And then a God who really ought not to exist sticks out a great big hand and grabs me by the wrist

[venta]

Why do people say

"That'll go down like a lead balloon"

and mean that the thing in question will go down badly ?

Surely if there's anything a lead balloon will do extremely well, it's go down. Great ideas should be likened to lead balloons.

I propose the phrase

"That'll go down like a helium ferret"

instead.

Comments

[mrlloyd.livejournal.com]

I occassionally use

'that will go down like a cup of cold sick'

which has never been misunderstood and I feel communicates 'very badly indeed' quite well. Sadly it's not original, I think I read it in an interview, but it might have been a film...

Shall try the helium ferret out at some stage...

[ao-lai.livejournal.com]

I first remember it from a Jonathan Creek Christmas Special...

[mrlloyd.livejournal.com]

Pretty sure I didn't see it there, never having seen such a thing.