sitting on a thistle

"sitting on a thistle" means sitting on something thorny, stingy. The Thistle is a prickly plant , more like a thorn than a cactus. Sitting on it hurts the bottom.

中文：如坐針毯

At 5, I refused to say "Sister Suzie sitting on a thistle" because my sister's name was NOT SUZIE and it would hurt my sister's bottom to sit on a thistle anyway. Instead, I told my speech therapist I would say "Suzie's sister is ...
www.dooce.com/archives/daily_photo/12_19_2004.html - 51k -

Thistle is the common name of a polyphyletic group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp spines on the margins, mostly in the plant family Asteraceae.
The thistle, in particular Onopordum acanthium (the cotton thistle or Scotch thistle), is the national flower of Scotland, and is featured in many Scottish symbols and logos. Legend has it that a Viking attacker stepped on one at night and cried out, so alerting the defenders of a Scottish castle.

from wikipedia



圖片參考：http://www.scienceu.com/library/articles/flowers/images/small/thistle.jpg
Thistle or Bull Thistle
Cirsium vulgare

from google picture

Thistles are beautiful, but very very prickly, and can only be handled safely while wearing gloves. Look for them at the edges of roads and fields.


The phrase "sitting on a thistle" can be found in the following X'mas song. However, it has another underlying meaning in that song.









All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth
My two front teeth, My two front teeth
Gee, if I could only have my two front teeth
Then I could wish you, "Merry Christmas"

It seems so long since I could say
"Sister, Susie sitting on a thistle!"
Gosh, oh gee, how happy I’d be, if I could only whistle


The thistle is put there as a trick, and Susie sits on it unfortunately.
Here it means the child who's lost her two front teeth can't pronounce the the sound
as in " thistle ".

But I guess it's the following you're looking for.

Today, our message to the people is clear:If Scotland matters to you, make it matter in May.
Vote for Scotland’s Party and put Scotland back political centre stage.

That’s what saved the Govan Shipyard in 1999 and will save the Scottish
Regiments in 2005. It’s what delivered the Scottish Parliament and can now
bring home control of North Sea Oil. Make Westminster sit on a thistle and
see how they react.

http://www.snp.org/press-releases/2005/news.2780/

Here it has a double meaning. First, thistle being the national flower of Scotland
represents the Scotlands Party. If the Scotlands Party gets a seat in the Parliament,
the English party would definitely be uncomfortable, like sitting on a thistle,
and has to respond to Scottish demands.

坐在仙人掌上, 意思係可以解危險
我相信這個係slang