142

Bonus points if it's usually misused/misunderstood by the people who say it

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] PM_ME_FEET_PICS@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 year ago

"Blood is thicker than water" a misquote of "The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb" which has the exact opposite meaning.

[-] Ranadok@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That's not actually true (according to Wikipedia and a few other sources, at least). The 'blood is thicker than water' saying has been around for centuries in various forms with the current meaning, and the covenant/womb variation is relatively recent, and mostly stems from a few books that claim that it's the 'real meaning' without sources or proof.

[-] aliceblossom@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Thank you so much for saying this! One time there was a Twitter thread that started with someone asking, "What are some things that people believe/accept without having liked into it further." Someone responded with this "the original phrase is... covenant...womb" and the OP replied with someone like, "yeah people are such sheep". I wanted to explode.

But to back your point, you can go and read for yourself the very first instance of this phrase in context as the very old book it comes from has been digitally scanned. It's old enough to be in middle English, but I still thought it was fairly easy to make out the original phrase as we know it today.

this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2023
142 points (93.3% liked)

Ask Lemmy

26826 readers
538 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Please don't post about US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS