Patsy McCartle
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Apr 17, 2020 · According to the AHD the idiomatic expression on thin ice was first used by a US writer: This idiom, which alludes to the danger that treading on thin ice will cause it to break, was first used figuratively by Ralph Waldo Emerson in his essay Prudence (1841): "In skating over thin ice our safety is in our speed."
Apr 29, 2016 · Consider tempt fate or tempt the devil.. Also, "tempt the fates": Take a severe risk, as in It's tempting fate to start up that mountain so late in the day, or Patrice thought driving that old car was tempting the fates; it was sure to break down.
Aug 22, 2011 · "On thin ice" can also refer to a situation out of your control. The proverbial skater didn't necessarily choose the thin ice but is nonetheless in a risky place. Alternatives to this connotation (branching a bit further away from consciously taking a risk): Out of the frying pan, into the fire; Doomed; Writing on the wall
Dec 31, 2015 · black ice. sometimes called clear ice: a thin, nearly invisible coating of ice that forms on paved surfaces. AHD. glare ice: a thin coating of ice (as from freezing mist) on a road or sidewalk; nearly invisible but very hazardous Memidex. glare. n A sheet or surface of glassy and very slippery ice. AHD. adj (US and Canadian) smooth and glassy ...
Jul 4, 2014 · The origin of the idiom is a matter of dispute, but the general consensus is that walking on eggshells came from the same place as other cautionary actions, such as walking on thin ice or broken glass. Some sources suggest that it came from an earlier idiom, "walking on eggs."
Mar 4, 2021 · Also a carpet can wear thin from the friction caused by umpteen footsteps, each causing friction.Too many footsteps mean the carpet could wear thin. If too thin, the carpet fibres will break and, eventually, there will be a hole exposing the floor beneath. This is the consequence of ‘wearing [too] thin.’
Plus there's your outstanding answer re supposed to, which taken all together indicates OP is skating over some very thin ice with this question! – FumbleFingers Commented Mar 13, 2012 at 14:56
Collins attempts to deal with the acceptable usages and corresponding allocation of word classes involved with than by labelling it 'conj, prep (coordinating)' for all usages.
Nov 6, 2017 · It seems likely that comedian Paula Poundstone originally brought the phrase to the national stage in the late 1980s and early 1990s, though it's the kind of thing that might have been spontaneously coined by parents multiple times throughout history (Poundstone's mother, at least, apparently said it before the comedian made the line famous).
I recently read that the phrase "Blood is thicker than water" was originally derived from the phrase "the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb", implying that the ordinary meaning is the opposite of the original intention.
