To “know something like the back of one’s hand” is to know it very well. A student joke applies this expression to a human anatomy test.
“Going to Anatomy. I know this like the back of my hand. Easy A here I come!” was posted on Twitter on August 29, 2008. “I’ve studied Basic Human Anatomy so much that I know it like the back of my hand” was posted on Reddit—Jokes on May 26, 2017.
Wiktionary: know like the back of one’s hand
Verb
know (something) like the back of one’s hand
1. (transitive, idiomatic) To be intimately knowledgeable about something, especially a place.
Twitter
Jennifer Beese
@bottlethecrazy
Going to Anatomy. I know this like the back of my hand. Easy A here I come!
7:26 AM - 28 Aug 2008
Twitter
Q.
@thedancindoll
the spine is divided into 3 parts- cervical, thorasic and lumbar. @ericallanjr (u know I know anatomy like the back of my hand.)
12:44 PM - 25 Sep 2009
Twitter
Alfonso Noad
@fonzo54
Feeling pretty good. Just studied my anatomy lab stuff and seem to kno it like the back of my hand. Both real pics and book diagrams
8:12 PM - 31 Jan 2010
Twitter
Patience
@_patiencee_
anatomy tests suck. :( staying up to study ‘til i know this stuff like the back of my hand.
10:23 PM - 12 Jan 2011
Twitter
B A L E I G H
@begrace_ful
done studying for anatomy…i know it like the back of my hand…imma ace this test. #studied #prepared #ohitfeelsgoodtobepreparedforatest
11:36 PM - 19 Sep 2011 from Demopolis, AL
Twitter
Sara Pavich
@SayPavich
“I need to know anatomy like the back of my hand. Except we haven’t done limbs yet so I’ll say like the inside of my thorax.” -Meghan Melina
8:45 PM - 6 Feb 2012
Twitter
Simone’ Josephe’ ♈️
@_bitterSWEETme
My summer goal is to know this anatomy and physiology book like the back of my hand before the fall comes around ! 🤓
12:03 PM - 11 May 2017
Reddit—Jokes
I’ve studied Basic Human Anatomy so much
submitted May 26, 2017 by abandonvp
I know it like the back of my hand.
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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