making onions

English translation: uncovering/adding layers of (hidden) meaning

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:making onions
Selected answer:uncovering/adding layers of (hidden) meaning
Entered by: Yvonne Gallagher

16:51 Jun 11, 2021
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Art/Literary - Slang
English term or phrase: making onions
"I don’t know, sometimes I think the Murphys . . . Well, you know, because it used to be the Ryans, didn’t
it? Maybe they’re afraid to move you up, you might have thoughts of restoring the old dynasty. And if you and Terri have a boy . . . a Murphy and a Ryan? I mean, come on.”
“I just want to make a living.”
“Don’t we all?” Peter laughed, and he let it drop.
Danny knew that Peter was making onions. He liked Peter, considered him a friend, but Peter was going to be Peter. And Danny had to admit there was some truth to what Peter said.

Irish mafia, Rhode Island, 1980s
Danny is a Ryan, married to a Murphy girl. The Ryans used to run the organization before, now it's the Murphys. Peter thinks that Danny's standing is too low.
allp
Poland
Local time: 07:55
maybe layers of meaning...
Explanation:
Like the others I have never seen this expression before but I don't believe it's about making anyone cry as you cry cutting onions NOT "making" them

I would imagine that the meaning is more linked to layers of the onion or layers of meaning or perspective.
Here it seems Peter is making some conjectures, possibly peeling off some layers of an onion to see what lies below.or adding some layers as to what may happen in the future

He tells Danny, a Ryan, that the Murphys might be afraid of giving him more status because they are afraid he "might have thoughts of restoring the old dynasty" (putting the Ryans back on top) and then he goes on to add another layer to the "onion" by asking what will happen when a child of the Ryan/Murphy union is born? Who will be on top then? The child would be a Ryan after all if it takes the father's name as is more usual


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Note added at 3 days 22 hrs (2021-06-15 15:01:49 GMT) Post-grading
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Glad to help and to see that you can ignore clueless "disagrees".

People often use the metaphor/expression "layers of an onion" to describe layers of hiden or underlying meaning so it's my best guess to the meaning here while taking the context into consideration.

here in psychotherapy
https://treehouserecoverypdx.com/addiction-blog/peeling-back...

or
e.g here in a different workplace context
https://workplaceinsight.net/the-benefits-of-peeling-back-th...

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Note added at 3 days 22 hrs (2021-06-15 15:39:26 GMT) Post-grading
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Exactly!
Selected response from:

Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Local time: 06:55
Grading comment
I think this is the best I can do with this guessing-game. Thank you
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
2making onions
Cilian O'Tuama
2 -1maybe layers of meaning...
Yvonne Gallagher
Summary of reference entries provided
David Hollywood

Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5
making onions


Explanation:
I’d never heard the expression before either, but the context suggests that here it means that poor Danny knows that rich Peter is resorting to (tear-inducing) onions to try to get Danny to feel better. For Danny’s sake, P is “pretending” to be no better off.

Cilian O'Tuama
Germany
Local time: 07:55
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Daryo: sounds to me like some Irish Mob specific slang - if you expect them to make it easy for outsiders to figure it out ...
22 hrs
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17 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5 peer agreement (net): -1
maybe layers of meaning...


Explanation:
Like the others I have never seen this expression before but I don't believe it's about making anyone cry as you cry cutting onions NOT "making" them

I would imagine that the meaning is more linked to layers of the onion or layers of meaning or perspective.
Here it seems Peter is making some conjectures, possibly peeling off some layers of an onion to see what lies below.or adding some layers as to what may happen in the future

He tells Danny, a Ryan, that the Murphys might be afraid of giving him more status because they are afraid he "might have thoughts of restoring the old dynasty" (putting the Ryans back on top) and then he goes on to add another layer to the "onion" by asking what will happen when a child of the Ryan/Murphy union is born? Who will be on top then? The child would be a Ryan after all if it takes the father's name as is more usual


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 days 22 hrs (2021-06-15 15:01:49 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

Glad to help and to see that you can ignore clueless "disagrees".

People often use the metaphor/expression "layers of an onion" to describe layers of hiden or underlying meaning so it's my best guess to the meaning here while taking the context into consideration.

here in psychotherapy
https://treehouserecoverypdx.com/addiction-blog/peeling-back...

or
e.g here in a different workplace context
https://workplaceinsight.net/the-benefits-of-peeling-back-th...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 days 22 hrs (2021-06-15 15:39:26 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

Exactly!

Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Local time: 06:55
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 24
Grading comment
I think this is the best I can do with this guessing-game. Thank you
Notes to answerer
Asker: Well, I've been considering it from every possible angle, from financial matters to rivalry and rocking the boat, and only one thing is certain: Peter is peeling off the layers of Danny's situation, so I'll stick to it.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Daryo: that kind of "onion" would be more the symbol for the Tor network - these are gangsters, not hackers.// what have hackers got to do with layers of an onion? You could take a look at what is the Tor network, for example?
12 hrs
  -> what have hackers got to do with layers of an onions and layers of meaning?

disagree  Serhan Elmacıoğlu: It doesn’t make sense
2 days 4 hrs
  -> and you'd know what "makes sense" in English? LOL ?? What doesn't make sense is your clueless disagree. Why not propose an answer since you seem so sure?
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Reference comments


3 hrs
Reference

Reference information:
Who's cutting onions in here meaning? In simple words it is “putting the blame on someone for your tears”

"making onions" is not a common expression in English but maybe somebody knows exactly what it means

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Note added at 3 hrs (2021-06-11 20:09:28 GMT)
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I certainly don't...

David Hollywood
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 8
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