I don’t know about you, but when it comes to sayings that don’t quite make sense, there seem to be a lot of them. Admittedly, some of them are regional – you have to be from that area to really get the gist of them – but others are well-known no matter where you are. They seem to span the whole U.S. The problem is that a lot of the time, they don’t actually mean what they’re used for. Oh, sure, you understand them, but if you really think about it, they just don’t quite click.

Here’s one: “ by the skin of your teeth,www.healthyteeth.org/.” When did teeth get skin? Someone’s in need of a dentist appointment or a good brushing. “I have a frog in my throat.” Circus trick gone horribly wrong? “Cat got your tongue?” Yes, because I often let my pets steal my body parts for fun and profit. “It’s raining cats and dogs!” Do insurance companies even cover that type of thing?

Of course we know what they mean: a small margin, a sore throat, a quiet person, a torrential downpour… We get it. But couldn’t we find a better way to say it than something rather nonsensical?