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Barefootchuck Posted 14 years ago
Vocabulary
curious mind calls, why a "thousand"
I have been thinking, why are there many expressions relating to the word "thousand"?
for example:
1. the water is like a thousand daggers (answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090429161818AAZYjfQ)
2. A Thousand Suns by Linkin Park (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Thousand_Suns)
3. there are like a thousand firefighters out there by Dane Cook the comedian (0:58 youtube.com/watch?v=PBA4zojfsJQ - R rated for language..)
4. a picture is worth a thousand words
Is "thousand" a common word in idioms? Can anyone point to me an article on the metaphoric use of the word "thousand"? Thanks!
Barefootchuck
for example:
1. the water is like a thousand daggers (answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090429161818AAZYjfQ)
2. A Thousand Suns by Linkin Park (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Thousand_Suns)
3. there are like a thousand firefighters out there by Dane Cook the comedian (0:58 youtube.com/watch?v=PBA4zojfsJQ - R rated for language..)
4. a picture is worth a thousand words
Is "thousand" a common word in idioms? Can anyone point to me an article on the metaphoric use of the word "thousand"? Thanks!
Barefootchuck
Top answer
These idioms are of ancient origin, having been in use since maybe the 16th century, or even earlier. In that era, "a thousand" was considered a huge, almost infinite quantity (if someone had a thousand cattle, or a thousand dollars, he'd be considered fantastically rich) - people didn't throw around words like "a million" back then. Today, "a thousand," or even "a million," isn't big enough for idioms that stress quantity.
- These idioms are of ancient origin, having been in use since maybe the 16th century, or even earlier.
- In that era, "a thousand" was considered a huge, almost infinite quantity (if someone had a thousand cattle, or a thousand dollars, he'd be considered fantastically rich) - people didn't throw around words like "a million" back then.
- Today, "a thousand," or even "a million," isn't big enough for idioms that stress quantity.
- Now you would hear things like: a gajillion daggers, suns, firefighters, words, etc.
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2 Answers
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These idioms are of ancient origin, having been in use since maybe the 16th century, or even earlier. In that era, "a thousand" was considered a huge, almost infinite quantity (if someone had a thousand cattle, or a thousand dollars, he'd be considered fantastically rich) - people didn't throw around words like "a million" back then.
Today, "a thousand," or even "a million," isn't big
Today, "a thousand," or even "a million," isn't big
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