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t1_jcsfmuc wrote

….but the implication of the phrase is that you started beating the horse while living, it died, and you’re still beating it

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t1_jcsroq4 wrote

[deleted]

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t1_jctglsp wrote

Uhhh no? The original comment is what the phrase is about.

Not sure how you managed to come to this conclusion.

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t1_jcthhh7 wrote

It's both. The rider rides the horse to death and is still hitting it with the riding crop to try and get something else out of the horse, but it's dead.

The phrase is used to say that you've covered all the potential material of a conversation and that continuing is pointless.... like beating a dead horse to get more work out of it.

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t1_jcu5hbc wrote

You got it. Hopefully people will read this and understand.

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t1_jcuci1f wrote

I'm surprised that there are this many people that don't understand

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t1_jcvgu57 wrote

I bet if you ask a lot of people where the source of expressions that they use came from they be completely clueless.

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t1_jcty3hs wrote

That is not at all the implication of the phrase. Stop making shit up.

Edit: You’re beating a dead horse. Where the fuck is the implication you were beating it before it died? I’ll wait for the downvoters to fill me in.

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t1_jcu6sdz wrote

“The origin of the expression ‘beat a dead horse’ comes from the mid-19th century, when the practice of beating horses to make them go faster was often viewed as acceptable. To beat a dead horse would be pointless, as it wouldn't be able to go anywhere.”

https://www.gingersoftware.com/content/phrases/beat-a-dead-horse/#

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flogging_a_dead_horse

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t1_jcu84u0 wrote

Yea, you seem capable of reading, but not comprehending. That doesn’t imply at all you were beating it until it died.

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t1_jcu90wk wrote

No need to be rude, I don’t recall being rude to you. If I came across that way, I apologize. 🙂

The opposite of beating a dead horse is beating a live horse.

The phrase, “beating a dead horse” means doing something that is accomplishing nothing.

So, beating a live horse means doing something that is accomplishing something.

The phrase has meaning because it’s implied the beater (or flogger) has just been doing something over and over again long passed the point of it being useful.

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