What does the expression "feet of clay" mean?

[CanuckAmok]

I heard it used tonight, and it completely derailed me. It's not even in my Random House Dictionary of American Slang.

[murielm99]

1. It means that someone is flawed.

The person has weaknesses.

It is in the Bible somewhere. I will see if I can find it.

[murielm99]

4. Daniel 2:31-40

King Nebucadnezar has a dream. The image that appears in it is made of silver and gold, but has feet of clay.

[helnwhls]

2. that some one is human

that in accordance with Judea/Christian mythology, they have been formed from the same dirt as Adam and are guilty of having made mistakes.

[auntAgonist]

3. feet of clay Daniel 2: 31-40

http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19991001


Feet of clay means 'a weakness or hidden flaw in the character of a greatly admired or respected person'. The context might be: "He was disillusioned to find that even Lincoln had feet of clay."

The phrase is from the Bible (Daniel 2: 31-40). King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream. The image that appears to him has a head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, and legs of iron. The feet of this image are made of iron and clay. A stone hits the feet and the whole image breaks into pieces.

The prophet Daniel's interpretation of the dream is that Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold (a great king), but after him would come weaker kingdoms (like the image with feet of clay). These kingdoms would finally be replaced by the kingdom of God.

[intheflow]

5. Biblical reference.

You know what a translation of "Adam" is? dirt, clay. God breathed life into adam (clay) and gave the clay life. Adam's name is thus a play on words, meaning both man and dirt. When humans fall from grace, the expression calls them back to their humble beginnings.

I'll try and find the quote from Genesis.

Edited: here it is--

Genesis 2: 7-8
then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

[CanuckAmok]

6. DU is indeed the information clearinghouse!

n/t

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. It's from the Book of Daniel.

King Nebuchadnezzar dreamt of a statue made of gold and other metal, except that its feet were made of clay. In the dream, a stone crushed the clay feet causing the statue to fall over. Daniel interpreted this dream as prophesying the collapse of Nebuchadnezzar's empire. So what the phrase means is something that has a weak foundation.

[neebob]

14. I always figured if you had feet of clay

you would fall over. Assuming the clay was wet - but I guess it must be dry.

[autorank]

8. When Jesus met with Pilot alone, he reportedly said something

about how the Roman gods would be shown to have feet of clay. This was after Pilot gave Jesus some major shit, like saying "What is truth?" (great question). Jesus was pissed and laid the feet thing on him. This is actually some of most compelling dialog in the NT.

So who was the little rascal hiding outside listening to this private meeting?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

15. Was Pontius Pilot an early aviator?

[autorank]

17. No, just an avatar for misdirected colonialism.

[NYC]

9. Vulnerable.

A weak point.

[soothsayer]

13. nah, that's yer Achilles heel. Feet of clay means yer not what

yer cracked up to be. Generally yer idol has feet of clay. You think they're solid gold, but in fact....they've got feet of clay, so they're prolly just gold plated.

[NYC]

19. I agree with you.

I guess I should have said that which appears to be above and beyond vulnerability is vulnerable. I like the "gold plated".

[Kurt Remarque]

10. howlin' wolf blues song

[stopbush]

11. It means that your feet smell as bad as Clay Aiken's singing. n/t

[WritersBlock]

12. Pretty good book by Terry Pratchett. n/t

[HEyHEY]

16. It means shut the fuck up Canuck amok

;-)

[autorank]

18. Hey, I thought you Canadians were all about loving each other.