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| "Because, books equals wisdom! Right?" - OddballGreg |
Did you break the ice after you went the whole 9 yards, or did you grab the wrong end of the stick after getting up on the wrong side of the bed? Sayings are an very common part of our lives, and are a very interesting point of debate in terms of their roots. Lets talk about that.
If it is "raining cats and dogs" then you are in for a really strong rain. This saying has many different origins, the most popular being, the one from the 1500's where the houses commonly had thatch roofs and at the time pets weren't really allowed inside of the houses, and so they went into the thatch roofs for warmth. This meant that when it rained quite hard, the animals would slide down out of the that and if a person was looking out the window at the time, it would seem like it was raining cats and dogs. On the other hand, "going cold turkey" means to completely stop something abruptly. This is a reference to the the belief that when a patient was going through drug withdrawal, their skin became translucent and covered in goose bumps, which made it look like a plucked turkey.
To "give someone the cold shoulder" is a rather rude way of telling someone that they are not welcome. The origin on the other hand was a polite way in medieval England to tell people to go home. The host would offer people a cold piece of meat from the shoulder of the animal to let the people know they could go home. Then there is "eating humble pie" which is when you apologize and suffer humiliation with it. The beginnings of this one is from the Middle Ages during which the lords would eat the best cuts of meat and all the entrails and giblets, know as "umble", were given to the person of the lowest status, thus indicating their low status and thereby humiliating them.
"Going the whole 9 yards" is when you give everything you have, "110%" as they say. In the Second World War, the fighter pilots were given 9 yards of ammunition and if the used it all up, they were said to have "gone the whole 9 yards". Of course, "breaking the ice" with someone is to start conversation or to initiate a friendship. Before planes and trains were around, the best way to trade items over long distances was by ship. During the winter months, these ports were wont to suffer as the big ships would get stuck in the ice around them in which case a smaller ship would often go and break a path through the ice for the larger ship to follow through. This allowed business to once again commence in those ports.
When you "spill the beans", this means that you are telling someone something that should be a secret. In ancient Greece, the way to vote for people entering various organizations, was to place a white bean, (yes or agree), or black bean, (no or disagree), into a container. If someone was to tip over the container with the beans, either by accident or on purpose, and thereby reveal the results of the vote, and essentially "spill the beans" on the confidential result.
Then there is to "sleep tight", in which case you were to have a good night's sleep. In the time of Shakespeare, the mattresses were held to the frame with string. and to make the mattress more firm you had to tighten the strings, thus the term sleep tight came about as the mattress was tightly held to the frame. Now in the morning you could "wake up on the wrong side of the bed." wherein someone has woken up grumpy or is rather unfortunate on that morning, and is thereby in a rather foul mood as a result. Also during Shakespearean times, people believed that things to the left and things that pertained to the left were considered sinister, so the house maids often used to push the bed right up against the wall in guest bedrooms so you had to get up on the right side of the bed to avoid a sinister start to the day. ("Fun fact: the Latin nickname for 'lefty' is 'sinistro' which literally means sinister, strangely meaning that people who were left handed were considered inherently sinister" - OddballGreg)
In any case, did you know about the origins of any of these sayings; or perhaps know of some sayings with interesting origins yourself, please let us know down in the comments below or over Facebook/Twitter. Also, do you have any friends or relatives that enjoy general knowledge or simply like knowing useless facts, if so, please share this with them as I am sure they would appreciate the thought. If you would like to show your support for TCSA and/or see the newest posts as they are published, please like us on Facebook and/or follow us on Twitter. Thank you for taking the time to read today's post, and I hope you have/had a really good day. I shall write again overmorrow.
Sleep tight buddies.
