Hit with a fish

[sweet_n]

"he looked at me like I'd hit with a fish"

is it an idiom? and what is the origin of the phrase?

thanx

[Tdol]

I think it would be 'like I'd hit him with a fish', and it just sugests shock- being hit with a fish isn't very appealing.

[rewboss]

I've not heard that saying before, but hitting someone with a fish is not a very normal thing to do. How do you think someone would react if you hit them with a fish? They'd probably just stare at you in shock and surprise, because it would be totally unexpected.

It is possible that the writer was thinking of a Monty Python sketch about the "fish-slapping dance". Two men face each other on the shore of a lake (or something), and the fish-slapping dance music starts up. One of the dancers dances around in time to the music and slaps the other repeatedly in the face with two small fish. Then the other man produces a very big, heavy fish and wallops the first man with it, knocking him into the water.

[Tdol]

It's not a saying that I have heard, so I think it's just an individual's usage.

[sweet_n]

thank you, tdol and rewboss!
I searched google for this phrase, and it's used quite often. Actually the origin remains mystery

[Tdol]

What did you Google for- there aren't that many examples, and it has not been recognised as an idiom: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/resu...d=fish&x=0&y=0

[sweet_n]

http://www.google.ru/search?hs=zj2&h...1%81%D0%BA&lr=

quite many, I think. May be it'll becom an idiom. Some day

[rewboss]

866 hits is not "many" -- not for Google.

This Google search turns up a more respectable 74,000 hits, but most have "hit" and "with a fish" in different parts of the text.

[sweet_n]

Ok, not many. Still you can't say the phrase is a rarity, if you search "hit me with a fish", "hit her with a fish" and so on and sum it up

[Tdol]

Maybe it will become an idiom- we'll have to see.