the front burners.

50. Put your foot in it

    To accidentally say something embarrassing, clumsy, or rude that hurts someone else's feelings. It comes from the messy image of walking outside and accidentally stepping right into animal poop.

51. Raining cats and dogs

    A colourful way to say that it is raining heavily outside with huge puddles. It might come from cities long ago that had terrible drains, meaning heavy storms would sadly wash dead street animals down the flooded roads.

52. Read between the lines

    To find a hidden or secret meaning in what someone says or writes, even though they did not say it out loud. It comes from secret military codes, where spies wrote hidden messages in invisible juice between lines of normal writing.

53. Rule of thumb

    A rough guide or an easy rule that helps you judge something based on experience rather than exact science. It comes from old builders and woodworkers who used the width of their thumb to quickly measure things without a ruler.

54. Skeleton in the closet

    A scary, embarrassing, or shameful secret that a family tries to keep hidden from the rest of the world. It comes from doctors in England long ago who had to hide real medical skeletons in secret cupboards because human dissection was against the law.

55. Spill the beans

    To accidentally or purposefully tell a secret to someone else. It probably comes from a voting system in ancient Greece where people voted secretly by dropping colored beans into a dark jar.

56. Spitting image

    Looking completely identical to another person, usually a parent or a relative. It comes from an older phrase, "spit and image", which meant a child looked so much like their father they could have been made from his spit.

57. Straight from the horse's mouth

    Getting a piece of news directly from the most trusted person who knows the absolute truth. It comes from horse racing, where the only way to know a horse's real age is to look inside its mouth at its teeth.

58. Take it with a grain (or pinch) of salt

    To listen to a story or a claim with doubt because it might not be entirely true or exaggerated. It comes from an ancient recipe for an antidote to poison, which required adding a single speck of salt to work.

59. Take the bull by the horns

    To face a big, scary problem directly and with lots of confidence instead of running away. It comes from the cowboy skill of grabbing a real steer by its horns to stop it from running wild.

60. The elephant in the room

    A huge, obvious problem that everyone knows about, but everyone is too uncomfortable or scared to speak about. It comes from an old story about a man who visited a museum and noticed every tiny insect but completely missed a giant elephant.

61. Think(ing) outside the box

    An instruction to think of creative, unusual, or different ideas instead of just doing things the normal way. It comes from a famous 1970s puzzle game where players had to connect nine dots by drawing lines outside the shape of a square box.

62. Through thick and thin

    Staying loyal and helping a friend through both the happy times and the really difficult times in life. It comes from an old English phrase about walking through thick, tangled woods and thin, easy fields.

63. Throw in the towel

    To give up, surrender, or admit that you have lost a challenge. It comes from the sport of boxing, where a coach throws a real towel into the fighting ring to stop the fight when their boxer is too hurt to continue.

64. Throw someone under the bus

    To blame or sacrifice a friend or colleague to protect yourself from getting into trouble. It is a modern phrase that creates a scary picture of pushing someone into danger just to save your own skin.

65. Tie the knot

    A casual way to say that two people are getting married. It comes from an ancient wedding tradition where the hands of the bride and groom were wrapped together with a real cord to show they were joined.

66. Touch base

    To talk to someone briefly just to check in, get a quick update, or see how they are doing. It comes from baseball, where a player must tap their foot on the white base to be safe.

67. Under the weather

    Feeling a little bit sick, tired, or unwell. It comes from old sailing days when sailors would go below the wooden deck to hide from big storms and stop themselves from getting seasick.

68. Up in the air

    A plan or a decision that is still totally uncertain and has not been decided yet. It describes the picture of a coin or a ball flipped into the sky that has not landed on the ground yet.

69. Water under the bridge

    Past arguments or problems that are over, forgotten, and no longer worth worrying about. It uses the picture of a river flowing away under a bridge, meaning the old water is gone forever and cannot come back.

70. You're pulling my leg

    A phrase you say to someone when you think they are playing a joke on you or telling you a funny lie. It comes from old street thieves who used ropes to trip people over.

So now you have a simple way to help you understand the strange things people often say. Learning these phrases is a lot like learning a brand-new language. It takes a bit of time and practice, but the more you hear them - and even use them yourself - the easier it will be to spot them and understand them in everyday life. But remember that this list is just a starting point. There are hundreds of puzzling phrases out there in the world, and you can't learn every single one of them all at once.

When you come across new words and phrases you don't understand, don't feel bad or be worried about being confused.. it's completely okay to stop a conversation and ask the other person exactly what they mean. In fact, most people will be very happy to explain what they mean.