破釜沉舟 or “break the cauldrons and sink the boats”; to commit oneself irrevocably
During the late years of the Qin Dynasty (221－206BC), Xiang Yu led a rebellion. After crossing the Zhang River, Xiang Yu ordered his men to sink all their boats and break their cooking pots. He issued each soldier three days’ rations and warned them that there was no way to retreat; the only thing they could do to survive was to advance and fight. After nine fierce battles, the Qin army was finally defeated.
The idiom is used to indicate one’s firm determination to achieve one’s goal at any cost.
the yankee “screwed the pooch” just fucking tickles me
I like “someone’s walking on my grave.” because of the implied supernatural chain of events, and because it’s so fuckin’ extra.
It means basically “I’ve got a feeling something bad will happen.” Someone’s walking where I’ll be when I’ll die, which gives me the supernatural ability to sense impending misfortune. It implies an almost delightfully mystical worldview that collapses the separation between life and death and the present and the future. Then there’s the it’s an anglo saying, but the yankee version “a goose is walking over my grave.” which ads an extra level of folksy.
Oh, and you say it when you get a sudden shiver that lets you know something bad will happen specifically. It’s the extra level of specificity that really does it for me.
