You're sitting in a lecture, the professor is talking to himself and the slides aren't much help - in short, there's just one question mark in your head. Your fellow student speaks from your heart when she says that she only understands train stations.
In what context do you say “I only understand train stations”?
This expression is always used when you don't understand something. Since it's its own sentence, you can attach it anywhere, emphasizing your confusion.
Where does the phrase come from?
Supposedly “only understand the train station” dates back to the First World War. The soldiers combined the train station with the journey home, as they arrived and departed by train. The soldiers longed to return home so much that they answered every question with “I only understand the train station” because all they could think about was the journey home. This established the answer to questions that we cannot or do not want to answer.
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The exciting story behind this common saying
