Quote:
Originally posted by Bad_Rich_Chic
It is usually "beaten like a rented mule," though your variant makes (less colorful) sense as well. One beats mules because they are stubborn and won't go. One particularly beats rented mules because they are rented so you don't care about them long term (same would go for riding them hard, of course, the problem being that it is hard to ride mules hard without beating them because of the aforementioned stubbornness).
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Ya know, I was gonna argue with you about which is more "usual". But then I thought, even Atticus wouldn't try this case without an investigation. So I Googled instead:
the terms "beat like" and "red-headed stepchild" appeared in 87 internet documents. the terms "beat like" and "rented mule" appeared in 92.
FWIW, I agree with Balt, as it is something I heard a lot more on the Irish side of my life too.
Beating stubborn mules to ride them hard? Oh boy, not you too, please.
Quote:
Originally posted by Bad_Rich_Chic
Have you people never seen a fucking mule? What is the matter with you? This all seems so obvious it makes my head ache.
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The scissor and knife sharpener used to come around on a mule in the old naborhood. So once. And yeah, it all is, cept for that "usual" thing, which seems pretty close according to Google. Kinda makes me wonder if there are more mules than redheads on the internet.
Or maybe I should have tried "red haired" instead.
