Kind of an odd saying, I'm 100% sure Newcastle uses gas for their grill and not a single fast food place uses charcoal grills. If you brought coal to Newcastle, they would have no use for such a thing.
this post was submitted on 25 May 2024
63 points (97.0% liked)
Asklemmy
43747 readers
1272 users here now
A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions
If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!
- Open-ended question
- Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
- Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
- Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
- An actual topic of discussion
Looking for support?
Looking for a community?
- Lemmyverse: community search
- sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
- [email protected]: a community for finding communities
~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
Did you mean White Castle?
Oh shit I got confused...
In my defense, I've never heard of Newcastle until today.
That is the funniest response I've seen all week.
Holy shit 😬
It's an archaic saying but that doesn't mean that the meaning has been lost.
Almost the entire industrial revolution was coal powered and the most common fuel for heating homes was coal. Coal used to be an extremely popular and useful commodity.
Edit: I now see that you thought the town of Newcastle was the fast food chain White Castle lol. I did wonder why you were going on about grills!
What??
We also use "taking coals to Newcastle" here in the Midwestern U.S. (Something about being descended from former British colonies...) But I've heard plenty of riffs on that idea, like, "bringing corn to Iowa."
In Poland it is „nosić drewno do lasu” (bring wood to the forest). Similar, but a bit different (pointless not just by being pointless, but by being impossible): „nie zawrócisz kijem Wisły” – 'you won't turn Vistula (our biggest river) with a stick'.
Same in Czech. Nosit dříví do lesa.
For the second one we have "z hovna bič neupleteš" = you can't weave a whip out of a shit.
We have the same about a shit whip – „z gówna bata nie ukręcisz”
Bringing juggalos to SXSW
Throwing gas on the fire
I don't think that's what that's supposed to mean.
I feel like the closest in the deep south is just "preaching to the choir". A redundant task which ignores a probably better path or explaining something to someone who doesn't need it explained to them.
Taking sand to the beach.
In Spanish we have "llevar leña a la montaña" (take firewood to the mountain) as well as "llevar hierro a Vizcaya" which is take iron to Vizcaya, a city in Spain
Taking weed to BC (Canada)
I'm in the midlands and never heard that phrase but I have heard taking ice to the eskimos, which might be offensive now.
"Selling sand in sahara."
We would say ag tabhairt liúdar go Toraigh (carrying coalfish (pollachius virens) to Tory Island)
Or ag cuimilt saille/blonóige de thóin na muice méithe (rubbing lard on a fat pig's arse)
Ceann amháin eile: cloch go Conamara
Bringing even more 
flags to :estonia-cool: especially in the last 2 years. The flags and colours are bloody everywhere and not one has been removed.
What does Ukraine have to do with Estonia and why is it burning?
Or is your entire meaning just fucked up by your formatting?
Bringing sand to Sahara
Ice to Eskimos in the eastern us. Yes, I know Eskimo isn't preferred but that didn't stop Nana.
Guess we're getting pretty far from the "things to place" idea, but there's always "preaching to the choir"
Same, or "he could sell igloos to eskimos" to describe an especially skilled salesman.
I've heard "It's like selling ice to Eskimos" used in the context of the OP
Yeah, I've only ever heard it in the "he could sell..." formulation.
I think "selling ice to Eskimos" is the American equivalent. Naturally, the 
version of this phrase: 1) involves an exonym that's a bit offensive 2) kinda makes doing a pointless exercise sound like a good thing.
kinda makes doing a pointless exercise sound like a good thing.
Does it really?
To me it sounds like something that would be hard or impossible and stupid to even try. Kinda like taking coal to Newcastle is pretty stupid and you will lose money doing it.
Hexbear has some awesome emojis, lol. I haven't seen the flag burning one yet.
When I first heard this phrase, Andy Cole was playing for Newcastle and it was very confusing to me wee mind... Cole's to Newcastle what?
Taking guns to America?
I had to look it up and apparently it's "mencurahkan garam ke laut" a.k.a. "bringing salt to the sea" (Indonesian)
What does the phrase mean?
It means to pointlessly take something to a place that already has it in abundance.
view more: next ›