cat : bag :: dish : ?

[fflo]

That is, if one has some dish, as in "dish the dirt," that one has been heretofore mum about, and one shares it, that's letting the cat out of the bag (as the expression goes), or, in parallel metaphor, letting/getting the dish out of the what? the cabinet? the oven? I guess if we're dishing dirt as in serving portions of it up to people, the cabinet might be the answer. But if it's been baking, it could be dish (or a dish) just out of the oven---a dish heretofore uncovered (untold) OR covered (up), depending how you look at it, so covered dish or uncovered dish, maybe in some funny 9"-by-13" casserole carrying basket... ? Fresh hot dish, sufficiently baked or at least out of the oven now, so there for diners, ready or not?

I dunno---I think maybe the serving up of portions in clean dishes out of the hutch works better. Have an opinion?

[Poll #591635]

Comments

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

When you dish the dirt on someone, the dirt is the dirty secret or the dirty laundry. The dirt is the secret, no the dish, and so the dirt is analogous to the cat. I proposed cat:bag::dirt:dish as my answer, but that's not exactly right. When you dish up a whole mess of grub, you scoop the nameless food out of a serving dish onto a plate or into a bowl, right? I guess the verb to dish does imply the existence of a serving dish noun, though.

Why do I feel the desire to expound on this at such length? I don't know, but if you feel that ranting excessively on figures of speech might indicate a character flaw to someone who has power over me, then you've got the dirt on me, and might want to dish the dirt to that person in power if you were of a malevolent mind.

[disclaimerwill.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I had the same feelings about the dirt. Maybe it's a dirty dish, so it'd be cat : bag :: dish : garden? Like, the dish was in the garden, gettin' all dirty? Maybe you put it there with, say, a small amount of beer in it to drown slugs, but the rain washed the beer away and now it's just all dirty? So you're letting the dish out of the garden.

Wait- what?

[fflo.livejournal.com]

The dish is in the garden
Gettin' real dirty
The queen is in the counting house
Acting real flirty

[fflo.livejournal.com]

I think the dish is also the dirt in that we talking of having some dish to, well, dish. That which is to be dished being "dish."

Hearing the word "dish" in my head over and over again makes for a funny effect. One dish, two dish, red dish, blue dish; I dish, you dish, we all dish for dished dish.

I like that you seem to assume I am not of malevolent mind. I like to think I'm not, too, as you might imagine.

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

One dish
Two dish
Red dish
Blue dish
This one has a little star
This one has a little car
My what a lot of dish there are.

I'm thinking that there is a regional difference in usage for this expression. I've never heard of anyone having the dish on someone or having some dish on anyone. I've always heard of having the dirt or some dirt on a person, and "dish" only came into play as a verb describing what you did with the dirt.

Hmmm.

[fflo.livejournal.com]

might be subcultural---as in queer. queeny, a bit, to speak of the dish, maybe.

[wednes.livejournal.com]

I would think that the dish refers to the food being served, and not the actual dish that sits in the cupboard in a stack. Therefore, you would probably let the dish out of a pyrex casserole or perhaps some corningware.

[fflo.livejournal.com]

Corningware... yes... this is the key to the whole shebang, perhaps.

[wednes.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's not just for green bean casserole anymore.