Dull

Posted by Brian from Shawnee on December 06, 2006

In Reply to: Dull posted by ESC on December 06, 2006

: : : : : AS DULL AS DITCH WATER

: : : :
: : : : Have you ever looked at the water in ditches? Generally it is not clear and sparkling, but dull.

: : : When a phrase is posted with no sign of a question, I never know whether the person wants an explanation or is proposing that the phrase be added to the database. ~rb

: : I usually check when posting (assuming it's a question of meaning) against the archives. But it is mysterious - if there's a question of meaning or origin, why people use as few words as possible in order to be as unclear as possible: is it a question of origin, or meaning? A question of why we don't post it? A marvelous discovery we should post? No context here - riddle me this, Batman.

: T. Wilson is sharing information. And that's a good thing.

The phrase strikes me as a mis-hearing of "dull as dish water". In the modern industrial world, at least, dish water is more familiar than ditch water.

• Dishwater RRC 06/December/06