A: I was curious why my classmate gave himself a strange lucky number and wrote it on his student card. But when I heard the reason, I almost split my sides. B: What’s the number and what does it mean? A: The number is “54188,” which is similarly pronounced as the Chinese sentence meaning “I am your dad.” He superstitiously believes it will give him a superior power over other students. Note: This idiom means “to laugh uproariously or hysterically.” This hyperbole dates from the 17th century. Thomas Brown used it in “Saints in Uproar” (1687): “You’d break a man’s sides with laughing.” The word “split” came into use somewhat later. Dickens used it in “The Old Curiosity Shop” (1840), “He bade fair to split his sides with laughing.” |