APAD: Use your noodle


The phrase "use your noodle" simply means "think about it.".

To noodle (around) on something, while it does make use of the noodle (= head), may derive from the regional German nudeln, to improvise a song, or from the late-19th-century Scottish sense of noodling as humming a song to oneself. By 1937, to noodle was to fool around with notes to create music. By 1942, perhaps by association with the doodle (a loose, free-associating drawing), it acquired the broader sense of messing about with words or ideas without a clear goal.

What is it about food and the human head that makes them constant companions? The head has been called the noodle, the loaf, the bean and other food-related terms, although they didn't all begin as food references.

When the 16th-century painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo created heads from artfully assembled fruits and vegetables, he divined the truth that we are what we eat. Shakespeare's head-related insults included tripe-visaged (having a face like a cow's stomach) and beef-witted. In his book Carnal Knowledge, Charles Hodgson says even the Old English word for head, heafud, "is thought to have been pronounced something like 'hey-ya-food.'"

From 1720, a noodle was a stupid person, but nobody is sure how that idea emerged.  By 1762, the noodle referred to the head itself, stupid or otherwise. Laurence Sterne used it in Tristram Shandy: "What can have got into that precious noodle of thine?"

- source: edited from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/language-use-your-noodle-old-bean/article4381047/#
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Came across the phrase by accident. One WXC blogger-friend I knew posted a post recently with humorous sentences to represent the alphabet, but only the first 11 (from A to K) of them.  I found it funny, so tried to add on under his post for letters "LMON", and then found "noodle" 鬼臉

See: https://blog.wenxuecity.com/myblog/76782/202409/23106.html

Wish you all a happy Tuesday with a noodle dance! ;-)

Note “The Noodle Dance” is a song and dance routine performed by (and possibly created by) Peanut, Jelly, and Baby Butter in "PB&J Otter" to help them think of ideas when they are stuck on a problem.

 

 

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Is it a more civilized form of this? my guess -移花接木- 給 移花接木 發送悄悄話 移花接木 的博客首頁 (81 bytes) () 10/01/2024 postreply 06:16:46

4thisOne, I don't need2noodle on it, but rather use myHeart: -最西邊的島上- 給 最西邊的島上 發送悄悄話 最西邊的島上 的博客首頁 (1071 bytes) () 10/01/2024 postreply 06:32:22

Not even my dict'ries cover 'noodle on.' Great to learn! -7grizzly- 給 7grizzly 發送悄悄話 7grizzly 的博客首頁 (0 bytes) () 10/01/2024 postreply 09:16:56

I passed many English exams w/o knowing the simple 'noodle' -7grizzly- 給 7grizzly 發送悄悄話 7grizzly 的博客首頁 (0 bytes) () 10/01/2024 postreply 09:20:32

me2, thought it's a typo 1st, and ended up having a typo -最西邊的島上- 給 最西邊的島上 發送悄悄話 最西邊的島上 的博客首頁 (0 bytes) () 10/01/2024 postreply 10:00:15

myself ;-)) but funny both noddle&noodle r inMerriam-Webster -最西邊的島上- 給 最西邊的島上 發送悄悄話 最西邊的島上 的博客首頁 (0 bytes) () 10/01/2024 postreply 10:02:29

AHD also lists "to catch or try to catch a fish, usually a -7grizzly- 給 7grizzly 發送悄悄話 7grizzly 的博客首頁 (0 bytes) () 10/01/2024 postreply 10:22:48

catfish by hand, ..." as the meaning of an intr. verb. -7grizzly- 給 7grizzly 發送悄悄話 7grizzly 的博客首頁 (0 bytes) () 10/01/2024 postreply 10:23:40

Thx!, yes, see noodling: fishing for catfish in wiki. Wait -最西邊的島上- 給 最西邊的島上 發送悄悄話 最西邊的島上 的博客首頁 (100 bytes) () 10/01/2024 postreply 10:45:35

there is NoodleTown inTexas; Is a guide4theCable onBikeBrake -最西邊的島上- 給 最西邊的島上 發送悄悄話 最西邊的島上 的博客首頁 (0 bytes) () 10/01/2024 postreply 10:48:10

and so on ... how fascinating ;-)) -最西邊的島上- 給 最西邊的島上 發送悄悄話 最西邊的島上 的博客首頁 (0 bytes) () 10/01/2024 postreply 10:51:10

Good to know. Head is so much to do with food -天邊一片白雲- 給 天邊一片白雲 發送悄悄話 天邊一片白雲 的博客首頁 (0 bytes) () 10/01/2024 postreply 15:03:32

Yes we r what we eat! U should b proud 2 b a wonderful cook -最西邊的島上- 給 最西邊的島上 發送悄悄話 最西邊的島上 的博客首頁 (0 bytes) () 10/01/2024 postreply 16:01:00

Interesting! Thanks for sharing! -暖冬cool夏- 給 暖冬cool夏 發送悄悄話 暖冬cool夏 的博客首頁 (0 bytes) () 10/01/2024 postreply 22:11:07

TY 暖冬! in YosemiteNP, noCellServiceMostTime,&wifi is spotty. -最西邊的島上- 給 最西邊的島上 發送悄悄話 最西邊的島上 的博客首頁 (0 bytes) () 10/02/2024 postreply 03:23:02

But the natural beauty is priceless :-) See -最西邊的島上- 給 最西邊的島上 發送悄悄話 最西邊的島上 的博客首頁 (238 bytes) () 10/02/2024 postreply 03:37:18

謝謝西島!玩得開心! -暖冬cool夏- 給 暖冬cool夏 發送悄悄話 暖冬cool夏 的博客首頁 (0 bytes) () 10/02/2024 postreply 09:01:53

Hahaha... The Globe and Mail has been my favourite since... -stillthere- 給 stillthere 發送悄悄話 stillthere 的博客首頁 (24 bytes) () 10/02/2024 postreply 22:29:46

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