It Will Just Never Make Sense To Me

In the late summer of 2007, Mike and I were walking around our neighbourhood. We walked passed a house we had seen many, many times. The landscaping of this yard is absolutely incredible - little shrubs here and there, all perfectly manicured, lots of bright colours, many different kinds of plants and all of it lovingly cared for. I commented that I would like our yard to look like that someday. Mike retorted, "Well, we've got our work cut out for us!".

Allow me to backtrack for a moment...our house was in near ruins when we bought it. The carpets were soiled and saturated with dog pee; boogers and crayon marks covered the walls; and mold was growing in the bathroom. In short, it was disgusting. And that included the yard. We found teddy bears and panty house in the shrubs and the previous owners had parked their car on the back lawn which resulted in moss growing. It hadn't been cared for in many years. Needless to say, it was just as bad on the outside as it was on the inside.

We moved in December 2006. During the summer of 2007, we painted the outside of the house and did what we could to make the lawn look a little nicer. We trimmed the hedges and got rid of all the dead undergrowth. It was a definite improvement to say the least.

So, when Mike commented that we had our work cut out for us, I laughed. I said, "Yeah, right...we should be able to get it all done next summer!". And then the argument started.

Mike tried explaining that "to have your cut out for you" means a job is going to be difficult. I tried explaining that it means the job will be easier, because someone's already done some of the work for you. When we got home, I googled it and, sure enough, Mike was right. The saying dates back to seamstresses having their patterns previously cut out for them. So that makes no sense why the job would be more difficult if someone has already cut out half their work. It just isn't a logical statement to make.

And I still argue that peanuts that are not in a shell are "unshelled". "Un" means "not" ergo "un-shelled" means "not shelled". Now THAT makes sense to me.