Talk:red rag to a bull

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Tea room discussion[edit]

Note: the below discussion was moved from the Wiktionary:Tea room.

I wish to make an entry for this expression. The problem is that it does not always occur as "like a red rag...", and the entire phrase is too complex to be called a noun. (Or is it?) What does anyone suggest? -- ALGRIF talk 14:59, 24 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I'd put the entry at red rag to a bull, with a redirect from like a red rag to a bull. As for the header, "Phrase" or "Idiom" perhaps? Thryduulf 22:58, 24 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I was thinking of something like that, except that these headers are now deprecated, AFAIK. At least, they no longer appear in WT:ELE -- ALGRIF talk 12:14, 25 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Seems nounish enough to me (although I think one could be forgiven for using "Idiom" in this context). "Rag" is the head of the phrase, and both "red" and "to a bull" (="as perceived by a bull"?) are just specifying attributes of the rag. -- Visviva 12:26, 25 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
OK I'll take both your advices (this word really ought to be countable ;-)). Then if anyone disagrees, they can edit it as they see fit. Cheers. -- ALGRIF talk 12:50, 25 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
On checking further, I find that red rag without the "bull" is used a lot with the same meaning. This would make red rag to a bull the secondary etymology, and so now simply a special case. -- ALGRIF talk 13:04, 25 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
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