Not To Be Taken Literally.

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Terms one takes literally but one is not supposed to take literally.

"Pull your socks up"

It just needs some elbow grease

When we were younger I used to tell my brother to "knock it off", and then he'd pretend to knock my head off my shoulders.

Mom passed me a glass plate.
Mom: "Hold this for a second."
Me thinking One then drops the plate and it shatters.

Someone saying they have "one in the oven" is a funny saying to mean that they are pregnant and should not be taken literally, even if the person who just said so is a real witch.

That's what I once saw in a Far Side cartoon where there are two witches. They look like your stereotypical fairy tale- type witches, old, ugly, wearing pointy hats, they sitting in a house, and one of them is smiling at the other witch, who looks excited. The excited witch says "You're pregnant? That's wonderful! At first I was taking you literally when you said you had one in the oven."

Because as most of us know, fairy tale-type witches have a reputation for cooking and eating children.

Your eyes are bigger than your stomach.

Her: do you want ice cream or cake?
Me: Yes.

(Applying logical mathematical definition of "or" - if the answer to either option is "Yes" the result of the "or" operator is "Yes". Literally: "Yes, I do want ice cream or cake.").

"Break a leg".

Apparently people would say this to wish people good luck when they about to perform on stage because when you do wish for good luck, bad luck is what you end up getting. So maybe wishing for bad luck, like breaking a leg, will bring good luck instead.

I guess a lot of other people are wishing for good luck in the world right now.