Cloud of whale dust

Posted by Victoria S Dennis March 26, 2008 at 20:14:In reply to Cloud of whale dust posted by Brown on March 26, 2008 at 16:54:

Has anyone every heard the expanded expression, 'off like a herd of turtles in a cloud of whale dust'? My dad used to say that, but he passed before I ever got to ask him about it. Does anyone have a clue what a 'cloud of whale dust' is?

I've never heard the expression, but it seems to me that the point of the phrase is that it's pure nonsense. Whales don't have/make dust, any more than turtles thunder off in herds. (VSD)