just heard the phrase “herring in the coal mine” and i’m so gonna use it just to confuse people

@ptrc

I like to describe someone a bit dim as "Not the sharpest brick in the picnic", which mangles three phrases - but people always know what I mean....

@ptrc That's a red scuttle...

@ptrc

That's just a red canary...

@ptrc

Thanks. Now I have The Police in my head singing "You live your life like a canned herring in a coal mine."

@suearcher well, at least it's not rocket surgery

@noisytoot mashing together "red herring" and "canary in the coalmine"

@ptrc

i love it!

it does actually work for anything that is dead on arrival too.

"how useful is AI? like a herring in a coal mine."

@ptrc Absolutely!

@ptrc I use ‘I’m going to play devil’s avocado here’ for the same reason. It’s fun, for me. 😁