Wet behind the ears

[zorasuperman]

lol as much as i like lois, her metaphors/comparisions have me confused sometimes; when she pushes clark out of the door to not shake hands with sebastian, she says (after clark leaves i believe) he is still wet behind the ears? wat exactly is that meaning? does that mean he is like a doggy? lol someone please explain

[susangail]

Wet behind the ears = new at the job

She does spin the metaphors, that's for sure.

[SparkleforSmallville]

Susan is right. I believe the term comes from new born puppies or kittens being wet behind the ears.

[Jade4813]

It's a pretty common saying, I should think...

I do think the Smallville writers sometimes overdo the metaphors and what not. Sometimes I feel like I need a decoder to work my way through conversations. Admittedly, this happens quite frequently with Chloe, who does tend to use overcomplicated and often mixed metaphors.

What was the episode...Committed, I think, didn't have any of that kind of convoluted conversation, and I really enjoyed it. And then the next episode it was back and it was rather jarring. :lol: Oh well.

[svtwamedfan05]

Lol, alot of sayings have double meanings on Smallville but this one was clear.

[SparkleforSmallville]

Yeah, some of the things, Chloe and Davis said in Prey!
I had to listen to about 3 times.LOL

[FlashInSV]

I like Lois metaphors most of the time..Or should I say, I like ED's delivery of the said metaphors. I rarely do not understand what she's saying (cause English is my second language) and when I don't, I look it up. But I think the writers may be overdoing it with the metaphors in Lois' lines this season.

[OneShotClois]

I love how Lois uses so much metaphors and how she delivers them. But, to be honest, there's a lot of times I don't know what she means :P

[quinny06]

I agree, I think the metaphors and quips have been a little hit and miss with both cousins in the last couple of seasons. I think Chloe had such witty ones in the early seasons, as Lois did in Seasons 4-5. But now it just seems like the writers are trying too hard.

[SteveS]

lol as much as i like lois, her metaphors/comparisions have me confused sometimes; when she pushes clark out of the door to not shake hands with sebastian, she says (after clark leaves i believe) he is still wet behind the ears? wat exactly is that meaning? does that mean he is like a doggy? lol someone please explain

That phrase is one used in the 1930s or 1940s and would well understood by viewers of old movies or even those who read possibly the Superman comics of that time. And someone else has already defined the phrase, it means inexperienced.

[petitemimi]

^^ Right. Every time I see an expression I don't get, I go there:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/

Very useful.

[individuall]

I think both cousins tend to over do the metaphors sometimes...Maybe it's a family trait? ;) But I got the 'wet behind the ears' saying...But sometimes I do have to go back and listen to certain conversations...

[DontCha]

that saying is ancient, she is not 50 she's in her 20's she wouldnt be saying ish like that

[DestinyAw8s]

It could be a regional thing. I know I've used that saying and more throughout my lifetime (I'm getting up there hehe). But both my daughters, 27 and 17 respectively, know exactly what this, and many, many other metaphors, mean. Also, they are both avid readers, so that might have helped somewhat. But I still hear this used to describe someone new to the job. I actually heard it used in reference to a not-so-new employee a while back. From her supervisor who is younger than me! He was just a tad aggravated though. lol

[Bizarrolover]

This is the meaning I found at http://www.answers.com/

Also, not dry behind the ears. Immature, inexperienced, as in How can you take instructions from Tom? He's still wet behind the ears, or Jane's not dry behind the ears yet. This term alludes to the fact that the last place to dry in a newborn colt or calf is the indentation behind its ears. [Early 1900s]


We have a similar saying here (only in Spanish) but it's usually heard in the countryside, never in the big cities. I thought it was odd that Lois, a city girl would say that, but it applies perfectly to Clark, the farmboy who has just left the farm.

[FinnHarp]

I understand most of what Lois says except for when she talks about something or someone who wouldn't really be known outside of America. Like in an episode recently she was talking about baseball and threw out some names and things and I had no clue what she was saying although generally I can get the jist of what she's trying to say.

[SupesComicFan]

Personally, I think Lois' metaphors make more sense than Chloe's in the first three season. I used to call Chloe "popculturereference Chloe" and she annoyed the heck out of me.

Wet behind the ears is a well-know (to American English-speaking people) and HAS been used since the '40's.

[asellus]

I love all the clever metaphors! Where else would I get to hear and learn them?

[Sunny8]

^^ Right. Every time I see an expression I don't get, I go there:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/

Very useful.

Thanks for this reference. I know what 'wet behind the ears' means but I couldn't figure out what Lois meant in Instinct when she told Clark he should look outside his wheel house (urban dictionary meaning: The mind; inside the head, like if someone had a little mouse spinning in a wheel inside their head.)

Evidently Clark didn't know what she was talking about either because he tells her he did not know that he had a wheel house.:lol:

[Pesk]

^ Thanks Sunny8. I was wondering what a wheel house was. :)

[Wicked Lois]

Its good that we are always learning something new with Lois, arent we?

[drvr8]

One of the character traits of Lois Lane though, through all depictions, is to have very obscure references or metaphors when she speaks. ED's Lois has more modern references than others of the past (i.e. Stop acting like I'm Jabba the Hut - very odd reference since Jabba actually fed his personal dancer to his pet and she was the dancer in the scene). But yeah I could see how the baseball references Willie Mays (NY/SF Giant) Hall of Fame baseball player being jealous of a bat boy and Clark and her getting along like a Red Sox & Yankee fans. Those two baseball teams have a rich rivalry going far back, Red Sox traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees or actually sold him and then a so called curse was placed on them - the Sox didn't win a championship for like 80 years. So the two teams fans hate one another and there have been at least one or two violent acts committed by fans of the teams on one another.

[Wicked Lois]

Bike and Harley...=]

[LoveHurts38]

Bike and Harley...=]

And Sweet Vanilla and Wild Cherry:D

[Wicked Lois]

NHAA... you gotta love Lois.

"Jimmy is a regular Cyrano"