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Islamic fundamentalism at dubcc

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Teddy Roosevelt:

--- Quote from: Scott Peterson on June 24, 2006, 12:30:30 PM ---i always wondered where the phrase beating a dead horse came from...

--- End quote ---
In American English, "beating a dead horse" is an idiom which is most often used as a retort used to make clear that a particular request or line of conversation is already foreclosed, mooted, or otherwise resolved. In Australian English and British English, the phrase is more usually rendered as "flogging a dead horse".

The linguistic roots of this phrase draw on an allusion to literally "whipping" or "beating" a deceased horse in order to make it get up and go. Such efforts, of course, would be utterly fruitless, as dead horses no longer move under their own power.

Likewise, when one is "beating a dead horse", one is flailing at a dead or useless idea.

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