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Body Part Cliches

The missing words in these popular idioms are body parts. Guess what they are.
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: March 18, 2014
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First submittedJuly 28, 2011
Times taken114,350
Average score80.0%
Rating4.34
4:00
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 / 30 guessed
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Cliche
A bird in the hand is worth
two in the bush
Blood is thicker than water
Through gritted teeth
Two heads are better than one
Got off on the wrong foot
On bended knee
Shake a leg
Toe the line
In one ear and out the other
A sight for sore eyes
Cliche
Nose to the grindstone
As dry as a bone
By the sweat of one's brow
Have a chip on one's shoulder
Have a frog in one's throat
There's more than
one way to skin a cat
Thorn in one's side
Joined at the hip
Albatross around one's neck
Strike a raw nerve
Cliche
Don't look a gift horse in the mouth
Long arm of the law
You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours
Cut off your nose to spite your face
Rule with an iron fist
Cross one's heart and hope to die
Five-finger discount
The way to a man's heart is
through his stomach
Play one's cards close to the chest
Slap on the wrist
+3
Level 41
Jul 28, 2011
i like this one!! 100%
+4
Level 23
Jul 28, 2011
Dry as a bone is the only one I've never heard.
+2
Level 31
Jun 18, 2016
As someone who does watersports this is the one I here most often
+1
Level 26
Aug 20, 2016
I knew that one from watching "A Christmas Carol" (the one starring George C. Scott) when they play the game "similes."
+2
Level 64
Mar 30, 2021
I watch that with my family every Christmas.
+5
Level 66
Feb 24, 2017
I've heard "bone dry" but not "dry as a bone," so I didn't think of it. Only one I missed.
+4
Level 46
Oct 12, 2020
Yes, why this not Dry as a dead dingo's donger?

That's the standard phrase, surely.

+1
Level 70
May 5, 2022
true poetry
+1
Level 28
Jul 28, 2011
28/28
+1
Level 65
Aug 12, 2011
got em all
+1
Level 28
Aug 26, 2011
Nose?
+1
Level 15
Aug 26, 2011
71%
+1
Level 44
Jan 29, 2012
100% 2:29 left.
+1
Level 44
Feb 6, 2012
2:45 left 100%
+1
Level 77
Mar 12, 2012
Could not figure out brow but I got 100% with 5 seconds left
+1
Level 16
May 17, 2012
100% Almost didn't get bone, though
+1
Level 19
Jul 2, 2012
Yes! I almost didn't get bone either - I kept thinking of mouth - then it's so obvious once you spot it. Durrgghhh!!
+3
Level 37
Nov 2, 2012
I'm surprised so many people haven't heard of the bone reference. The only one that hung me up for a second was "toe the line"... I would have sworn it was "tow" (as in tow truck), I had to look it up afterwards to make sure.
+5
Level 34
Nov 2, 2014
I only guessed it right because of Dry Bones from the Mario series
+1
Level 38
May 22, 2013
100% 3:20 left! Nice quiz! :)
+1
Level 54
Aug 9, 2013
100%
+1
Level 55
Apr 9, 2014
I'm sure it's TOW the fine, not toE the line.
+12
Level 67
Apr 10, 2014
And you're surely wrong.
+1
Level 35
Jul 20, 2016
Survey says?...

X

+3
Level 57
Aug 20, 2016
TOE. Reference to athletics - get close to the starting line.
+3
Level 75
Feb 24, 2017
Yes, stop one's toe at the line, not over the line - in other words, follow the rules, don't cheat. "You'd better toe the line from now on, or you're fired."
+2
Level 47
Oct 31, 2018
toe the line come from making sailors on a warship line up for inspection I believe. They would be told which line on the deck to put their toes to in order to form a straight line.
+2
Level 75
Aug 7, 2019
I thought it was from when they had to introduce a line on each side of the house of commons which the MPs were not allowed to step over. So that's 3 different origins of the phrase put forward so far...
+1
Level 75
Jan 24, 2024
The lines in the House of Commons are traditionally 2 swords' lengths apart - nothing to do with toes.
+1
Level 28
Apr 9, 2014
Ohh! With four seconds left I pulled out 100%!
+1
Level 24
Apr 13, 2014
I think I did pretty good considering I always get clichés wrong!
+2
Level 70
May 5, 2022
it's not rocket surgery!
+3
Level 71
Oct 11, 2014
Good quiz, btw 'Shake a leg' comes from the English Navy in the old sailing ship days, the men would be asleep in their hammocks and the sailor in charge of changing of the watch would stir the men by shouting 'Shake a Leg' and the sailors would have to put a leg out of the hammock and shake it to show they were awake! (Truth is stranger than fiction)
+2
Level 42
Jun 4, 2015
I agree about it being a Royal Navy expression originally, but I always understood the reason for it was to ensure no women were left on board, in the hammocks, on the morning the ship was due to sail.
+1
Level 45
Oct 17, 2014
Everyone knows that the way to a person's heart is through their stomach... or about two centimeters to the right of their sternum.
+1
Level 23
Dec 5, 2014
i got 18/30, which i find quite good, but i only beat 14% of u guys. Anyone explain to me how u guys know this and i dont?
+1
Level 56
Jun 27, 2015
Got all except strike a raw nerve. Should have got it but in the UK the phrase is more usually simply to hit a nerve. Good quiz.
+1
Level 12
Oct 17, 2015
I've never heard of playing your cards close to your chest.
+2
Level 75
Oct 31, 2018
I've always heard it as "close to the vest"
+1
Level 67
Mar 2, 2016
Slap on the back is also a phrase.
+2
Level 60
Sep 14, 2016
As I said elsewhere, the much more common expression is "PAT on the back." "Slap on the wrist" is a lot more common than "slap on the back."
+2
Level 59
Jun 25, 2020
I missed wrist. Tried back, face & knee (even though taken elsewhere) butt, bum, buttocks, thigh, ... cheek ... sigh.
+3
Level 31
Jun 18, 2016
Slap on the back? Slap on the Head? No?
+1
Level 67
Aug 7, 2019
I tried slap on the... Back, head, cheek, butt, etc. Only one I missed.
+1
Level 59
Jun 25, 2020
face, cheek, butt/bum ...
+1
Level 41
Aug 8, 2016
I was convinced it was "shake a fist"...
+1
Level 72
Aug 20, 2016
Good quiz. Never heard by the sweat of one's brow. I've heard wipe the sweat from your brow, but not 'by the sweat of one's brow'
+2
Level 75
Feb 24, 2017
It's from the Old Testament, Genesis 3:19.
+3
Level 51
Aug 20, 2016
As Barry Mackenzie used to say "As dry as a nun's nasty"
+1
Level 57
Aug 20, 2016
Never heard five-finger discount - must be American. What does it mean?
+2
Level 63
Aug 22, 2016
To steal something
+1
Level 45
Aug 22, 2016
I'd never heard it before either and I'm American. Thanks for the definition OfTheMountain.
+2
Level 73
Dec 6, 2018
It may be used in the United States, but it isn't used only here. The first time that I remember hearing it was on the very old BBC show, "Are You Being Served" when they had a shoplifter in the store.
+3
Level 57
Aug 20, 2016
"Thumb a ride" = hitchhike?
+3
Level 24
Aug 20, 2016
I thought the phrase was "tow the line" not "toe the line". I still got it but I was a bit thrown.
+1
Level 65
Aug 23, 2016
I really thought it was tow the line as well!
+2
Level 34
Aug 20, 2016
Great quiz! Thanks :) I"m sick of all the geography ones!
+1
Level 60
Sep 3, 2016
Maybe you could take a few sports ones. There's a ton of those too.
+1
Level 60
Sep 3, 2016
Great quiz! I had never heard playing your cards close to the chest, but I got all the others in a reasonable amount of time and then spent 20 seconds or so thinking of that one. I tried cheek, face, table (yes, even table) and a couple of other things before finally getting it. Yay!
+2
Level 65
Dec 7, 2016
Me too. Thought of some body part I didn't already use, then tried chest and bingo!
+1
Level 80
Oct 27, 2016
Shouldn't it be 'tow' the line? In the UK, at least, 'toe' is the digit of the foot and 'tow' is the verb. If that varies elsewhere, could 'tow' be accepted anyway? Thank you.
+3
Level 66
Dec 20, 2018
1. tow isnt a body part 2. the saying is about a toe, that thing from your foot
+2
Level 55
Feb 24, 2017
I don't know any of these , just typed random body parts
+1
Level 32
Feb 24, 2017
18/30 as a brazilian. Not bad.
+3
Level 37
Feb 24, 2017
I just love it when someone unfamiliar with a phrase refuses to just acknowledge his lack of familiarity and let it stop there. No, he then

has to interpose HIS interpretation of the (admittedly) unfamiliar phrases. BREAK A LEG is exclusive (or was originally) to those

in the theatre and meant GOOD LUCK. SHAKE A LEG means

(and has always meant) HURRY THE HELL UP!

+1
Level 25
Dec 1, 2017
I always thought it was slap on the thigh.
+1
Level 43
Dec 1, 2017
Most of the ones I accidentally answered when guessing were the ones I didn’t know.
+1
Level 49
Jun 3, 2018
100%
+2
Level 42
Sep 5, 2018
"Strike a nerve" is also a common way to say it. I've never heard "raw" placed there.
+1
Level 66
Dec 20, 2018
exactly what I came here to say, the raw threw me, without it I would ve gotten it immediately but now it hadnt even crossed my mind
+1
Level 63
May 5, 2019
Thirded.

That "struck a nerve."

or

That "hit (or touched) a raw nerve."

+1
Level 66
Dec 20, 2018
I couldnt get the slap one. Slap on the back, slap on the shoulder, slap on the head, slap on the thighs?. Bum? ass? surely not..
+2
Level 73
Aug 6, 2019
Not sure why most people think "tow" the line...the phrase comes from people walking close to (as in putting your toes right up to it) an imaginary line without crossing it.
+1
Level 45
Aug 6, 2019
Got them all, but I never heard "albatross around ones neck" nor "strike a 'raw' nerve".
+1
Level 85
Aug 6, 2019
See Coleridge.
+1
Level 42
Aug 7, 2019
100% with 1:43 left!!! And I'm only 2 months old!!
+1
Level 52
Aug 7, 2019
Slap on the face? Slap on the butt?
+1
Level 72
Aug 10, 2019
Hard to believe no one's made this comment in 8 years, but... Is blood really a body part?
+1
Level 60
Jun 12, 2023
It's not a part of your body? It's certainly a part of mine.
+1
Level 40
Sep 8, 2019
I think all the ones I didn't get are pretty much exclusively American:

On bended knee

Shake a leg

Five-finger discount

By the sweat of one's brow

+2
Level 59
Jun 25, 2020
Sweat of one's brow, as has been noted in comments, is of biblical origin so definitely way before America and way way before United States.

I am more than sure all the others except five finger discount, are well in use in UK.

+4
Level 56
Apr 19, 2020
You know you're Australian when... instead of any body parts all your brain will supply for the prompt "As dry as a.." is "dead dingo's donger." Managed get 'bone' eventually though. :)
+3
Level 65
Dec 12, 2020
What about "shake a tailfeather." It doesn't say it has to be a human body, so that should fit too.
+2
Level 64
Mar 30, 2021
I would have gotten the nerve one if it didn't include the word "raw." That threw me off.
+5
Level 57
Dec 5, 2021
Where's "tit for tat" or "balls in your court"?
+5
Level 67
Dec 6, 2021
I always thought of that one as a tennis ball...
+4
Level 76
Dec 7, 2021
Great quiz. I'm now thinking palm reader, glass jaw, tongue-in-cheek, turn the other cheek, shoot from the hip, dancing cheek to cheek, elbow grease, bird brain, etc.
+3
Level 33
Dec 8, 2021
Splitting hairs, too.
+1
Level 36
Jan 23, 2023
What about 'turn the other cheek?'
+1
Level 63
Jun 6, 2023
Or to vent one's spleen? Nobody includes the spleen so I worry it might feel left out.
+1
Level 33
Jun 6, 2023
dude EPIC pwnGE i new all my body parts was kinda of surprised to not see all the other body parts i also know though hatever i guess thats how quizzes go on this websAITE lolLOL
+1
Level 67
Jun 7, 2023
Please don't skin the cat :/
+1
Level 49
Feb 4, 2024
I got 22, and then realized that I had heard of every single one I missed. Not my best quiz.