Does anyone have any idea where the phrase "at it like knives" might have come from? It means the same as "at it like rabbits", but with a less obvious (to me, anyway) reason...

(except for one thing I found on google, which applied it to a whole percussion section, and I don't *think* he was talking about the same thing.)

I encountered it in a Terry Pratchett speech, and apparently it's in one of his books, too. There are various uses online, but I've never heard it!



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Do something pretty while you can...

As sharp knives have sometimes been described as having "keen" edges I suspect that this expression derives from the other meaning of keenness, i.e. eagerness, which is clearly implied in that context.

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"This was willed where what is willed... can get rather silly."

Possible... the other ideas we've come up with are sheathing a knife, or repeatedly stabbing...

have you heard it before?



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Do something pretty while you can...

Sheathing ties in with a certain Roman word for a sword sheath, on which no doubt someone could give us a monologue.

Don't tempt PSD - he probably has the Latin!



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That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah