Don't "flush" when you mean to "flesh"
Eureka. You’ve got a great idea. So what do you do next? If you’re like most people, you say you’re going to “flush it out”. Why on Earth would you want to flush a perfectly good idea down the crapper?
Hard to say when “flush” pulled a Parent Trap on “flesh” and people started “flushing” out ideas. I blame the hunters.
To flush something out is to bring it out of hiding. It’s what hunters do, with guns cocked, done up in their finest camouflage. They’re fleshing out some fat quail or wily grouse from the brush.
But your idea isn’t in hiding. It needs to be built upon. It needs some flesh on its bones. Like an artist adds flesh to the skeleton of his sculpture.
Maybe Elmer Fudd, fresh from trying to flush out Bugs Bunny, was doing his business on the toilet when he had an idea to outsmart the rascally rabbit. (Don’t know if Loony Tunes characters are anatomically correct, but go with me here.)
Not being the brightest tool in the Looney Tunes shed, he said flush when he should have said flesh. And it being the ‘60s and all, everyone was watching network cartoons. No matter what set it in motion, let’s set the record straight:
The next time you’ve got the early rumblings of an idea, tell us you want to flesh it out. And if it’s a crappy idea? Go ahead and flush it.