Make like a tree

Question

Hi all,An idle question for a lazy Sunday afternoon: Why is there make and not do in- Why don't you make like a tree and leave?I would have thought "Why don't you do like a tree" would have made more sense.Is there a specific reason why it's make, or is it just because?Thank youH.

Blue Jay · Accepted Answer

Make like is a slang way to say pretend to be or imitate. Make has a number of uses, this happens to be one of them.

Henry74 · Answer

Thank you Blue Jay

So suppose you were talking to a child and making funny noises imitating the sound of a car, you would say "Look! I'm making like a car!" not "Look! I'm doing a car!", correct?

H.

BarbaraPA · Answer

In that case, I'd just say "I'm a car. Now you be a train."

Blue Jay · Answer

Henry74Thank you Blue JaySo suppose you were talking to a child and making funny noises imitating the sound of a car, you would say "Look! I'm making like a car!" not "Look! I'm doing a car!", correct?H.

Make like a tree and leave is a fixed expression, but both I'm making like a car! and I'm doing a car! are possible.

Vorpar · Answer

I prefer "acting like a car".

Clive · Answer

I don't think I've ever heard or read 'make like a tree and leave'.

[ I know 'Eats, shoots and leaves'.

]

Anonymous · Answer

In the sentence, "Why don't you make like a tree and leave.", the idiom is correct, but the sentence doesn't make sense - if "leave" is in the sense of go away, then a tree can hardly move, and if the sense is that of growing leaves, this is extremely rare usage, using the word "leave" as a verb (and how would a person figuratively grow leaves?). You'd typically say something like: "Why don't you make like a tree and and just stand there and shut up."

However, if a person is clowning around, then he might say: "Look, I'm doing a tree." That is, he is standing completely still with his arms out like branches and pretending he's a tree. This is ridiculous and silly in the extreme, however.

Anonymous · Answer

"Look, I'm making like a car." and "Look, I'm doing a car." are both correct if the person is clowning around.  This is very silly and ridiculous behavior however; and in any case, how does a person imitate a car?  I've never seen it done.

Clive · Answer

Going back to the original sentence, I just take it to be a mildly humorous little pun.

BarbaraPA · Answer

Exactly. It's a pun.
It means "Oh, go away, why don't you."

I think it may date from around the 1950s.

Make like a tree

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