Gift Horse
I put some stuff in the foyer of my building with a sign that said “free to good home.” So I’m out there surveying the damage a few hours later – rejoicing that someone was silly enough to take my junk home with them when the guy down the hall comes in. He said “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth” and I said “Huh?” more of out “What does that mean?” then “What did you say?” So he repeated it as he vanished into his office. So what DOES that mean? "Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth." What’s a gift horse? And why shouldn’t one be checking out its mouth? I so confused!
Comments
Heh! You look in a horse's mouth to examine its teeth. If they're nice, healthy teeth, you've got a good animal. If they're worn down or in bad shape, the horse probably isn't such a healthy specimen. Basically, the saying means that when someone gives you a gift, you don't analyze it to see if it's up to snuff. You just accept it gratefully.
I haven't the faintest clue what your neighbor meant, however. Bizarre...
LOL, the stuff was of no use whatsoever - that's why I was trying to give it away. :) I was very surprised and happy to see that someone actually took some!!
He's the same guy that said that when it was stormy the internet didn't work because the signal can't get through all that stuff in the atmosphere. So I'll just chalk it up to weird old bald guy.