Why is it called daft as a brush?

Why is it called daft as a brush?

These words are onomatopoeic. The word also appears in the first verse of The Flowers Of The Forest, where in context it means something like a nudge in the ribs. When a brush has been daffed a great deal, its bristles splay out in all directions. The brush is then called “daft” and it becomes practically useless.

Is daft as a brush offensive?

The colloquial British-English expression (as) daft as a brush means extremely stupid, very silly—cf. also, in particular, the similes mad as a hatter and mad as a March hare, and ‘a sandwich short of a picnic’ and other phrases meaning ‘stupid’ or ‘crazy’.

Is daft as a brush an idiom?

If someone is as daft as a brush, they are very silly or stupid. She was as daft as a brush. Couldn’t say anything with any sense in it. Note: This expression may have come from `as soft as a brush’, as both `soft’ and `daft’ can mean stupid.

Why do we say mad as a brush?

What’s the origin of the phrase ‘As daft as a brush’? – The phrase originated as ‘as soft as a brush’ and the brush is the tail of a fox. This is plausible in that ‘soft’ is a northern English term for stupid, and foxes tails are in fact quite soft to the touch.

Where is daft as a brush?

The regions covered by Daft as a Brush: Northumberland, North and South Tyneside, Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne and surrounding areas.

What is the origin of the idiom have a brush?

Have an encounter or come in conflict with, as in This was not the first time that Bob had a brush with the law. This expression alludes to the noun brush in the sense of “a hostile collision,” a usage dating from about 1400.

Who started daft as a brush?

Brian Burnie
From Brian Burnie, the Founder. COMMUNITY SPIRIT – it goes back to my early childhood in the 1940’s/50’s coming from a humble background in the east end of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Is Daft a northern word?

Question: What is a ‘daft apeth’? Answer: It is Yorkshire slang used to describe a fool.

What does pull no punches mean?

hit less hard than one can
Behave unrestrainedly, hold nothing back, as in The doctor pulled no punches but told us the whole truth. This expression comes from boxing, where to pull one’s punches means “to hit less hard than one can.”

Who set up daft as a brush?

From Brian Burnie, the Founder.

Why do they call it hanky panky?

What’s the origin of the phrase ‘Hanky-panky’? The term is first recorded, in relation to its original ‘trickery’ meaning, in the first edition of ‘Punch, or the London Charivari’, Vol 1, September 1841: “Only a little hanky-panky, my lud. The people likes it; they loves to be cheated before their faces.

What does the idiom brush it mean?