Beating a Dead Horse, Tilting at Windmills, and Universal Studios

I Hate Talking · Jan 22, 2026 · 41m · transcript

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In episode 91 of I Hate Talking, the hosts tackle another word or phrase of the episode—this time the idiom “beating a dead horse.” After clarifying its proper form (“beat a dead horse”) and meaning—wasting energy on a lost cause—they explore its 19th‑century origins and related alternatives such as “chasing rainbows” or “tilting at windmills,” the latter traced to Don Quixote (1615). Their lighthearted detour even touches on modern misquotes, like “get the horse in the water,” and how mangled idioms can slip naturally into everyday speech.

Then, in the latest installment of…