Idioms That Made Absolutely Zero Sense to Me as a Kid (And Honestly Still Don’t)

Growing up in the 80s and 90s meant two things were true at all times:

1. We were terrified of “drugs” (thanks, DARE program!)
2. Adults said the strangest phrases with complete confidence, even if they don’t make sense.

Case in point: one afternoon my grandma told me not to drink the last sip of my sweet tea because “there were drugs in it.”

She meant tea grounds.

I heard life‑ruining illegal substances.

So naturally, being a rule‑following, DARE‑certified child, I waited until she turned around… and dumped the entire glass down the sink. I wasn’t taking any chances.

That memory sent me down a rabbit hole of all the bizarre sayings adults tossed around — phrases that kids often take painfully literally.

Here are a few that still make me laugh… and also wonder where they actually came from:

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“Did that have a bone in it?”

Said after someone chokes on… a drink. I’m sure some kid has spent years thinking Sprite had bones.

“You’ve got a frog in your throat.”

Ma’am, if there is a frog in my throat, we have bigger problems.

“It went down the wrong pipe.”

There are pipes in there? Multiple? And one is wrong? How do I make sure I’m aiming at the right one??

“I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.”

Why were adults threatening livestock to express hunger?

“My foot’s asleep.”

I wonder how many kids stare at mom’s foot, waiting for it to snore.

“It’s raining cats and dogs.”

I looked out the window every time. Every. Time.

“Bless your heart.”

As a kid, I thought this was sweet. As an adult, I now understand it is… situational.

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Why We Remember These So Clearly

Kids live in a world where language is literal, magical, and slightly chaotic — which honestly makes these sayings even better. They become tiny snapshots of childhood logic, tucked away until something random (like tea “drugs”) brings them back.

And now I’m convinced we all need a running list of the idioms we misunderstood, the ones our kids misunderstand, and the ones we still pretend to understand as adults.

Because if childhood taught us anything, it’s that:

• frogs do not live in throats
• horses are safe
• and tea grounds are not, in fact, narcotics

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Want to Play Along?

What’s a phrase you completely misunderstood as a kid?

Or better yet — what’s something your kids have hilariously taken literally?

I’m collecting them for a future post, because this is too good not to turn into a series.