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

[floralaetifica.livejournal.com]

I guess it's in the swallowing / digestive sense

I imagine so.

In that sense, a lead balloon would also go down very badly! Though perhaps not as badly as a spiky lead balloon.