I don’t know whether anyone else ever thinks about things like this, but have you ever wondered what the phrase “flogging a dead horse” actually means? Of course, the phrase works as a metaphor for doing something pointless, or to continue to do something when there’s no hope of success, yet what strikes me as slightly curious is that the word “flog” has two meanings. It can mean beating someone very harshly, often as a punishment; or it can mean selling something. Both meanings obviously apply in this case: it would be just as pointless to beat a horse which has already died as it would be to try to sell it. What does the phrase actually mean then? Where might it have come from? Or is asking such questions just flogging a dead horse?

Just one of those quirks of the English language which prick my interest from time to time.