What does “crust of a rhinoceros” mean?












1















I've been reading Thank You, Jeeves by PG Wodehouse and couldn't understand what he meant by "The man must have the crust of a rhinoceros".



Is this British slang? Can somebody explain to me what this means?










share|improve this question




















  • 1





    It probably means hide. The hide of a rhino is thick and hard to penetrate. If he has a think hide it means that he does not understand nuance at all (to put it mildly). To get through to him you have to hit him over the head with a two by four (to use another idiom) even to get his attention.

    – ab2
    Dec 9 '18 at 22:12


















1















I've been reading Thank You, Jeeves by PG Wodehouse and couldn't understand what he meant by "The man must have the crust of a rhinoceros".



Is this British slang? Can somebody explain to me what this means?










share|improve this question




















  • 1





    It probably means hide. The hide of a rhino is thick and hard to penetrate. If he has a think hide it means that he does not understand nuance at all (to put it mildly). To get through to him you have to hit him over the head with a two by four (to use another idiom) even to get his attention.

    – ab2
    Dec 9 '18 at 22:12
















1












1








1








I've been reading Thank You, Jeeves by PG Wodehouse and couldn't understand what he meant by "The man must have the crust of a rhinoceros".



Is this British slang? Can somebody explain to me what this means?










share|improve this question
















I've been reading Thank You, Jeeves by PG Wodehouse and couldn't understand what he meant by "The man must have the crust of a rhinoceros".



Is this British slang? Can somebody explain to me what this means?







british-english sentence-meaning






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited Dec 10 '18 at 1:50









Chappo

2,73451225




2,73451225










asked Dec 9 '18 at 22:05









Daniel_VDaniel_V

83




83








  • 1





    It probably means hide. The hide of a rhino is thick and hard to penetrate. If he has a think hide it means that he does not understand nuance at all (to put it mildly). To get through to him you have to hit him over the head with a two by four (to use another idiom) even to get his attention.

    – ab2
    Dec 9 '18 at 22:12
















  • 1





    It probably means hide. The hide of a rhino is thick and hard to penetrate. If he has a think hide it means that he does not understand nuance at all (to put it mildly). To get through to him you have to hit him over the head with a two by four (to use another idiom) even to get his attention.

    – ab2
    Dec 9 '18 at 22:12










1




1





It probably means hide. The hide of a rhino is thick and hard to penetrate. If he has a think hide it means that he does not understand nuance at all (to put it mildly). To get through to him you have to hit him over the head with a two by four (to use another idiom) even to get his attention.

– ab2
Dec 9 '18 at 22:12







It probably means hide. The hide of a rhino is thick and hard to penetrate. If he has a think hide it means that he does not understand nuance at all (to put it mildly). To get through to him you have to hit him over the head with a two by four (to use another idiom) even to get his attention.

– ab2
Dec 9 '18 at 22:12












1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes


















4














Crust in English slang means impertinence, according to Collins English Dictionary. You have to scroll quite far down to find this meaning.



YourDictionary.com gives the slang meaning as




5.Slang audacity; insolence; gall




In my comment, I said that crust of a rhino probably meant a thick hide that was impervious to subtlety or nuance; that one would have to hit him over the head with a two by four to even get his attention.



This is consistent with the dictionary definitions above, but with a slightly different emphasis. Someone with the crust of a rhino has a lot of gall, and is oblivious of how offensive he is, or simply does not give a damn what other people think.






share|improve this answer























    Your Answer








    StackExchange.ready(function() {
    var channelOptions = {
    tags: "".split(" "),
    id: "97"
    };
    initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

    StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
    // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
    if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
    StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
    createEditor();
    });
    }
    else {
    createEditor();
    }
    });

    function createEditor() {
    StackExchange.prepareEditor({
    heartbeatType: 'answer',
    autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
    convertImagesToLinks: false,
    noModals: true,
    showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
    reputationToPostImages: null,
    bindNavPrevention: true,
    postfix: "",
    imageUploader: {
    brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
    contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
    allowUrls: true
    },
    noCode: true, onDemand: true,
    discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
    ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
    });


    }
    });














    draft saved

    draft discarded


















    StackExchange.ready(
    function () {
    StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f476321%2fwhat-does-crust-of-a-rhinoceros-mean%23new-answer', 'question_page');
    }
    );

    Post as a guest















    Required, but never shown

























    1 Answer
    1






    active

    oldest

    votes








    1 Answer
    1






    active

    oldest

    votes









    active

    oldest

    votes






    active

    oldest

    votes









    4














    Crust in English slang means impertinence, according to Collins English Dictionary. You have to scroll quite far down to find this meaning.



    YourDictionary.com gives the slang meaning as




    5.Slang audacity; insolence; gall




    In my comment, I said that crust of a rhino probably meant a thick hide that was impervious to subtlety or nuance; that one would have to hit him over the head with a two by four to even get his attention.



    This is consistent with the dictionary definitions above, but with a slightly different emphasis. Someone with the crust of a rhino has a lot of gall, and is oblivious of how offensive he is, or simply does not give a damn what other people think.






    share|improve this answer




























      4














      Crust in English slang means impertinence, according to Collins English Dictionary. You have to scroll quite far down to find this meaning.



      YourDictionary.com gives the slang meaning as




      5.Slang audacity; insolence; gall




      In my comment, I said that crust of a rhino probably meant a thick hide that was impervious to subtlety or nuance; that one would have to hit him over the head with a two by four to even get his attention.



      This is consistent with the dictionary definitions above, but with a slightly different emphasis. Someone with the crust of a rhino has a lot of gall, and is oblivious of how offensive he is, or simply does not give a damn what other people think.






      share|improve this answer


























        4












        4








        4







        Crust in English slang means impertinence, according to Collins English Dictionary. You have to scroll quite far down to find this meaning.



        YourDictionary.com gives the slang meaning as




        5.Slang audacity; insolence; gall




        In my comment, I said that crust of a rhino probably meant a thick hide that was impervious to subtlety or nuance; that one would have to hit him over the head with a two by four to even get his attention.



        This is consistent with the dictionary definitions above, but with a slightly different emphasis. Someone with the crust of a rhino has a lot of gall, and is oblivious of how offensive he is, or simply does not give a damn what other people think.






        share|improve this answer













        Crust in English slang means impertinence, according to Collins English Dictionary. You have to scroll quite far down to find this meaning.



        YourDictionary.com gives the slang meaning as




        5.Slang audacity; insolence; gall




        In my comment, I said that crust of a rhino probably meant a thick hide that was impervious to subtlety or nuance; that one would have to hit him over the head with a two by four to even get his attention.



        This is consistent with the dictionary definitions above, but with a slightly different emphasis. Someone with the crust of a rhino has a lot of gall, and is oblivious of how offensive he is, or simply does not give a damn what other people think.







        share|improve this answer












        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer










        answered Dec 9 '18 at 22:29









        ab2ab2

        24k95995




        24k95995






























            draft saved

            draft discarded




















































            Thanks for contributing an answer to English Language & Usage Stack Exchange!


            • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

            But avoid



            • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

            • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


            To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




            draft saved


            draft discarded














            StackExchange.ready(
            function () {
            StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f476321%2fwhat-does-crust-of-a-rhinoceros-mean%23new-answer', 'question_page');
            }
            );

            Post as a guest















            Required, but never shown





















































            Required, but never shown














            Required, but never shown












            Required, but never shown







            Required, but never shown

































            Required, but never shown














            Required, but never shown












            Required, but never shown







            Required, but never shown







            Popular posts from this blog

            Wiesbaden

            Marschland

            Dieringhausen