Why do we gravitate toward odd phrases and expressions? Currently, sick as a dog fits pretty well (yeah, yucky ickiness and awfulness). It's entertaining to search and discover where these phrases come from, such as "raining cats and dogs" or "cute as a button" and even "couch potato." There's a story behind every one, though not always a story everyone agrees with. In my studies, I've learned that some phrases just appear and nobody knows where. I'm reminded of phrases we used in high school that apparently never made it beyond our school.
Personally, I think we enjoy coming up with phrases that embrace a whole lot of emotions in a few words. It's actually a way of connecting with others and sharing common experience. The idea has been shown many times, and the one that I think of immediately was in a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode where Captain Picard had to learn how to communicate with an alien who only spoke in phrases (so the universal communicator couldn't interpret correctly, because all it did was decipher the words and not the meaning), such as "Shaka, when the walls fell" (which we figure out means failure). It's a neat concept, and was a fun episode.
We also have our own private phrases--commonly called "inside jokes"--that allow good friends to communicate with subtle clues, gestures, and snarky words to completely mystify everyone else to the profound amusement of the participants. This is most fun at large gatherings, where people are most likely to wander away and shake their heads at you. It's even better when things kind of make sense, so people nod and smile, but have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. It's fun. You should try it!
- M
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