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Pat's Blog: Country Chatter    "Life as I know it"

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Sayings We Use Taken from Animals

If you can think of some sayings I don't have on this list please email me at hffinc@i-c.net  

Butterflies/Bees/Insects/Bugs/Worms

• A mite too small

• Ants in your pants

• Antsy

• Bee in your bonnet

• Busy as a bee

• Butterfly kisses

• Butterflies in my stomach

• Buzz around

• Buzz off

• Buzz word

• Buzzing around

• Can of worms

• Caught in a web

• Chirping like a cricket

• Clean the cobwebs out of your brain (corners)

• Create a buzz

• Don’t be so buggy

• Drips like honey

• Dropping (falling) like flies

• Fat as a tick

• Floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee

• Flutterbug

• Fly in the ointment

• Fly on the wall

• Found the honey pot

• Free as a butterfly

• He’s the bee’s knees

• Honey pot

• Hornet’s nest

• Ill as a hornet

• Industrious as an ant

• It’s none of your bee’s wax

• Jimmy cricket

• Knee high to a grasshopper

• Let me put a bug in your ear

• Mad as a hornet

• Make a beeline

• Moth to flame

• Ornery as a flea

• Quite the buzz

• Sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite

• Slow as a snail

• Snail’s pace

• Snug as a bug in a rug

• Social butterfly

• Stir up a hornet’s nest

• Tight as a tick

• What a tangled web we weave

• Would like to be a fly on the wall

• Worm your way in

• You bug me

Dogs/Cats

• A dog’s life

• All cats appear grey in the dark

• Bark at the moon

• Barking up the wrong tree

• Big dog

• Call off the dogs

• Can’t teach an old dog new tricks

• Cat got your tongue?

• Cat nap

• Cat on a hot tin roof

• Cat whiskers

• Catty

• Cat’s meow

• Cat’s pajamas

• Chasing your tail

• Chow down

• Claw your way in

• Copy Cat

• Crooked as a dog’s hind leg

• Curious as a cat

• Curiosity killed the cat

• Dog day afternoon

• Dog days of summer

• Dog eared

• Dog eat dog

• Dog tired

• Dogged him

• Don’t let the cat out of the bag

• Every dog has his day

• Fights like cats and dogs

• Fraidy cat

• Going to the dogs

• Grinning like a chasire cat

• Have my tongue hanging out

• He’s the cat’s meow

• He who lies down with dogs, rises with fleas

• His bark is bigger than his bite

• In the dog house

• It ain’t over till the fat cat sings

• It’s a dog’s life

• Keep your paws off

• Land on your feet

• Let the cat out of the bag

• Let sleeping dogs lie

• Lick the platter clean

• Licking your wounds

• Like a flea on a dog’s hind leg

• Like a herd of cats

• Like herding cats

• Like two cats fighting

• Look at what the cat drug in

• Looks like a cat that swallowed a canary

• Nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof

• Nervous as a caged lion

• Nervouser than a long-tailed cat in a roomful of rocking chairs

• Nine lives

• Persnickety

• Pounce on it

• Prettier than a speckled puppy

• Puppy love

• Pussy foot around

• Put your tail between your legs

• Raining cats and dogs

• Roll over and play dead

• Scaredy Cat

• She’s a dog

• She is being catty

• Sleep in the dog house

• Smarty cat

• Speckled pup in a red wagon

• Sick as a dog

• That’s the way to skin a cat

• The trail runs cold

• There’s more than one way to skin a cat

• Top dog

• Track like a bloodhound (hound dog)

• Turn tail and run

• Two shakes of a cat’s tail

• Underdog

• Wag your tail

• Watch dog

• When the cat’s away, the mice will play

• Who let the cat out of the bag?

• Work like a dog

• You can swing a dead cat

• You’re in the dog house

Farm Animals

• A cock and bull story

• Acting bullish

• Acting sheepish

• Beef it up

• Big as a cow

• Bled like a stuck pig (hog)

• Bring home the bacon

• Bull

• Bull in the china shop

• Bull market

• Bullheaded

• Bullish behavior

• Butt heads

• Can’t beat a dead horse

• Can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear

• Cash cow

• Chew your cud

• Chomping at the bit

• Clothes horse

• Circle the wagons

• Cow lick

• Cream rises to the top

• Crows like a rooster

• Dirty as a pig

• Don’t beat a dead horse

• Don’t bite the hand that feeds you

• Don’t cast your pearls before swine

• Don’t change horses in mid stream

• Don’t cry over spilt milk

• Don’t get on your high horse

• Don’t get your milk for free

• Don’t hog the blankets

• Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth

• Don’t put the cart before the horse

• Dumb as an ox

• Eats like a horse

• Eat like a pig

• Eating high on the hog

• Every man is sociable until a cow invades his garden

• Fall out of the saddle

• Flog a dead horse

• Gentle as a lamb

• Get off your high horse

• Git your goat

• Go hog wild

• Go to the funny farm

• Go whole hog

• Got hitched

• Greased pig

• Ham it up

• Happy as a pig in mud

• Handsome as a stallion

• Have a cow

• Have egg on your face

• Head that wags the tail

• Healthy as a horse

• He’s a horse of a fellow

• Hit the bull’s eye

• Hog it

• Hog heaven

• Hog-wash

• Hog wild

• Hold the reins

• Hold your horses

• Holy cow!

• Hoof-it

• Hop on down

• Hop to it

• Horse around

• Horse feathers

• Horse play

• Horse sense

• Horse teeth

• Horse trading

• Horsing around

• Hot to trot

• Hungry as a horse

• In hog heaven

• It’s a horse of a different color

• It’s enough to curl your tail

• Land of milk and honey

• Living high on the hog

• Lock horns

• Looks like a pig sty

• Like pigs at a trough

• Lipstick on a pig

• Live high on the hog

• Milk it for all it’s worth

• Multiply like bunnies

• Pearls before swine

• Pig headed

• Pig in a poke

• Pig out

• Pork barrel

• Put out to pasture

• Put the cart before the horse

• Put your hand to the plow and don’t look back

• Put your tail to the wind

• Quick as a bunny

• Rabbit ears

• Ride hard and put up wet

• Separate the sheep from the goats

• Set back in the saddle

• Scape goat

• Sheep thief

• Slow as a turtle

• Squeal on

• Squeals like a stuck pig

• Strong as an ox

• Stubborn as a mule

• Surefooted as a mountain goat

• Sweat like a pig

• Sweats like a stuck hog

• Take the bull by the horns

• That’s a bunch of bull

• That’s a horse of a different color

• That’s enough to curl your tail

• That got my goat

• Tough as leather

• Two shakes of a lamb’s tail

• Until the cows come home

• Use everything but the pig’s squeal

• Waddle in your mess

• What’s (Where’s) the beef?

• When pigs fly

• When the cows come home

• Who stepped on your tail?

• Whoever needs milk, bows to the animal

• Work like a horse (mule)

• You can lead a horse to the water, but you can’t make him drink

Fish/Frogs/Turtles

• Fine as a frog hair

• Fish story

• Flip flop

• Frog in my throat

• Happy as a clam

• How’s that kettle of fish

• In a fish bowl

• Leap frog

• Like a fish out of water

• Plenty of other fish in the sea

• Scaly skin

• Slimy as an eel

• Slippery as an eel

• Smells (stinks) like dead fish

• Swim like a fish

• Swimming in a tank full of sharks

• That’s a fine kettle of fish

• That’s a whole other kettle of fish

• There’s something fishy about that

• Toadstool

• Whale of a decision

• Whale of a story

• Whale of a time

• What am I, chopped liver?

• When fish fly

Fowl/Birds

• A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

• A little bird told me

• Albatross around your neck

• Are you chicken?

• As the crow flies

• Bird brain

• Bird’s eye view

• Bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

• Birds of a feather flock together

• Birds of prey, flock together

• Blind as a bat

• Bluebird of happiness

• Butt in (out)

• Cackles like a hen

• Chicken lips

• Chicken scratch

• Circle like vultures

• Clip your wings

• Cold turkey

• Come down on you like a goose on a June bug

• Coos like a dove

• Crane your neck

• Crazy as a loon

• Curses, like chickens, come home to roost

• Don’t count your eggs before they hatch

• Don’t count your chickens before they hatch

• Don’t put all your eggs in one basket

• Duck!

• Duck soup

• Dumb as a turkey

• Eagle eye

• Eat crow

• Eats like a bird

• Early bird

• Early bird gets the worm

• Egg on your face

• Empty nest

• Featherbrained

• Flew the coop

• Free as a bird

• Get off your perch

• Get your ducks in a row

• Get your head chopped off

• Get your wings clipped

• Give me the eagle eye

• Go to bed with the chickens

• Gobble your food

• Goose that laid the golden egg

• Grow your nest egg

• Happy as a lark

• Hawk-eye

• He’s a sitting duck

• Head south for the winter

• Henpecked

• Hot enough to fry an egg

• If it don’t cluck, it won’t lay

• If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck than it is a duck

• In the cat bird’s seat

• It gets in your crawl

• Kill two birds with one stone

• Lame duck

• Light as a feather

• Like oil on a duck’s back

• Like water on a duck’s back

• Loose as a goose

• Mad as a wet hen

• Naked as a jaybird

• Nest egg

• Night owl

• One swallow does not make a summer

• Picky as a bird

• Pigeon hole

• Pigeon-toed

• Play chicken

• Poor as hen’s teeth

• Poor as Job’s turkey

• Protective as a mother hen

• Proud as a peacock

• Quit your squawking

• Rare as hen’s teeth

• Right wing

• Ruffle your feathers

• Rule the roost

• Run around like a chicken with your head cut off

• Save a nest egg

• Scatter like chickens

• Scarce as hen’s teeth

• Silly goose

• Sing like a bird

• Sing like a canary

• Sitting in the catbird seat

• Soar like a bird

• Soar like an eagle

• Stinks like a polecat

• Stork brought the baby

• Strut like a peacock

• Strut your stuff

• Stuck in my craw

• Take under my wing

• That is chicken scratch

• That’s for the birds

• The big fish that got away

• The birds and bees

• The early bird gets the worm

• The goose that laid the golden egg

• The last one there is a rotten egg

• The rooster may crow but the hen delivers the goods

• The stork brought it

• The way the crow flies

• They are nesting

• This is ducky

• Tough old bird

• Ugly duckling

• Under his wing

• Up at the crack of dawn

• Up before the rooster crows

• Up with the chickens

• Watch like a hawk

• Went to bed with the chickens

• Walking on eggshells

• What are you crowing about?

• What are you fishing for?

• What’s good for the goose is good for the gander

• Who plucked your feather?

• Wild goose chase

• Wings of a dove

• Wise as an owl

• Your goose is cooked

• You’re a good egg

Reptiles/Rodents/Alligators

• Alligator skin

• After a while crocodile

• Breed like rats

• Country mouse & city mouse

• Crocodile tears

• Dirty rat

• Go crawl into a hole

• Guinea pig

• If it looks like a rat, smells like a rat than it probably is a rat

• If it was a snake it would have bit you

• Looks like a drown rat

• Make a mountain out of a mole hill

• Mean as a snake

• Open a can of worms

• Pack rat

• Poor as a church mouse

• Quiet as a mouse

• Rat hole

• Rat on them

• Rat race

• Scurry like a mouse

• See you later alligator

• Smell a rat

• The best laid plans of mice and men

• Vulture

• Worm your way in (out)

Wild Animals

• A barrel of monkeys

• A fox smells his own hole first

• A leopard can’t change his spots

• Acting squirrelly

• Backed into a corner

• Bear hug

• Bear in the woods

• Bear market

• Big as an elephant

• Biggest bang for your buck

• Buck fever

• Buffalo your way in

• Bushytailed

• Busy beaver

• Cover your tracks

• Crocodile tears

• Cross as a bear

• Cry wolf

• Deer in the headlights

• Den of thieves

• Dragon breath

• Drunk as a skunk

• “Dumbo” ears

• Dust bunnies

• Ears like an elephant

• Elephant on your chest

• Foxy

• Get the monkey off my back

• Go stick your head in the sand

• Going nuts

• Grin like a monkey

• Hare brain idea

• Herd of elephants

• Hop to it

• Hopping mad

• Howl like a hyena

• Hungry as a bear

• I’ll be a monkey’s uncle

• In a coon’s age

• In the lion’s den

• It’s a bear

• It’s an elephant in the room

• It’s squirrelly

• It’s the nature of the beast

• It’s the straw that broke the camel’s back

• Killer instinct

• Lazy as a fox

• Leopard can’t change his spots

• Lie down with the lions

• Like a caged lion

• Like a coon up a tree

• Like a herd of wild elephants (horses)

• Like a pack of wolves

• Lion’s share

• Lock horns

• Make a monkey out of someone

• Makes your hair stand on end

• Making tracks

• Memory like an elephant

• Monkey business

• Monkey butt

• Monkey see, monkey do

• Monkeying around

• More bang for your buck

• Move in for the kill

• Off on a rabbit trail

• On the prowl

• Pants like a deer

• Party animal

• Play dead

• Play opossum

• Pretty soon baboon

• Pull a rabbit out of the hat

• Rattle his cage

• Roaring mad

• Run like a jack rabbit

• Runs like a cheetah

• Save a buck

• Show your stripes

• Sly as a fox

• Smells like a skunk

• Smirk like a monkey

• Sniff the air

• Sound like a bunch of wild hyenas

• Stalk (her)

• Stick your head in the sand

• Stop in your tracks

• The buck stops here

• Throw a monkey wrench

• Totally buffaloed

• Wild hare of an idea

• Wolf it down

• Surefooted

• Swifter than a deer

• That’s a bear

• The monkey is on your back

• The wolf is at the door

• Things are squirrelly

• Throw to the wolves

• Watch the fur fly

• Weasel your way in

• What a zoo

• Wild buck

• Wild as a march hare

• Withdraw into your shell (turtle)

• Wolf in sheep’s clothing

• Wolf it down

• Zebra can’t change it’s stripes

• “Zebra” love

• 800 lb. gorilla