"pins & needles"?

[David Bergdahl]

Me too--while I do associate the term with "an arm or leg falling asleep"
its metaphorical usage is much more prevalent--that's the usage I responded
to as "heard it all my life."

--On Thursday, October 10, 2002 12:03 PM -0400 Beverly Flanigan
<flanigan at OHIOU.EDU> wrote:

> At 10:40 AM 10/10/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>> David Bergdahl writes:
>> > Nope--heard it all my life (I grew up in the 40s and 50s on suburban
>> > LI)
>> >
>> > --On Thursday, October 10, 2002 8:52 AM -0400 sagehen
>> > <sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM> wrote:
>> >
>> >> In describing the state of alarm & nervous expectation experienced by
>> >> people in the D.C. area because of the recent sniper shootings, a
>> >> reporter on NPR this morning used the expression  "on pins & needles"
>> >> where I'd have expected "on tenterhooks."  Anyone else find this odd?
>> >> A. Murie
>>   ~~~~~~~
>> I wasn't questioning the viability of "pins & needles" (usually occurring
>> in reference to restoration of feeling after numbing, for instance), just
>> this particular context.
>> AM
>
> The restoration of feeling usage is minor, I suspect; my only acquaintance
> with the phrase is metaphorical.



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