Meaning: an impossible 'no-win' situation
Originally exclusive to bureaucracy, and used to describe a regulation which depended on another, which in turn depended on the first, this idiom today is used to describe any no-win situation, or a situation which seems impossible or difficult because it contains two opposite facts. It originated from Joseph Heller’s famous 1961 novel of the same name.
While a vast number of idioms originate from historical periods, this is not true of all of them, and ‘having a bad hair day’ is one of these exceptions.
Originally meaning ‘a day when your hair seems unmanageable', the use of this expression has now extended to describe a day when everything seems to go wrong.
'She couldn't understand the text, it sounded like mumbo - jumbo.'
Meaning: To think very hard to find an answer.
'After a busy day it's good to veg out on the sofa.'
Meaning: to relax in a lazy and inattentive way. Basically, we are 'vegging out' when we sit on the sofa for a long time doing nothing and hardly moving.
'This fighter is great. He's the real McCoy, no doubt about it.'
Meaning: the real thing – not a substitute/ fake. Another 'name' based expression, although in this case, nobody seems absolutely sure as to where it originated from.
'You can have a white horse or a white horse...that's Hobson's choice!'
Meaning: to have no choice at all. The only option you have is the one that is being offered to you.
Meaning: Following a dead end path; Being totally wrong about something you believed to be true.
When using dogs in a foxhunt, the dogs would sometimes corner the fox in a tree and then proceed to bark up at the fox. Barking up the wrong tree, where there is no fox, is a pointless exercise.
This expression is mainly used in Britain. It is often used immediately after a set of simple instructions and roughly means the same as '... and it's as simple as that!'
