student asking question

What does "snakes and stones" refer to?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

"Snakes and stones" is a play on the expression "sticks and stones might break my bones, but words will never hurt me." I am unsure why she changed the phrase from "sticks" to "snakes." This phrase means that someone may be able to hurt you physically but you cannot be hurt by his or her mean words.

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