Some expressions don’t stand the test of time because of changing technology.
“You can’t put toothpaste back in the tube”, for instance. That dates from the days when it came tin tubes (well, it was probably not tin but an alloy, I expect).
With plastic tubes, you can reintroduce a certain amount of toothpaste. It is only necessary to squeeze the tube in such a way as to create a potential vacuum, drawing the unrequired toothpaste back in.
I think it's important that people know this. Otherwise, having heard people say "You can't put toothpaste back in the tube", they might needlessly be discouraged from attempting so to do. There's too much negativity around.
You'll be telling us next that you can put the Genie back in the bottle.
ReplyDeleteToothpaste is about as ingenious as I can get.
ReplyDelete