Donald Trump’s Red-State Problem

[angus]

dead cat bounce

weird turn of phrase.

I had to look that one up.  Funny how we treat cats in our language.  For example "there's more than one way to skin a cat."  Who skins cats?  "Let the cat out of the bag."  Who bags cats?  Skin him, bag him, drop him, and see if he bounces.  Seems a little sadistic even to me, and I don't care for cats. 

Well, we're not in Kansas anymore Toto.  Auntie Em might not trust Hillary Clinton, but she sure as hell isn't impressed with Donald Trump.  Uncle Henry is probably a Johnson voter.

[angus]

It's a mixture of metaphorical language use and forgotten or embedded cultural references. There's quite a number of them in all languages and sometimes, like cats in English, they follow particular themes. It's certainly fascinating how we create and interpret these so casually as native speakers.

It's interesting.  I've looked up the etymology of "raining cats and dogs" as well those for the morbid ones such as "saved by the bell", "dead ringer", and "graveyard shift."

I just have never or heard anyone reference a dead cat bouncing, although I have heard that "you can't swing a dead cat without hitting" something or other.