2622 Ask A Glass Of Water.

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When someone uses new slang they generally learn it via context. Hearing it in use via individuals who have been using it for some time already. I like to research idioms a little if I’m going to commit them to permanence via my work. “Beat the brakes off” has 2 generally accepted meanings. One is to do harm to someone to the point they are incapable of controlling their movement. The other is to have violent intercourse with a woman until she cannot walk. In my opinion the former makes more emotional sense than the latter. It feels more correct. I don’t like connecting sex to violence though, generally speaking. There is a sense of brutality to the phrase that works better when applied to a brutal attack. Before researching anything that was the only context I had ever heard in actual conversation. My guess is that that is true for most of you as well. Either way, if you’ve never encountered the idiom before you don’t need to go looking for a definition. Of course you’ll have to read the blog to know that, so if I get a “What does ‘beat the brakes off of” mean” question we’ll know that person is not a blog enthusiast.

I might have just had Ed say “I hurt him very badly.” or whatever, but I wanted him to say it in a way that implies excessive force.

Anyway, that’s a look in on the process. If you would like the process to continue support links are above. Hopefully I will see you all back here, safe and sound, on Friday. Until then, farewell wherever you fare.

22 Comments

And here I thought it was from one of the Cars movies (or one of the many knockoffs by foreign studios) as a neutered way to imply violence. Just sounds funny to me.

I was not familiar with the term, but got the meaning from context. Still, was nice to have that meaning confirmed.

Back in the Jerky Boys era of the mid-nineties, “I beat him unmerciful” probably would have been the line of choice. Funny how these things work.

Or 3: The guy had literal brakes attached to his footwear and Ed beat them off to the point that the footwear was damaged beyond repair. :P

So, maybe the guy was on roller skates. ;)

For what it’s worth, I’m familiar with, and have only seen, the first meaning of that idiom.

Love the comic, thanks for all the good times.

Pro-tip, Ed. Maybe don’t spend your first date with a girl you’re into talking about how you’re a violent drunk…

:P

*Channels inner Reggie.*Snorts at ‘Low’ tolerance.

Right, because Ed is supposed to have a high tolerance for alcohol by default for no other reason than he is a man, never mind that everyone is built differently in terms of their alcohol tolerance by no choice of their own.

To continue the “inner reggie”:

No, he’s supposed to have a high tolerance because he’s a dwarf, and they have resistance to poison damage.

(of course, this is a joke, that will inevitably be taken poorly)

NGL i’ve only heard beat the breaks off em as a term for aggressively punishing kids(me i got my breaks beat off) so I’m just sitting here imagining Ed with some phrat boy over his knee spanking him after the aforementioned bro said something about his height while he was black out drunk.

Probably the only one though.

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