mahsa soltany's Posts (44)

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In spades

In spadesMeaningIn abundance; very much.OriginIt's easy to believe that this expression derives from the imagery of digging with spades and that 'in spades' is just short for 'in spadefuls'. However, the spades concerned here aren't the garden tools but the suit of cards. Hearts and Spades are the higher ranking suits in the game of Contract Bridge, a very popular pastime in the USA in the early 20th century, which is when and where the phrase originated.Despite the agricultural-sounding name and the shovel-like shape, the suit in cards has nothing directly to do with garden spades. Playing Cards originated in Asia and spread across Europe around the 14th century, arriving in England a little later than in Spain, Italy and Germany.The Italian versions of early cards used the suits Cups, Swords, Coins and Batons, which, on migration to England, became Hearts, Spades, Diamonds and Clubs. The image for Spades on English and French cards looks somewhat like that of the German Acorn or Leaf suits, but its origin is revealed by its name rather than its shape. The Spanish and Italian for sword is 'espado' and 'spado' respectively, hence the suit 'Swords' became anglicized as 'Spades'.We have been 'calling a spade a spade' for many centuries, but the expression 'in spades' is a 20th century US coinage. The term was often used before that in relation to card games, where Bridge contracts might be entered into in the minor suits of Clubs or Diamonds or, for the higher scores, 'in Hearts' or 'in Spades'.The figurative meaning, i.e. the non-cards-related 'very greatly' meaning, isn't found before the 1920s. The American journalist and writer Damon Runyon used the expression that way in a piece for Hearst's International magazine, in October 1929:"I always hear the same thing about every bum on Broadway, male and female, including some I know are bums, in spades, right from taw."It isn't possible to be sure that the figurative 'in spades' derives from Bridge - we don't say 'in hearts' after all, but the coincidence of the time and place of the origin of the expression and the popularity of the card game certainly does suggest a connection
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nice sayings about Love

"You never lose by loving. You always lose by holding back".Barbara DeAngelis"We come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.""You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love."Henry Drummond"The magic of first love is our ignorance that it can ever end."Benjamin Disraeli"We are, each of us angels with only one wing; and we can only fly by embracing one another."Luciano de Crescenzo"To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world."Karl Oster"Love is the irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired."Robert Frost"I've learned that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is be someone who can be loved. The rest is up to them.""And, by the way, how is my heart? I haven't seen it since you left."John Gorka
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fool love

have u ever felt in love?!have u ever discovered the unknown island of love?!from the first day that god created Adam and Eve,they had a strange feeling that somewhat is love.the forbidden tree is the evidence of my words.even when Ghabil killed Habil,the first laughterin history,it was a kind of love,oh no,it was for love...every thing that happens is result of love,now,how can i avoid it?!it's in my blood,or no,if my heart beats amd sends blood to my vesseles is love.love is like a termite,u cant understand when and how it comes to ur heart room or even,u dont know that its harmfull.but when the time passed suddenly u will understand that u have a decaid heart room.every secend it may collaps when ur leman leaves u.u have just one heart room,u cant change it ot buy another one.ur heart is rotten but it is pleasurable.oh,my love,u rnt termite,u r my heart,dont destroy all my wishes,i dont have toleration,if u cant belive my words,do e boon with my rutten heart...ur lover,mahsa

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Clutch at straws

Clutch at strawsMeaningTry any route to get out of a desperate situation, no matter how unlikely it is to succeed.OriginIt is only since the mid-19th century that we have been clutching at straws. Prior to that, desperate people would 'catch at a straw'. That usage of 'catch' was commonly used in mediaeval England, by which was meant 'obtain/achieve'. For example, John Wycliffe used it in his 1382 translation of the Bible into English, in 1 Timothy 6:12:Stryve thou a good strif of feith, catche everlastyng lyfBy the 17th century, in the King James Version, this had migrated to:Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal lifeOur present day ambitions are more prosaic and we only use that sense of 'catch' now to catch trains, buses and, occasionally, colds.A straw was chosen as the height of futility as a means of rescue. Being, as it was, a flimsy and virtually valueless waste product, it was often used as a synonym for the most unimportant and trifling of objects. 'Don't give/care a straw' was an indication of indifference, a 'man of straw' was an insubstantial adversary, and to 'condemn someone to straw' was to declare them ready for the madhouse.'To clutch at straws' is now used as a figurative phrase, to describe any desperate situation. When the expression was coined it specifically referred to drowning. The notion of a drowning man anxiously seeking 'any port in a storm' was first expressed by Sir Thomas More, in A Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation, 1534:A man in peril of drowning catchest whatsoever cometh next to hand... be it never so simple a stick.More used the imagery on several occasions, but didn't mention straw in any of them. The 'catch at a straw' version of the proverb is first recorded in the English cleric John Prime's Fruitful and Brief Discourse, 1583:We do not as men redie to be drowned, catch at euery straw.The metaphor expresses futility rather well. Straws do float, but a drowning man would have to be pretty much out of other ideas if he put any reliance on it bearing his weight.Moving on to the 19th century, 'catch' has fallen from favour and we find an early mention of the current 'clutch at straws' version in The New-York Mirror, 1832:... as drowning men clutch at straws.
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