When examined, or just because it’s weird on its own.

Example: Beat a dead horse

  1. You whip a horse to go faster
  2. It dies from being whipped too much
  3. You still want the horse to go faster
  4. You continue to whip it
  • weeeeum@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Break a leg

    How does telling someone to sustain serious injuries imply you want them to succeed?

    • Contramuffin@lemmy.world
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      12 hours ago

      My understanding is that that was the original intention of the phrase. It’s meant to be ironic but then the irony was lost as the phrase got more popular