20 English Idioms with Surprising Origins
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Transcript of 20 English Idioms with Surprising Origins
20 ENGLISH
IDIOMS WITH
SURPRISING
ORIGINS
20 ENGLISH
IDIOMS WITH
SURPRISING
ORIGINS
An idiom is a figure of speech that hasbecome fixed in a language. Usually, an
idiom is figurative in modern contextsbut once had a literal meaning. Theseliteral meanings, or idiom origins, canhelp a learner of English understand
where a phrase originated.
What is anIdiom?
Straight from the horse’s mouth1. Meaning: getting information directly from the most reliable source
Origin: This one is said to come from the 1900s, when buyers coulddetermine a horse’s age by examining its teeth. It’s also why you shouldn’t“look a gift horse in the mouth,” as inspecting a gift is considered badetiquette.
Let the catout of the bag2.
Meaning: to mistakenlyreveal a secret
Origin: Up to and includingin the 1700s, a common
street fraud includedreplacing valuable pigs with
less valuable cats andselling them in bags. Whena cat was let out of a bag,
the jig was up.
Buttersomeone up
3.
Meaning: to praise orflatter someone, usually
to gain a favor
Origin: A customaryreligious act in ancient
India includedthrowing butter balls atthe statues of gods toseek good fortune and
their favor.
Pulling someone’s legMeaning: teasing someone, usually by lying in a joking manner
Origin: Although pulling someone’s leg is all in good fun nowadays,it originally described the way in which thieves tripped their victims
to rob them.
4.
Wolf in sheep’sclothing
5.
Meaning: someone who ispretending to be something theyare not, usually to the detriment
of others
Origin: This one’s attributed tothe Bible (Matthew 7:15). TheBible also gave us “rise and
shine” (Isaiah 60:1), “seeing eye toeye” (Isaiah 62:8), and “broken
heart” (Psalm 69:20).
Hands down6.
Meaning: without a lot ofeffort; by far
Origin: Winning “handsdown” once referred to
19th-century horseracing,when a jockey could
remove his hands fromthe reins and still win therace because he was so
far ahead.
Riding shotgun
7.
7.
Meaning: riding in thefront seat of a vehicle next
to the driver
Origin: In the Wild West,the person who sat next to
the driver was oftenequipped with a shotgun
to kill any robbers thatmight happen upon the
coach.
8. Barking up the wrong treeMeaning: pursuing a misguided course of action
Origin: Likely referring to hunting, this saying explains when adog would literally bark at the bottom of the wrong tree afterthe prey in question moved to the next branch.
Flying off thehandle
Meaning: suddenly becomingenraged
Origin: This one is said to comefrom poorly made axes of the 1800sthat would literally detach from the
handle. Yikes!
9.
Cost an arm anda leg
10.
Meaning: extremelyexpensive
Origin: The story goes that thisphrase originated from 18th-century paintings, as famous
people like GeorgeWashington would have theirportraits done without certainlimbs showing. Having limbsshowing is said to have cost
more.
Sleep tight11.Meaning: used to tell someone to sleep well
Origin: One possible origin of this phrase dates back to whenmattresses were supported by ropes; sleeping tight meant sleepingwith the ropes pulled tight, which would provide a well-sprung bed.
Bite the bullet12.
Meaning: to perform a painfultask or endure an unpleasant
situation
Origin: In the 1800s, patientswould literally bite on a bullet to
cope with the pain of havingsurgery before anesthesia was
common.
Meaning: look for avoidable errors so you don’t remove something goodwith the badOrigin: This idiom allegedly comes from a time when the householdbathed in the same water; first, the lord would bathe, then the men, thelady, the women, the children, and the babies last. The bath water is saidto have been so dirty that there was a risk of throwing the baby out withthe water once everyone was done bathing!
13.Don’t throw the baby out with thebath waterDon’t throw the baby out with thebath water
Meaning: the moment when aform of entertainment reaches a
decline in quality by includinggimmicks to maintain interest
Jump the shark14.
Origin: In the show Happy Days,the character Fonzie literally
jumps over a shark while waterskiing; afterward, radio personalityJon Hein popularized the phrase“jump the shark” to describe the
decline of the show.
Minding yourPs and Qs
15.
Meaning: being on yourbest behavior
Origin: There are manyorigin stories for this one,
but perhaps the one that ismost fun is that bartenders
would keep track of thepints and quarts consumed
by their patrons with theletters “P” and “Q.”
Turn a blindeye
16.
Meaning: to consciouslyignore unwanted information
Origin: The phrase “to turn ablind eye” is said to originatewith Admiral Horatio Nelson,who allegedly looked throughhis telescope using his blindeye to avoid signals from hissuperior telling him towithdraw from battle.
Armed to theteeth
17.
Meaning: to be extremelywell equipped
Origin: The idea behindbeing “armed to the teeth”is that the weapon wielderwould carry the maximum
number of weapons, somany that he or she would
be forced to carry somebetween his or her teeth.
Get one’s goat
Meaning: to irritate or annoysomeone
Origin: This one also comesfrom horseracing. Jockeysplaced goats in the stableswith their horses as this was
said to relax the horses.However, competitors would
remove the goats of their rivalsto spook their competitors’horses, hoping they would
consequently lose the race.
18.
Pull out all the stopsMeaning: to do everything you can to make something successful
Origin: Alluding to the piano-like instrument the organ, this phraserefers to when the stops are pulled out to turn on all the sounds inan organ, allowing it to play all the sounds at once and, therefore,be as loud as possible.
19.
Dish fit forthe gods
20.
Meaning: a very scrumptiousor delectable meal
Origin: We can thankShakespeare for thisexpression (found in "JuliusCaesar"), but we can also thankhim for “foaming at the mouth”("Julius Caesar"), “hot blooded”("The Merry Wives ofWindsor"), “wearing your hearton your sleeve” ("Othello"), and“one fell swoop” ("Macbeth").
Thank You!Do you know of any
idioms in otherlanguages that you
think are interesting orfunny? Share them with
us on Facebook orTwitter!
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