A calculation error made a rebus

Question

What does this little rebus mean?

14 0

Is fourteen wrong or what?

EDIT:

OK, there have been way too many answers, only a few having some reasonable match with the rebus. To avoid another flood of not-so-nicely-matched answers, here is a

Hint:

The "strike-through" (or whatever it's called), is not pronounced per se. It adds meaning. The rest is pronounced.

Another hint:

~~hit~~ 0, Jack

@Decypher, In English. Note that, just like many rebuses, it translates into a common idiom. — fffred, May 18 '16 at 12:15
Are the additional spaces added for better readability, or do they have a meaning? (The space before the 1; after the 4; and the additional space between the strike-through 14 and 0.) — Kevin Cruijssen, May 18 '16 at 12:55
@Kevin, Just for readability. The stroke above 14 was not visible enough. — fffred, May 18 '16 at 12:56
There is a saying in Romanian that translates literally to "It hurts in my fourteen". It means "I don't give a ... damn". So this could be it. since "giving a damn" could mean "zero damns given". (it involves 14 and zero). — Marius, May 18 '16 at 13:00
If the meaning of the strikethrough is pronounced, then the strikethrough is pronounced — question_asker, May 18 '16 at 17:39
Is there any significance to the "calculation" part of the rebus? Is it a coincidence that the numbers 0,1, and 4 could all look somewhat like letters when typed into a calculator and viewed upside down('O'=0, 'b'=4, 'i'/'L'=1)? — Matthew0898, May 18 '16 at 17:42
@Matthew0898 I would say that 4=h when viewed upside-down in a calculator... — , May 18 '16 at 17:49
@question_asker, whether the meaning is pronounced or not is a tricky and misleading issue. It makes sense as a whole, and I really believe the rebus is really a rebus. — fffred, May 18 '16 at 17:52
@fffred You can't say it's not pronounced to justify turning down an answer that interprets it as "not" if you're going to accept an answer that interprets it as any other word. — question_asker, May 18 '16 at 17:53
@Matthew0898, there is no such visual trick. It is just a plain rebus. Find a clever pronunciation, stretch it a tiny bit, and find an idiom. — fffred, May 18 '16 at 17:54
@question_asker, you're right, but I did not expect such close matches. I'm trying now to find a completion to the rebus that would rule out a few answers. — fffred, May 18 '16 at 18:12
Argh ! I definitely got it, but can't post an answer because the question is protected :( — Quentin, May 18 '16 at 20:10

score 40 · Accepted Answer · edited May 19 '16 at 09:47

40

How about

One for the road

because

you zero out one-four, or you have "one four zeroed". Stretching the pronunciation a bit (or using the Spanish theta), you get "one for the road"(or "one for ze road").

edited May 19 '16 at 09:47

cst1992

717
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17

answered May 18 '16 at 20:27

Scott M

1,630
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Phew, that took many answers, but well done ! – fffred May 18 '16 at 20:32
2

Did anyone else say this like N. Gin from Crash Team Racing?.... No, just me?! ok then. – LiamH May 19 '16 at 06:50
In Spanish, "z" sounds as the first sound of "thick". I believe your comment should in fact refer to the German-ish pronounciation of "the" ("ze"), which you mention later on. – legrojan May 19 '16 at 16:31

score 16 · Answer 2 · answered May 18 '16 at 13:18

16

Here's my guess:

Not one for small talk. Strikethrough 14 is not one for, and 0 is small talk. Kind of a stretch though

answered May 18 '16 at 13:18

Gordon Allocman

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Indeed, too much of a stretch, but there is some sort of evolution in the right direction. – fffred May 18 '16 at 13:20

score 13 · Answer 3 · answered May 18 '16 at 17:17

13

My first answer so hopefully I am doing the spoiler hiding thing correctly...

Not number one for nothing

answered May 18 '16 at 17:17

Owen J

131
3

oh wow, I think this is it. – question_asker May 18 '16 at 17:17
I'd be surprised if this wasn't it, nice job – Gordon Allocman May 18 '16 at 17:18
Nope, sorry guys :) The hint indicates that the strike-through is not pronounced. Here, is it pronounced as "Not". Maybe I should make the puzzle a little more specific ... – fffred May 18 '16 at 17:22
@fffred Well, I mean, this answer doesn't work because then it should be "Not number fourteen for nothing" ;) – Insane May 19 '16 at 22:06
@insane, it works if you pronounce 14 as "number one for" – fffred May 19 '16 at 22:21
@fffred Ohhh lol – Insane May 19 '16 at 22:21

score 7 · Answer 4 · edited May 18 '16 at 12:56

7

I think it translates to

Not for teens

edited May 18 '16 at 12:56

question_asker

9,631
1
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answered May 18 '16 at 12:56

Harshfi6

239
1
3

2

I thought this, but how does the 0 fit in? – question_asker May 18 '16 at 12:56
Incorrect answer, but nice attempt with the pronunciation. – fffred May 18 '16 at 12:59

score 6 · Answer 5 · answered May 18 '16 at 19:26

Here's an attempt to not use the strike-through as "not":

Have one for free

This potentially works because

we can imagine the line "halving" the fourteen -> "halve" -> "have" and then 0 could represent nothing which when talking about money would be equivalent to free.

score 5 · Answer 6 · answered May 18 '16 at 10:36

5

I think it means

Always be positive

Reasoning:

Original equation was $7 - 7$
Being positive and ignoring negatives, you made a calculation error and answered $14 (7 + 7)$ instead of $0$

answered May 18 '16 at 10:36

Mohit Jain

3,628
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Interesting idea, but does not fit the rebus well enough. – fffred May 18 '16 at 12:19
There is no information regarding the original equation. – user64742 May 19 '16 at 03:36

Scoranio · Answer 7 · 2016-05-18T16:22:17.807

4

Very similar to various answers but

You can't get something for nothing

Because:

1 = something
4 = for
0 = nothing
strikethrough = if these are the answer to an equation you would 'get' 14, and the strikethrough show that we can't get it

edited May 18 '16 at 16:22

answered May 18 '16 at 16:02

Scoranio

704
3
12

score 4 · Answer 8 · answered May 18 '16 at 16:04

4

A possibility:

Not one for naught

answered May 18 '16 at 16:04

Michael Richardson

151
1
5

That would be the first good (but coincidental) match. However, I never heard this idiom before ... Is it really used? – fffred May 18 '16 at 16:17
I think the actual idiom I was thinking of is Not for Naught. – Michael Richardson May 18 '16 at 16:23
Or maybe "All for naught" ? – fffred May 18 '16 at 16:23
"not for nothing" is common, so I imagine someone probably says "not for naught", but this rebus doesn't spell that – question_asker May 18 '16 at 16:33

score 4 · Answer 9 · answered May 18 '16 at 16:56

4

Guessing:

Take one for the team

Reason:

When editing a document, " 14 " would 'take out' "14".
The "0" might be visually representative of a huddled sports team.

answered May 18 '16 at 16:56

p.s.w.g

861
9
16

score 2 · Answer 10 · edited Sep 04 '18 at 04:58

2

I have to try this one!

Don't count your chickens before the eggs have hatched : you had 14 eggs that haven't hatched yet, so you counted 14 chickens, but then they all turned out to be ones without chickens, and you actually have 0 chickens!

edited Sep 04 '18 at 04:58

Yout Ried

1,987
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answered May 18 '16 at 12:50

Mayo

777
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Nice try ! +1 for the idea, but 14 is not any random thing. – fffred May 18 '16 at 12:51
Argh, time to search again ! – Mayo May 18 '16 at 12:52

score 2 · Answer 11 · answered May 18 '16 at 13:35

Probably very far'fetched, but:

Two (male) teens without girlfriends

because:

14 => Four teens split / divided => Two teens

I tried to come up with a suitable verb for the 0..

I interpreted the 0 as an O because:
"The modern numerical digit 0 is usually written as a circle or ellipse. Traditionally, many print typefaces made the capital letter O more rounded than the narrower, elliptical digit 0. Typewriters originally made no distinction in shape between O and 0; some models did not even have a separate key for the digit 0. The distinction came into prominence on modern character displays."

And found the following meaning for O'ing:
"If you've ever heard of the term "dinks" meaning "double income, no kids" , Oing is for males that have a decent paying job and are in the age range of 16-25 meaning "One income, No girlfriend". It stops at 25 because if you have no girl at 25, you're a loser."

The age-range of 16-25 also fits the term teens.

Man, I'm really impressed by all the ideas here, but this is not correct. I would not have replaced 0 by O just for fun anyway. The characters are chosen for good reasons. — fffred, May 18 '16 at 13:40
@fffred Well, two teens zeroing didn't made much sense, so I had to look in another direction. :) — Kevin Cruijssen, May 18 '16 at 13:42

score 2 · Answer 12 · answered May 18 '16 at 15:03

2

So, how about:

Not one for pi(e)? The O being a circle, so related to pi...

answered May 18 '16 at 15:03

phusen

21
1

Well, nice try, but still not quite there yet. A zero is not a circle, really. – fffred May 18 '16 at 15:10

score 1 · Answer 13 · answered May 18 '16 at 13:15

1

Partial answer :

Hold the fort : maybe it's related to the word fort, as 'fortnight' means '14 days'

answered May 18 '16 at 13:15

Mayo

777
4
11

1

Still not the answer ... :) – fffred May 18 '16 at 13:21

score 1 · Answer 14 · answered May 18 '16 at 15:09

1

My long shot:

A strike for nothing

answered May 18 '16 at 15:09

kamenf

6,506
1
24
45

1

I am unaware of this idiom. But anyway, what would the 1 be there for? – fffred May 18 '16 at 15:12
@fffred "A" and "One" are interchangeable. :) – kamenf May 18 '16 at 15:14

gannolloy · Answer 15 · 2016-05-18T16:08:25.003

1

New try

One for All

because

It's not one for nothing because there is a strikethrough, so the opposite would be one for all.

edited May 18 '16 at 16:08

answered May 18 '16 at 16:00

gannolloy

1,580
8
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Still incorrect. Try again :) With your explanation, "Not for" would have been simply a 4 stroke out. – fffred May 18 '16 at 16:04

A calculation error made a rebus

15 Answers15