JovialJman - Morbid Sayings And Their Origins

Roses are red, and so is blood, it looks like death, hides in a flower bud.

Some things that we say on occasion and let our children say, may just have a very gruesome origin. Many are not definite, but it is interesting that there are these theories to some sayings and songs

Does that "cat have your tongue?"(... no, I am speaking, teehee). This famous saying that is told to people that are quiet when we expect them to be speaking has many theories to its origins, some include that in ancient times in Egypt, cats were very sacred animals, and when someone said something against the ruler, they would have the persons tongue cut out and fed to their cats. Another theory is that sailors were punished with a cat o' none tails, and the pain was so much that it left the sailors speechless. If you have no tongue, can you still "pay through your nose?" This means, today anyway, to pay something at a very high prices as you have no other option, (like masks and costumes the day before Halloween). The origin of this one is also rather unknown. One theory is that when the vikings where still around they made the Irish towns pay a tax, and those that did not pay said tax, they would slit the noses of the people there as a punishment and warning for others.

When trying estimate something, you can use "the rule of thumb." One theory for this one was a law that was said to exist that a husband may beat his wife as long as the stick he was using was no thicker then his thumb. I might be "pulling your leg", but it is one of the origins. Now to pull someones leg means to say something that wasn't true, and when revealing it you may say "I was just pulling your leg." But in the past, when people where robbing a house someone would be on stand by by the rooms of the owner of the house encase they were to wake up. Now this robber would literally pull the owners leg, forcing them to the ground where they could restrain them.

It was once a custom for rather sinister people to add weight to a persons chest to "press them for an answer", however today weights are not used, but we are still pressed for answers when we must give them in a short period of time. Now people in England a while back, did not press people for an answer when recruiting them to the army. "Bottoms up" means to finish your drink, but in England when people were recruiting for the war, these people would slip a coin into unsuspecting peoples drinks and they would not know until they were finished their drinks, and the recruiters said that they then accepted payment for joining the army. So bottoms up meant to lift your glass before drinking to check for this "payment"

When you have to face something you really don't want to, you must "bite the bullet" and just go and do it." This saying comes from time of war where soldiers that had wounds that needed to be treated and needed some sort of surgery, they were given a bullet to bite as there was no anesthetic back then that would have kept long enough to take to war. When a thief is caught in the act, is is said to be "caught read handed" even if their hands were not read. This originated in a time that it was illegal to butcher animals yourself at home, but having fresh meat was ok, so to arrest these people that were doing these butcherings they would have to be caught in the act with blood on their hands, thus "caught read handed" was a literal term.

After some one has sneezed, we say "bless you", but why do we say that? It turns out that medicine was not as amazing as it is today. When someone got sick, there was a good chance of them dying so since England was rather religious at this time, people would say bless you in case you were to die, and this was especially true during the plague. Speaking of which, the nursery rhyme that children around the world sing, has connections to the plague. "Ring around the rosy", was the rush that came when a person was infected by the plague, and those poises in the pockets was to make them smell nice as it was a belief at the time was that diseases where transmitted through bad smells, and when the people were dead, they would actually fall down, (how nice).

I hope you enjoyed the rather gruesome sayings and their origins. If you did, or would like to tell us anything, please do so in the comments, or on Facebook/Twitter. If you have any friends who like knowing useless things or likes to freak people out, please share this post with them as I am sure they would much appreciate it. If you would like to show your support or see more of our posts as they are published, please like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter, using the associated buttons on the bar to the left. Thank you for taking the time to read today's post and I hope you have/had an awesome day.

Stay healthy people.