Friday, January 15, 2010

Have you ever managed to hit the nail on the head?

Sure. My dad was a carpenter and I hit the nail on the head many times. Other times, not so much.





';Hit the nail on the head,'; can also mean--get to the precise point, or do or say something exactly right.





I hope I have hit the nail on the head in my attempt to answer this question!!Have you ever managed to hit the nail on the head?
yes - far more comfortable than hitting the poor thumb.


Figuratively, I like to think that some of the best answers I have given have hit the nail into the plank.Have you ever managed to hit the nail on the head?
oui oui, I am very precise :D





that was after 5 years of practice and many holes in the wall, I mean, I stopped just chucking the hammer at the nail. . .
MANY TIMES. LITERALLY AND FIGURATIVELY.
Oh yes. I've also managed to hit my head on a nail quite often.
once or twice in my life
Hit the nail on the head:





Nail is also used in the sense of to be caught/punished for a misdemeanour, such as in 'I'll nail you for that'. The origin here seems to come from a few centuries ago when, in Britain, 'justice' was meted out mostly by hanging or flogging. However there were some crimes for which you could be ';nailed';. For these crimes you would be taken to the hangman's gibbet and nailed through the earlobe(s) until night. You had two options: you could either stand all day, nailed to the scaffold or else tear your ear from the nail. Women could also be nailed through the tongue for spreading malicious gossip.


: : Auf Wiedersehen!





: Have a wonderful holiday.... and, thanks.





To nail something means to do it successfully. When you find the solution to a problem, you hit the nail on the head. Perhaps this is the origin of the phrase.





I may have mentioned it before, but the Sooty Show often ended with Harry Corbett holding a nail and Sooty the puppet holding a hammer. With both his hands occupied, Harry Corbett would say, ';When I nod my head, I want you to hit it!'; Sooty always obliged.





http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board鈥?/a>





Meaning - Get to the precise point. Do or say something exactly right.





Origin





No one knows the exact origin of this phrase. What is known is that it is extremely old. It appears in The Book of Margery Kempe, circa 1438. This was an account of the life of religious visionary Margery Kempe and is considered to be the earliest surviving autobiography written in English:





';Yyf I here any mor thes materys rehersyd, I xal so smytyn ye nayl on ye hed that it schal schamyn alle hyr mayntenowrys.';





In modernised English, that reads as:





';If I hear any more these matters repeated, I shall so smite the nail on the head that it shall shame all her supporters.';





Kempe's meaning in that citation isn't entirely clear. Some have interpreted her 'hit the nail on the head' as 'speak severely'. The current 'get to the heart of the matter' meaning is unambiguous in a later reference, from the end of the following century. Henry Buttes' Dyets drie dinner, 1599, includes this line:





';His chiefe pride resteth in hitting the nayle on the head with a quainte Epithite.';





http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/hit-t鈥?/a>





1. (idiomatic) To identify something exactly; to arrive at exactly the right answer.





He hit the nail on the head when he said the problem was the thermostat.





http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hit_the_na鈥?/a>





to describe exactly what is causing a situation or problem.





';I think Mick hit the nail on the head when he said that what's lacking in this company is a feeling of confidence.';





http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/hit+鈥?/a>





Idioms: hit the bull's-eye


Also, hit the mark or the nail on the head. Be absolutely right, as in Your remark about finances hit the bull's-eye, or Jane hit the mark with her idea for shuffling personnel, or The governor's speech on attracting new businesses hit the nail on the head. The round black center of a target has been called a bull's-eye since the 17th century; mark similarly alludes to a target; and the analogy to driving home a nail by hitting it on its head dates from the 16th century. Also see off the mark.





http://www.answers.com/Hit%20the%20nail%鈥?/a>
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