Emilie wrote:
Okay so not to totally beat a dead horse (what a weird expression), ...
Welcome to English Language Corner (cue music).
Not so much weird as waaaaay outdated. It's a metaphor for whipping a horse to try to get it to go further, when the horse is already dead; the original expression was "flogging a dead horse", and is widely attributed to English parlimentarian John Bight, whose failed re-election campaign in 1859 was reported in the broadsheets thusly:
Quote:
"It was notorious that Mr.Bright was dissatisfied with his winter reform campaign and rumor said that he
had given up his effort with the exclamation that it was like flogging a dead horse."
This was a favorite expression of his, which he used again in parliament to refer to failure to get the body to move to a vote on a bill. From there, it entered the lexicon.
This has been English Language Corner. Join us next week, when we explore the phrase "Cat got your tongue" with visual aids. Until then!