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Sayings- Don't look a gift horse in the mouth
Updated: 17 Feb 2012
Don't look a gift horse in the mouth
Meaning
Don't be ungrateful when you receive a gift.
Origin
Proverbs are 'short and expressive sayings, in common use, which are recognized as conveying some accepted truth or useful advice'.
This example, also often expressed as 'never look a gift horse in the mouth', is as pertinent today as it ever was.
As horses develop they grow more teeth and their existing teeth begin to change shape and project further forward.
Determining a horse's age from its teeth is a specialist task, but it can be done.
This incidentally is also the source of another teeth/age related phrase - long in the tooth.
The advice given in the 'don't look...' proverb is: when receiving a gift be grateful for what it is; don't imply you wished for more by assessing its value.
As with most proverbs the origin is ancient and unknown. We have some clues with this one however. The phrase was originally "don't look a given horse in the mouth" and first appears in print in 1546 in John Heywood's A dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the prouerbes in the Englishe tongue, where he gives it as:
"No man ought to looke a geuen hors in the mouth."
Heywood is an interesting character in the development of English. He was employed at the courts of Henry VIII and Mary I as a singer, musician, and playwright. His Proverbs is a comprehensive collection of those sayings known at the time and includes many that are still with us:
- Many hands make light work
- Rome wasn't built in a day
- A good beginning makes a good ending
and so on. These were expressed in the literary language of the day, as in "would yee both eat your cake, and have your cake?", but the modern versions are their obvious descendents.
We can't attribute these to Heywood himself; he collected them from the literary works of the day and from common parlance. He can certainly be given the credit for introducing many proverbs to a wide and continuing audience, including one that Shakespeare later borrowed - All's well that ends well.
See also - 'straight from the horse's mouth'.
See other - phrases and sayings from Shakespeare.
See also: the list of Proverbs.
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Sayings- Butterfingers-coined by Charles Dickens
Updated: 10 Feb 2012
Butterfingers
Meaning
A name playfully applied to someone who fails to catch a ball or lets something slip from their fingers.
Origin
In the week of the bicentenary of Charles Dickens' birth (7th February 1812), I thought it would be nice to include a phrase coined by him.
It ought not to be too difficult to find one, after all, Dickens ranks sixth on the 'number of English words coined by an individual author' list.
Passing over contenders like 'slow-coach' and 'cloak and dagger' I alighted on 'butterfingers', which several authorities say was invented by Dickens.
Not quite a phrase but, as it was coined as the hyphenated 'butter-fingers', it's close enough.
Dickens used the term in The Pickwick Papers (more properly calledThe Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club), 1836:
At every bad attempt at a catch, and every failure to stop the ball, he launched his personal displeasure at the head of the devoted individual in such denunciations as 'Ah, ah! - stupid' - 'Now, butter-fingers' - 'Muff' - 'Humbug' - and so forth.
It seemed as though that was all there was to say about the word/phrase but, as I usually like to add a little more, I delved further. The British Library's excellent new database of 19th century newspapers turned up a reference to 'butter-fingers' in the Yorkshire newspaperThe Leeds Intelligencer dated May 1823.
Pre-Pickwick, clearly. Looking closer, it appeared that the writer was quoting from what he called 'a scarce book' - The English Housewife.
Delving again, I found that the book, written by the English writer Gervase Markham in 1615, scarce as it may have been in 1823, is still available today. Markham's recipe for a good housewife was:
'First, she must be cleanly in body and garments; she must have a quick eye, a curious nose, a perfect taste, and ready ear; she must not be butter-fingered, sweet-toothed, nor faint-hearted - for the first will let everything fall; the second will consume what it should increase; and the last will lose time with too much niceness.
Markham's views aren't quite what would be accepted now, any more than his remedy for the plague - 'smell a nosegay made of the tasselled end of a ship rope', but he does at least make it clear that 'butterfingers' was in use in 1615 with the same meaning we have for it today, that is, someone likely to drop things - as if their hands were smeared with butter, like a cook's.
Many of the later examples of 'butterfingers' in print relate to the game of cricket, which was and still is the principal ball-catching game in England. The term is often used as an amiable taunt when someone fails to make an easy catch. As the word spread to other countries, notably America, it was taken into the language of the local catching game, i.e. baseball, and 'no-hoper' teams were unkindly given that name. The Salt Lake Tribune reported on such a team in May 1899:
'The Butterfingers will cross bats with the Salt Lake Juniors at Calder's Park Tuesday'.
As for Dickens, he may have missed out on 'butterfingers' but he has many other words and phrases to lay claim to, and he did write some exceedingly good books.
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Sayings- A morning star sign ?
Updated: 04 Feb 2012
Chris Angel showed how this worked on one of his shows, but it was still kind of surprising.
Once you have opened this e-mail, there is no turning back.
Below are true descriptions of zodiac signs.
Read your sign and then forward it on, with your zodiac sign on the subject line.
This is the real deal, try ignoring or changing it and the first thing you'll notice is having a horrible day, starting tomorrow morning -
and it only gets worse from there.
AQUARIUS - The Sweetheart (Jan 20 - Feb 18) Optimistic and honest. Sweet personality... Very independent. Inventive and intelligent. Friendly and loyal. Can seem unemotional... Can be a bit rebellious.. Very stubborn, but original and unique. Attractive on the inside and out... Eccentric personality. 11 years of luck if you forward.
PISCES - The Dreamer (Feb 19 - Mar 20) Generous, kind, and thoughtful.. Very creative and imaginative. May become secretive and vague. Sensitive. Doesn’t like details. Dreamy and unrealistic. Sympathetic and loving. Kind Unselfish. Good kisser. Beautiful. 8 years of good luck if you forward.
ARIES - The Daredevil (Mar 21 - April 19) Energetic. Adventurous and spontaneous. Confident and enthusiastic. Fun. Loves a challenge. EXTREMELY impatient. Sometimes selfish. Short fuse. (Easily angered..) Lively, passionate, and sharp wit. Outgoing. Lose interest quickly - easily bored. Egotistical.. Courageous and assertive. Tends to be physical and athletic. 16 years of good luck if you forward.
TAURUS - The Enduring One (April 20 - May 20) Charming but aggressive. Can come off as boring, but they are not. Hard workers. Warm-hearted. Strong, has endurance. Solid beings that are stable and secure in their ways. Not looking for shortcuts. Take pride in their beauty. Patient and reliable. Make great friends and give good advice. Loving and kind. Loves hard - passionate. Express themselves emotionally. Prone to ferocious temper-tantrums. Determined. Indulge themselves often. Very generous. 12 years of good Luck if you forward
GEMINI - The Chatterbox (May 21 - June 20) Smart and witty. Outgoing, very chatty. Lively, energetic. Adaptable but needs to express themselves. Argumentative and outspoken. Likes change. Versatile. Busy, sometimes nervous and tense. Gossips. May seem superficial or inconsistent. Beautiful physically and mentally. 5 years of bad luck if you do not forward.
CANCER - The Protector (June 21 - July 22) Moody, emotional. May be shy. Very loving and caring. Pretty/handsome. Excellent partners for life. Protective. Inventive and imaginative. Cautious. Touchy-feely kind of person. Needs love from others. Easily hurt, but sympathetic. 16 years of bad luck if you do not forward.
LEO - The Boss (July 23 - Aug 22) Very organized. Need order in their lives - like being in control. Like boundaries. Tend to take over everything. Bossy. Like to help Others. Social and outgoing. Extroverted. Generous, warm-hearted. Sensitive. Creative energy. Full of themselves. Loving. Doing the right thing is important to Leos. Attractive. 13 years of bad luck if you do not forward.
VIRGO - The Perfectionist (Aug 23 - Sept 22) Dominant In relationships. Conservative. Always wants the last word. Argumentative. Worries. Very smart. Dislikes noise and chaos. Eager. Hardworking. Loyal. Beautiful. Easy to talk to. Hard to please. Harsh. Practical and very fussy. Often shy. Pessimistic. 7 years of bad luck if you do not forward.
LIBRA - The Harmonizer (Sept 23 - Oct 22) Nice to everyone they meet. Can't make up their mind Have own unique appeal. Creative, energetic, and very social. Hates to be alone. Peaceful, generous. Very loving and beautiful. Flirtatious Give in too easily. Procrastinators. Very gullible. 9 years of bad luck if you do not forward.
SCORPIO - The Intense One (Oct 23 - Nov 21) Very energetic. Intelligent. Can be jealous and/or possessive. Hardworking. Great kisser. Can become obsessive or secretive. Holds grudges. Attractive. Determined. Loves being in long Relationships. Talkative... Romantic. Can be self-centered at times. Passionate and Emotional. 4 years of bad luck if you do not forward.
SAGITTARIUS - The Happy-Go-Lucky One (Nov 22 - Dec 21) Good-natured optimist. Doesn't want to grow up (Peter Pan Syndrome). Indulges self. Boastful. Likes luxuries and gambling. Social and outgoing. Doesn't like responsibilities. Often fantasizes. Impatient.... Fun to be around. Having lots of friends. Flirtatious. Doesn't like rules... Sometimes hypocritical. Dislikes being confined - tight spaces or even tight clothes. Doesn't like being doubted. Beautiful inside and out. 8 years of good luck if you forward.
CAPRICORN - The Go-Getter (Dec 22 - Jan 19) Patient and wise. Practical and rigid. Ambitious. Tends to be Good-lookin. Humorous and funny. Can be a bit shy and reserved. Often pessimistic. Capricorns tend to act before they think and can be Unfriendly at times. Hold grudges. Like competition. Get what they want. 20 years of good luck if you forward |
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Sayings- EX- Scotland Yard
Updated: 04 Feb 2012
Scotland Yard
If Scotland becomes independent will it become EX-Scotland Yard ?
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of the British capital, London.
It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard.[1]
The Scotland Yard entrance became the public entrance to the police station.
Over time, the street and the Metropolitan Police became synonymous. |
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Sayings-Strange Place Names
Updated: 04 Feb 2012
STRANGE PLACE NAMES
It may be more famous for scones and fudge, but Devon is also well-known for being the home of beer – well, a village called Beer at any rate. There's some division over where the name comes from, but it's probably linked to the Ango-Saxon beauru ("grove").
The Scottish village of Lost has such an attention-grabbing name that signs bearing its moniker are frequently stolen. At one point, the desperate council tried to change its name to Lost Farm, but the move was opposed by locals.
It's hard to think for more suitable names for a pair of sleepy rural villages than "Great Snoring" and "Little Snoring", which can be found in Norfolk. The word "Snoring" probably derives from a former inhabitant called Snear.
The only English place name with an exclamation mark, Westward Ho! is a seaside village in Devon. The name derives from the 1855 novel of the same name by Charles Kingsley, which was set nearby, and was chosen to try and promote the area as a tourist destination.
There are various stories as to how Christmas Common in Oxfordshire got its name, but The Oxford Dictionary of Place Names says the most likely explanation is that it refers to a place where holly trees (traditionally associated with the festival) grow.
No-one knows how the northern village of Pity Me gained its name, though The Oxford Dictionary of British Place Names reckons it is a "a whimsical name bestowed in the 19th century on a place considered desolate, exposed or difficult to cultivate". Others say it could refer to a local legend about St Cuthbert, who cried "Pity me!" when monks accidentally dropped his coffin at the settlement on the way to Durham; or to a geographical feature, such as a lake
Rather more cheerful-sounding than Pity Me is Giggleswick, a village in Yorkshire.That's actually a general consensus on the meaning behind this one: it probably means the "home or (dairy) farm of a man called Gikel or Gichel".
Another Yorkshire village, Crackpot might provoke a snigger, but the name actually long predates the use of the word to mean "crazy".
Germansweek in Devon owes the first part of its name to the fact the church (pictured) is dedicated to St Germanus, a fifth century missionary who once visited the south-west of England.
Also in Yorkshire is Blubberhouses, another village name which no-one quite knows the origin of. According to The Oxford Dictionary of British Place Names, however, it probably means "place at the houses by the bubbling spring".
Indian Queens, a village in Cornwall, is believed to be named after an old inn which once stood in the area. Some locals like to say that the inn's name referred to Pocahontas, who is rumoured to have visited the area, and whose name has also been given to a street in the village.
Fairly high on the list of embarrassing British place names is Crapstone in Devon. For a period it was the home of the young Christopher Hitchens, who wrote as an adult that he "yearned to move so that my school-mates would stop teasing me about it".
You can't blame the residents of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch in Wales for preferring to call their village Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, or Llanfairpwll. According to expert Adrian Room, this astonishing name (the longest in the UK, and one of the longest in the world) means something along the lines of "St Mary's Church in the hollow of the white hazel near to the rapid whirlpool of Llantysilio of the red cave" or "St Mary's by the white aspen over the whirlpool, and St Tysilio's Church by the red cave".
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Sayings- What Strange Superstitions tell us about the weather
Updated: 04 Feb 2012
What strange superstitions can tell us about the weather
The fables and superstitions that can predict Mother Nature
By Gaby Leslie | Yahoo! News –
This week saw groundhog Punxsutawney Phil taking centre stage among weather watchers in North America as he crept out of his hibernation hole and saw his shadow.
The last time you saw a groundhog was probably in the 1993 film starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell.
But the mythical correlation is seen as a clear sign that winter will last another six weeks.
However, it’s not just the groundhog that is traditionally associated with predicting Mother Nature.
Here is a round-up of some other well-known folkloric weather tales.
Animal behaviour
Animals are believed to be able to react to the weather through some innate understanding of their surroundings and weather systems.
During the Boxing Day tsunami, it was said that animals could be seen running for higher ground well before the giant waves struck and caused havoc around the Indian Ocean.
There are a number of animals that are known to react to weather changes within a few seconds to a few minutes.
See some of them below.
• When cats clean behind their ears it’s a sign of rain to come.
• Cow lying down means wet weather to come.
• Fat rabbits in October and November – expect a long and cold winter.
• Birds flying low to the ground than usual means a storm is coming.
Old sayings
Closer to home, there are a number sayings which have evolved around the theme.
“Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight”
“Red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning”
According to meteorology, dry particles in the air cause this slight redness in the sky. If this redness is in the west in the evening then dry weather is coming your way but if that same red sky is in the east in the morning, then this can be a sign of wet weather to come.
“Ring around the moon, it’s meant to rain soon”
A halo around the moon caused by refractions by ice crystals at high altitudes is a good indicator of moisture or precipitation at lower levels- meaning wet conditions lie ahead.
“Rainbow in the morning; Take this as a warning”
The saying means stormy weather to come. A rainbow in the west apparently indicates moisture in the air as most storms move from west to east.
Aching knees or toes means rain
It’s not just animals that may be able to predict the weather.
Ever felt an ache before a rainstorm? Internet medical forums are filled with people complaining that their joints start trembling before it rains.
But are these claims fact or fiction? Paul Knight, a climatologist and an instructor of meteorology at Pennsylvania State University, said:
"There have been no credible studies done to show that there's any relationship at all.
“While a person's joints may be sensitive to a drop in barometric pressure or increased humidity, a direct cause-and-effect relationship has never been proven.”
Here I am folks: Groundhog Punxsutawney Phil is held up before the crowds on Thursday
St Swithin’s Day
Looking at the weather too for indications of the day or weeks ahead is also woven into our folklore.
Like the groundhog, we have our own long-term predictor of the weather - St Swithin's Day. In the UK, weather-obsessed Brits observe the conditions on St Swithin’s Day which falls on 15 July to see if will be a good summer.
The general rule is that whatever the weather is like on St Swithin’s Day, it will last another 40 days –
'St. Swithin's day if thou dost rain
For forty days it will remain
St. Swithin's day if thou be fair
For forty days 'twill rain nae mair.'
The old saying suggests that if it rains on St Swithin’s Day, then it will be wet for the next 40 days.
The reverse is true on a fine St Swithin’s Day.
In the summer of 1976, a hot and sunny 15 July saw stunning weather before a storm broke out at midnight. In the 40 days proceeding, only two days of little rain fell during a heat wave.
Remember the summer of 2008 where Rihanna’s aptly smash hit ‘Umbrella’ lasted weeks in the chart? Well it rained and poured on St Swithin’s Day in most parts of the UK with it later turning out to be one of the most miserable wash-out summers ever.
More about Groundhog Day
'Groundhog Day', 1993 starring Billy Murray and Andie MacDowellCelebrated in the US and Canada, Candlemas Day 2012 will be the 126th year that Punxsutawney Phil will predict the weather.
Superstition has it, if it is sunny and Punxsutawney Phil does see his shadow, that means there will be six more weeks of winter. If it’s cloudy and the groundhog does not see his shadow, then spring will come early, according to folklore.
In total, Phil has cast a shadow 99 times indicating six more weeks of winter.
The weather-telling creature has not casted a shadow 16 times, indicating an early spring.
Unfortunately, The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club is missing nine years worth of records.
In 2011, Phil saw his shadow and predicted six more weeks of winter.
So is Phil just as reliable as meteorologists?
It really depends on where you live as to whether he is right or wrong because last year, the southern states saw an early spring while the Midwest received record-breaking late winter snow.
According to StormFax Weather Almanac and records dating back to1887, Phil's predictions have been correct 39% of the time |
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Sayings- A bird in the hand....
Updated: 03 Feb 2012
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
Meaning
It's better to have a lesser but certain advantage
than the possibility of a greater one that may come to nothing.
Origin
This proverb refers back to mediaeval falconry where a bird in the hand (the falcon) was a valuable asset and certainly worth more than two in the bush (the prey).
The first citation of the expression in print in its currently used form is found in John Ray's A Hand-book of Proverbs, 1670, in which he lists it as:
A [also 'one'] bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
By how long the phrase predates Ray's publishing isn't clear, as variants of it were known for centuries before 1670. The earliest English version of the proverb is from the Bible and was translated into English in Wycliffe's version in 1382, although Latin texts have it from the 13th century:
Ecclesiastes IX - A living dog is better than a dead lion.
Alternatives that explicitly mention birds in hand come later. The earliest of those is in Hugh Rhodes' The Boke of Nurture or Schoole of Good Maners, circa 1530:
"A byrd in hand - is worth ten flye at large."
John Heywood, the 16th century collector of proverbs, recorded another version in his ambitiously titled A dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the prouerbes in the Englishe tongue, 1546:
"Better one byrde in hande than ten in the wood."
The expression fits well into the catalogue of English proverbs, which are often warnings, especially warnings about hubris or risk taking. Some of the better known examples that warn against getting carried away by that exciting new prospect are: 'All that glitters is not gold', 'Fools rush in where angels fear to tread', 'Look before you leap', 'Marry in haste, repent at leisure', 'The best-laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agley'.
The Bird in Hand was adopted as a pub name in England in the Middle Ages and many of this name still survive.
English migrants to America took the expression with them and 'bird in hand' must have been known there by 1734 as this was the year in which a small town in Pennsylvania was founded with that name.
See also: the List of Proverbs |
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Sayings- Handle with Kid Gloves
Updated: 27 Jan 2012
Handle with kid gloves
Meaning
Handle a situation, or a person or an object, delicately and gingerly.
Origin
Kid gloves are, of course, gloves made from the skin of a young goat.
I say 'of course' but, in fact, when they were first fashioned in the 18th century they were more often made from lambskin, as that was easier to come by.
They were clearly not intended for use when you were pruning the hedge and wearing kid gloves was the sartorial equivalent of pale white skin, that is, it indicated that the wearer was rich enough to indulge in a life of genteel indoor idleness.
The earliest mentions of kid gloves are from England in the 1730s and the following is a typical report of a wealthy gentleman, laid out in his 'Sunday best', from Bagnall's News, in The Ipswich Journal, December 1734:
The Corpse of Mr. Thorp, A Distiller in Soho, who died a few Days since, said to be worth £10000 was put into his Coffin, quilted within with white Sattin; and after several yards of fine Holland [best-quality linen] were wrapt about his Body... on his Head was a Cap of the same Holland tied with a white Ribbond; he has about his Neck two Yards of Cambrick; a Cambrick Handkerchief between his Hands, on which he had a pair of white Kid Gloves: and in this manner he lay in state some Days and was afterwards buried in Buckinghamshire.
At that time, kid gloves were viewed as rather ostentatious and only suitable for the nouveau riche - much as heavy gold chains might be viewed today. In the 19th century, kid glove wearing was taken up by a notable member of the gentry, William Pole-Tylney-Long-Wellesley, the fourth Earl of Mornington, which might have been expected to establish them as a desirable accessory. The Preston Chronicle included this item in February 1837:
Mr. Long Wellesley is, also, a man of excellent taste, though he rides in kid gloves, which Brummel used to say a man should be scouted [dismissed scornfully] for doing.
The dismissal of the gloves by the socialite and fashion authority Beau Brummell was enough to send them to the back of the 19th century chav wardrobe. Incidentally, I wasn't familiar with the word 'scouted' as meaning 'scorned' and when I looked it up I found this first usage in Samuel Palmer's Moral Essays, 1710:
They pass the rhodomontade till they're expos'd and scouted.
That led me to 'rhodomontade', another word I didn't know, which turns out to mean 'to speak boastfully or bombastically'. All in all, Brummel clearly didn't think much of kid gloves and they continued not to be worn by 'persons of quality'.
In fact, the description 'kid-gloved' came to be used as an insult, implying a lack of manhood, as was recorded in The Leicester Chronicle in January 1842:
This contraband system of political allusions appears to suit the taste and nerves of the cautious, gentlemanly, kid-gloved Conservatism, which cannot endure the shock of attending a public meeting.
It was only when the expression (and presumably also, the gloves) crossed the Atlantic that the negative connotations were lost and 'handling (or treating) with kid gloves' began to be used as we use it today, that is with the meaning 'delicately; carefully'.
The New-York monthly magazine The Knickerbocker has the first example of the term in print, from 1849:
"Belligerent topics are not our forte and never was; neither do we handle them with kid gloves, when they fairly come in the way."
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Sayings- Cold Turkey
Updated: 20 Jan 2012
Cold turkey
Meaning
The sudden and complete withdrawal from an addictive substance and/or the physiological effects of such a withdrawal. Also, predominantly in the U.S.A., plain speaking.
Origin
At this time of year you have probably had enough of cold turkey to last until next year's festivities. Nevertheless, here's another plateful.
The term 'cold turkey' is now predominantly used as the name of the drug withdrawal process. Also, by extension, it is used to refer to any abrupt termination of something we are accustomed to. To find the origin of the term we need to delve into the annals of American speech. Let's talk turkey.
The turkey looms large in the American psyche because of its link to early European colonists and is, as even Limies like me know, the centrepiece of the annual Thanksgiving meal. In the USA, and as far as I can tell nowhere else, 'plain speaking/getting down to business' is called 'talking cold turkey'. This usage dates from the early part of the 20th century, as in this example from The Des Moines Daily News, May 1914:
I've heard [Reverend Billy] Sunday give his 'Booze' sermon, and believe me that rascal can make tears flow out of a stone. And furthermore he talks "cold turkey". You know what I mean - calls a spade a spade.
The English newspaper The Daily Express introduced the phrase to an English audience in a January 1928 edition:
"She talked cold turkey about sex. 'Cold turkey' means plain truth in America."
'Talking cold turkey' meant no nonsense talking and its partner expression 'going cold turkey' meant no nonsense doing. To 'go cold turkey' was to get straight to the scene of the action - in at the deep end. An example of it in use is found in Debates: the official reports of the Canadian House of Commons, 1899:
I am told that other countries, for instance Australia, have gone cold turkey all the way. They have gone full metric and have experienced less difficulty in the implementation of their program over the long-term.
The earliest reference to 'cold turkey' in relation to drug withdrawal that I can find is from the Canadian newspaper The Daily Colonist, October 1921:
"Perhaps the most pitiful figures who have appeared before Dr. Carleton Simon are those who voluntarily surrender themselves. When they go before him, they [drug addicts] are given what is called the 'cold turkey' treatment."
In the state of drug withdrawal the addict's blood is directed to the internal organs, leaving the skin white and with goose bumps. It has been suggested that this is what is alluded to by 'cold turkey'. There's no evidence to support that view. For the source of 'cold turkey' we need look no further than the direct, no nonsense approach indicated by the earlier 'in at the deep end' meaning of the term. |
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Sayings- Eh By Gum
Updated: 13 Jan 2012
By gum
Eh by Gum -Yorkshire
Meaning
Exclamation of surprise. This is an example of a minced-oath, and is a euphemism for 'By God'.
Origin
It is known since the early 19th century, as in this example from James Kirke Paulding (a.k.a. 'Bull-Us, Hector'), 1815:
"By gum, that's jist what I want you to tell me, I swow."
It is still in use in the north of England, although would be considered archaic elsewhere. |
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Sayings- Nail your colours to the mast
Updated: 13 Jan 2012
Nail your colours to the mast
Meaning
To defiantly display one's opinions and beliefs. Also, to show one's intention to hold on to those beliefs until the end.
Origin
In 17th century nautical battles colours (flags) were struck (lowered) as a mark of submission.
It was also the custom in naval warfare to direct one's cannon fire at the opponent's ship's mast, thus disabling it. If all of a ship's masts were broken the captain usually had no alternative but to surrender.
If the captain decided to fight on this was marked by hoisting the colours on the remnants of the ship's rigging, i.e. by 'nailing his colours to the mast'.
It is correct to use the English spelling, rather the the US 'nail one's colors to the mast', as the phrase originated in England. It is generally agreed that the expression was coined in reference to the exploits of the crew of the Venerable, at the Battle of Camperdown, a naval engagement that was fought between English and Dutch ships as part of the French Revolutionary Wars, in 1797.
The English fleet was led by the Venerable, the flagship of Admiral Adam Duncan.
The battle didn't initially go well for the English.
The mainmast of Duncan's vessel was struck and the admiral's blue squadronal standard was brought down.
This could have been interpreted by the rest of the fleet as meaning that Duncan had surrendered.
Step forward, horny-handed son of the sea and subsequent national hero, Jack Crawford.
Crawford climbed what was left of the mast with the standard and nailed it back where it was visible to the rest of the fleet.
This act proved crucial in the battle and Duncan's forces were eventually victorious.
Some historians believe that the victory at Camperdown proved to be the end of the dominance of the Dutch at sea and the beginning of the period in which 'Britannia ruled the waves'. Crawford returned home to Sunderland to a hero's welcome.
The stalwart reputation of English seamen soon became part of the national consciousness. An address to the House of Commons by the playwright Richard Sheridan was reported in The Edinburgh Advertiser in January 1801:
"I have no hesitation in saying that the Maritime Law is the charter of our existence, the banner under which we all should rally; it is the flag which, imitating the example of our gallant seamen, we should nail to the mast of the nation, and go down with the vessel rather than strike it!"
The first use of the precise expression 'nail your colours to the mast' that I have found is from the English newspaper The Hereford Journal, August 1807.
This reported a naval engagement between British and American ships in which the US captain surrendered without a fight, much to the disgust of his military superiors:
"You [Commodore James Barron] ought to have nailed your colours to the mast, and have fought whilst a timber remained on your ship."
Whether or not Jack Crawford was the first to 'nail his colours to the mast' we can't be completely sure, but it does look highly likely.
The phrase wasn't known before his exploit and was widely used soon afterwards.
Despite his heroic status, Crawford died a pauper and a drunkard and was buried in an unmarked grave.
The local community raised a fund to erect a gravestone and later a commemorative statue.
If you do have any doubts about Jack's role in linguistic history, it might be wise not to mention it in Sunderland.
See also - 'Jack' phrases.
See also - join the colours.
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Sayings- What the Dickens ?
Updated: 03 Jan 2012
What the Dickens?
Dickens is a euphemism for "devil". From Shakespeare's "Merry Wives of Windsor",(Act III, Scene II).
"I cannot tell what the dickens his name is". |
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Sayings-Security Blanket
Updated: 30 Dec 2011
Security blanket
Meaning
1. A small familiar blanket or other soft fabric item carried by a child for reassurance.
2. A form of harness for a baby's crib.
3. All-encompassing military and political security measures.
Origin
The term 'security blanket', also known as 'comfort blanket', was coined by Charles Shulz for his Peanuts cartoon strip.
That's what most references will tell you.
It's always a pleasure to swim against the tide and here's an opportunity. In fact, the term 'security blanket' wasn't coined by Charles Shulz for his Peanuts cartoon strip.
The derivation of 'security blanket' involves a rather meandering tale, which goes like this:
Security blankets were known to Americans in the 1920s and were at that date overblankets which were clipped into babies' cribs to stop the occupants falling out.
The accompanying advert is from the New York newspaper The Republican Press, November 1925, advertising fasteners for such a blanket for 59 cents.
The tale now moves on to World War II.
The term 'security blanket' was then used to refer to strict security measures that were taken to keep Allied military plans from falling into the hands of the Germans.
The term was coined in that context by the US military while fighting in Europe.
For example, this report from the Alabama newspaper The Dothan Eagle, September 1944:
Reports being issued at Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower's headquarters sometimes were as much as 48 hours behind the armies because of a security blanket thrown over the operations.
Incidentally, another article from the same page as the above is titled 'British Take Brussels', which is timely as this [28th December] is the only week of the year that the headline could be recycled.
For those of a non-British persuasion, many in Britain pile their Christmas dinner plates with brussels sprouts with some enthusiasm but reject them with distaste for the rest of the year.
The emergence of the military use of 'security blanket' about twenty years after the use of the term in a domestic setting does suggest the possibility that those coining a new meaning for it were the babies that were tucked up under security blankets a generation earlier.
Now we move on another step, to the use of the expression as 'a small familiar comforter for babies and toddlers'. Now we get to Charles Shulz, right?
Not quite. Shulz drew the character Linus van Pelt with a comfort blanket in the Peanuts cartoon strip in June 1954.
It wasn't until 1956, in Good Grief, More Peanuts, that the item was given a name by Linus:
"This is a 'security and happiness' blanket. All little kids carry them."
By that date the term had been in use elsewhere.
The November 1954 issue of the California newspaper The Daily Review included this piece by a staff writer, under the name of 'Bev':
'Security blanket. My younger child is one year old.
When she finds a fuzzy blanket or a fleecy coat she presses her cheek against it and sucks her thumb.
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Sayings- An arm and a leg
Updated: 30 Dec 2011
An arm and a leg
Meaning
A large, possibly exorbitant, amount of money.
Origin
This is one of those phrases for which it isn't difficult to come across a popular explanation.
In this case the tale that is told is that portrait painters used to charge more for larger paintings and that a head and shoulders painting was the cheapest option, followed in price by one which included arms and finally the top of the range 'legs and all' portrait.
As so often with popular etymologies, there's no truth in that story.
Painters certainly did charge more for large pictures, but there's no evidence to suggest they did so by limb count. In any case the phrase is much more recent than the painting origin would suggest.
It is in fact an American phrase, coined sometime after WWII.
The earliest citation I can find is from The Long Beach Independent, December 1949:
Food Editor Beulah Karney has more than 10 ideas for the homemaker who wants to say "Merry Christmas" and not have it cost her an arm and a leg.
'Arm' and 'leg' are used as examples of items that no one would consider selling other than at an enormous price.
It is a grim reality that, around that time, there are many US newspaper reports of servicemen who lost an arm and a leg in the recent war.
It is quite likely, although difficult to prove conclusively at this remove, that the phrase originated in reference to the high cost paid by those who suffered such amputations. |
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Sayings- Fly by the seat of one's pants
Updated: 26 Dec 2011
Fly by the seat of one's pants
Meaning
Decide a course of action as you go along, using your own initiative and perceptions rather than a pre-determined plan or mechanical aids.
Origin
This is early aviation parlance.
Aircraft initially had few navigation aids and flying was accomplished by means of the pilot's judgment.
The term emerged in the 1930s and was first widely used in reports of Douglas Corrigan's flight from the USA to Ireland in 1938.
That flight was reported in many US newspapers of the day, including this piece, entitled 'Corrigan Flies By The Seat Of His Pants', in The Edwardsville Intelligencer, 19th July 1938:
"Douglas Corrigan was described as an aviator 'who flies by the seat of his pants' today by a mechanic who helped him rejuvinate the plane which airport men have now nicknamed the 'Spirit of $69.90'.
The old flying expression of 'flies by the seat of his trousers' was explained by Larry Conner, means going aloft without instruments, radio or other such luxuries."
Two days before this report Corrigan had submitted a flight plan to fly from Brooklyn to California.
He had previously had a plan for a trans-Atlantic flight rejected (presumably on the grounds that the 'Spirit of $69.60 wasn't considered up to the job).
His subsequent 29 hour flight ended in Dublin, Ireland.
He claimed that his compasses had failed.
He didn't openly admit it but it was widely assumed that he had ignored the rejection of his flight plan and deliberately flown east rather than west.
He was thereafter known as 'Wrong Way Corrigan' and starred as himself in the 1938 movie The Flying Irishman.
The 'old flying expression' quoted above (although it can't have been very old in 1938) that refers to trousers rather than pants does suggest that the phrase was originally British and crossed the Atlantic (the right way) prior to becoming 'flies by the seat of one's pants'. |
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Sayings- Nelson Mandela -Conversations with Myself
Updated: 16 Dec 2011
Nelson Mandela- Conversations with Myself
“I shall stick to our vow: never, never under any circumstances, to say anything unbecoming of the other….
The trouble, of course is that most successful men are prone to some form of vanity.
There comes a stage in their lives when they consider it permissible to be egotistic and to brag to the public at large about their unique achievements.
What a sweet euphemism for self praise the English Language has evolved! Autobiography….”
they choose to call it,
where the shortcomings of others are frequently exploited to highlight the praiseworthy accomplishments of the author |
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Sayings- Five things you cannot recover in Life
Updated: 11 Dec 2011
There are five things that you cannot recover in life:
(1) The Stone...........after it's thrown,
(2) The Word................after it's said,
(3) The Occasion.......after it's missed, and
(4) The Time...............after it's gone.
(5) A person.................after they die
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Sayings- Weasel Words - Ambiguous or Quibbling speech
Updated: 09 Dec 2011
Weasel words
Meaning
Ambiguous or quibbling speech.
Origin
It has long been a widespread belief that weasels suck the yolks from bird's eggs, leaving only the empty shell.
This belief is the basis of the term 'weasel words', used to describe statements that have had the life sucked out of them.
The expression refers to words that are added to make a statement sound more legitimate and impressive but which are in fact unsubstantiated and meaningless.
Examples of weasel words are 'people say that...', 'studies show that...', 'up to 50% or more...'.
There is now some doubt amongst naturalists as to whether weasels do suck eggs.
The tiny mammals are certainly ferocious and, pound for pound, amongst the most dangerous predators on the planet, being easily able to kill an entire coopful of chickens that are hundreds of times their weight.
They have a bad reputation with country dwellers but the egg-sucking behaviour is unproven.
Whether or not they actually suck eggs, Shakespeare and his contemporaries believed they did.
The Bard didn't coin the expression 'weasel words', but he came very close, when he made two references to the supposed habits of weasels:
The weazel Scot Comes sneaking, and so sucks the princoly egg. - Henry V, 1598
I can suck melancholy out of a song, as a weazel sucks eggs. - As You Like It, 1600
That's as close as we get to the actual phrase in the Tudor period and it wasn't until the turn of the 20th century in the USA that the phrase 'weasel words' first occurred in print.
In 1900, Stewart Chaplin published a story in The Century Illustrated Magazine entitled Stained Glass Political Platform, which contains this exchange:
"I am the chairman of your committee on platform"... "And like most platforms," continued St. John, "it contains plenty of what I call weasel words."
"And what may weasel words be?"
"Why, weasel words are words that suck all the life out of the words next to them, just as a weasel sucks an egg and leaves the shell."
In 1910, Theodore Roosevelt, then Colonel Roosevelt, was reported in various US newspapers as saying that he liked the Republican state platform because it contained no "weasel words".
In September 1916, the New York Times published a piece in which Roosevelt refuted the notion that he had stolen the phrase from Chaplin and claimed to have coined it independently in 1879:
Colonel Roosevelt, on his way here this morning from Portland, Me., told a Times reporter how he happened to use the expression "weasel words" in describing some of President Wilson's utterances months ago.
After the expression had been widely quoted, somebody discovered that it had been used years ago by the writer of a magazine article in the Century Magazine, and the Colonel was charged with having plagiarized the writer.
"About thirty-seven years ago." Colonel Roosevelt said in talking of the origin of the expression.
"I was going up a mountain in the Maine woods in a carriage, driven by Dave Sewall.
We saw an old man along the roadside.
When we passed Dave Sewall said:
"That there man can do a lot of funny things with this language of ours.
He can take a word and weasel it around and suck the meat out of it like a weasel sucks the meat out of an egg, until it don't mean anything at all.
The Colonel said the expression [weasel words] occurred to him when he read some of President Wilson's notes.
It is possible that [there are some good weasel words for you] Roosevelt coined the expression but, of course, his later recollections aren't any kind of proof of that.
If circumstantial evidence counts for anything then Roosevelt's etymological track record might be called into account.
In 1900, he described the phrase 'speak softly and carry a big stick' as a 'West African proverb'.
Where he got that idea from is unclear - there's certainly no evidence to support it.
I can't finish without adding the old jest about how to tell a weasel from a stoat - 'one is weasily recognized, the other is stoatally difference |
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Sayings- The whole nine yards
Updated: 02 Dec 2011
The whole nine yards
Every now and then I feel the urge to go back to the Holy Grail of etymology - 'the whole nine yards'. I was prompted to take another look at it this week by the unveiling of the British Library Newspaper Archive.
This gives online access to a vast store of British newspapers, which will eventually include the majority of all newspapers printed in Britain since the early 1700s.
Just the place to try a search for an early printed example of 'the whole nine yards' n'est-ce pas?
Well, yes and no.
If you aren't familiar with the search for the origin of that elusive expression, here's the story so far...
For reasons that aren't clear, 'the whole nine yards' provokes more speculative derivations than any other phrase.
Many people are convinced they know the origin but aren't able to provide documentary evidence to support their chosen belief.
The earliest known citation of the phrase in print is from 1962.
In May 1961, the American athlete Ralph Boston broke the world long jump record with a jump of 27 feet 1/2 inch. No one had previously jumped 27 feet.
This was big news at the time and surely cried out for this headline:
"Boston jumps the whole nine yards"
If the phrase was in circulation before 1961, it wasn't known to that most slang-aware troop, newspaper journalists, and no one came up with that line, which is missing from all newspaper archives.
The absence of the expression in print prior to the 1960s argues strongly against any of the supposed mediaeval, Victorian or even World War II origins.
The weight of circumstantial evidence is that the phrase originated in America in the early 1960s but it isn't known who coined the term.
Sadly, the new archive yielded no results.
That's not altogether surprising, as it is reasonably certain that the phrase is of 20th century American origin.
The British Library database did come up with a story from 1821 of a stagecoach toppling off a cliff and falling 'full nine yards', but that doesn't carry the current meaning of the phrase and appears to be a straightforward literal report.
Nevertheless, the digitisation of old manuscripts provides etymologists with a gateway to sources that were previously inaccessible.
The American academic Stephen Goranson recently found this piece in a newly digitised copy of Michigan's Voices: A Literary Quarterly & Arts Magazine, Fall 1962:
... real civilized living in the modern urban home - then the dog would catch on and go ki-yi-yi-ing from one to the other of the shouting pyjama clad participants - mad, mad, mad, the consequence of house, home, kids, respectability, status as a college professor and the whole nine yards, as a brush salesman who came by the house was fond of saying, ...
Also in late 1962, this passage appeared in a letter to the editor in an issue of Car Life, also now available in online format:
Your staff of testers cannot fairly appraise the Chevrolet Impala sedan, with all nine yards of goodies, against the Plymouth Savoy.
The meanings of the word 'yard' are many and varied.
We have linear, square or cubic yards, also yard-arms, steelyards etc.
This is the source of the variability of the many guesses at the phrase's origin.
These include:
The nine cubic yards capacity of US concrete trucks.
Widely circulated, although clearly nonsense as even the largest concrete mixers were smaller than 9 cubic yards in the 1960s.
World War II aircraft. There are several aircraft-related theories:
The length of US bombers' bomb racks.
The length of the RAF Spitfire's machine gun bullet belts.
The length of ammunition belts in ground based anti-aircraft turrets, etc.
The amount of material used in making top quality suits. Supporters of this theory sometimes relate it to 'dressed to the nines'.
The derivation is naval and the yards are shipyards.
Another naval version is that the yards are the spars of sailing ships.
The name for the spar that hold the sails is a yard. Large sailing ships had three masts, often with three yards on each. The theory goes that ships in battle can continue changing direction as new sails are unfurled.
Only when the last sail, on the ninth yard, is used do the enemy know in which direction the ship is finally headed.
Despite the certainty of the proponents of each of these explanations, at best only one of them can be correct.
The evidence argues against any of them being the origin of the phrase.
What the above digitised documentary evidence actually points to is that the phrase in its earliest incarnations refers to a 'laundry list' of items.
Speculation will of course continue until a definitive source for the phrase is found.
I'm not holding my breath but, if an origin is found, I've no doubt that it will be as the result of a search of a digitised archive.
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Sayings- Pig's Ear
Updated: 18 Nov 2011
Pig's ear
Meaning
As 'pig's ear' - Cockney rhyming slang for beer.
As 'in a pig's ear' - an expression of disbelief.
As 'make a pig's ear of ' - make a mess or muddle.
Origin
The Cockney rhyming slang version of 'pig's ear' is easiest to explain. It's one of the earliest examples of the form and appears in D. W. Barrett's Life & Work among Navvies, 1880:
"Now, Jack, I'm goin' to get a tiddley wink of pig's ear."
That's easy enough to decipher as "I'm going to get a drink of beer", although you would need a Cockney for an explanation of why 'tiddley wink of pig's ear' was thought to be an improvement on 'drink of beer'. 'Pig's ear' rhymes with 'beer' and that's usually enough for rhyming slang. Franklin's Dictionary of Rhyming Slang lists several alternatives for 'beer' - 'Charlie Freer', 'far and near', 'never fear', 'oh my dear', 'red steer', 'Crimea', and 'fusilier' but 'pig's ear' has always been the most popular.
The version 'in a pig's ear' is also perplexing. It originated in the USA in the 1850s as a variant of 'in a pig's eye'. Both phrases were used as expressions of incredulous disbelief and have the same meaning as 'tell it to the marines'. They may possibly be related to 'pigs might fly'. See this link for more on 'in a pig's ear'.
'Make a pig's ear' is a mid 20th century phrase and means 'completely botch something up; make a complete mess of it'. This is first found in print in a 1950 edition of the Reader's Digest:
"If you make a pig's ear of the first one, you can try the other one."
The expression derives from the old proverb 'you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear', which dates from the 16th century. The English clergyman Stephen Gosson published the romantic story Ephemerides in 1579 and in it referred to people who were engaged in a hopeless task:
"Seekinge too make a silke purse of a Sowes eare."
'Make a pig's ear of' alludes to what might be the result if someone did try to make something from a sow's ear - not a silk purse but a complete mess.
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Sayings- WYSIWYG ?
Updated: 04 Nov 2011
What you see is what you get (wysiwyg)
Meaning
A computer screen display which appears on screen as it will be seen when printed on paper.
Origin
'Wysiwyg', pronounced 'whizzywig', is one of the best-known of all acronyms. It is generally supposed that the phrase 'what you see is what you get', the acronym 'wysiwyg' and the computer interface that they referred to emerged in close succession.
This isn't the case; each of those elements has its own independent genesis.
Firstly, the phrase.
'What you see is what you get' is widely reported as being coined by Flip Wilson in performances as his drag character Geraldine in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In in the late 1960s and then later on The Flip Wilson Show.
Wilson certainly popularized the expression but it was already in general use before he adopted it as a catchphrase.
A form of the phrase had been used by advertisers in the USA since at least the 1940s to indicate a straightforward, no-fuss form of trading.
An advert for a Filmo Sportster camera in The Charleston Gazette came close to 'what you see is what you get' in November 1949:
You just sight, press a button and what you see, you get!
The precise phrase came into print some years later. For instance, this text from an advert for a house sale, in The Oakland Tribune, May 1966:
"So with the exception of landscaping and decorator furnishings, what you see is what you get."
Next comes the acronym 'wysiwyg'.
This is generally thought to have been coined from the phrase and in reference to the graphical computer user interfaces that were emerging from Xerox PARC in the 1970s, but it isn't known who first used the acronym in that context.
The first such reference that I can find comes surprisingly late, in Byte magazine, April 1982:
'What you see is what you get' (or WYSIWYG) refers to the situation in which the display screen portrays an accurate rendition of the printed page.
However, he first citation I have found of the acronym in print comes several years earlier in a non-computer related context.
In January 1972, a student business competition was organised in Victoria, Texas and an account of it published in the local newspaper the Victoria Advocate on the 23rd January.
Each team of students chose a name for the dummy businesses that they were going to manage.
They were clearly encouraged to use acronyms, as the names they chose were:
SPOT - Selling Products of Tomorrow
LIFE - Lets Insure Future Existence
WYSIWYG - What You See Is What You Get
So, unless earlier computer related citations are found - which would that seem unlikely as the first wysiwyg software didn't emerge until after 1972 - the prize for coining 'wysiwyg' goes to a bunch of Texan high school kids, not to the boffins of Palo Alto.
'What you see is what you get' later came to be used in a general context, often by individuals - like Flip Wilson's Geraldine - to describe themselves.
It is shorthand for 'I may be a plain-speaking rough diamond, but I have no hidden agenda - let my reputation precede me', in the same way that people used to say 'take me as you find me'.
The British entrepreneur Sir Alan Sugar is known for such an attitude and used 'What You See Is What You Get' as the title of his autobiography.
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Sayings - By the Dalai Lama
Updated: 03 Nov 2011
The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, answered
“Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money.
Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health.
And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present;
the result being that he does not live in the present or the future;
he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived “ |
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Sayings- Double Dutch
Updated: 28 Oct 2011
Double Dutch
Meaning
Nonsense; gibberish - a language one cannot understand.
Origin
There are a host of phrases in English that include the word 'Dutch'; that's hardly surprising as The Netherlands is just a few miles across the sea from England.
We don't have anything like as many expressions that include 'French', so why the interest in 'Dutch'?
Two reasons: trade and war.
Both England and Holland (which is what most people call The Netherlands), have a vigorous and wide-ranging maritime trading tradition that dates back to the 16th century.
England imported many commodities from Holland and gave them 'Dutch' names.
The first of these imports was 'Dutch sauce', which we now call Hollandaise. Claudius Hollyband referred to this in the French Schoole Maister, 1573:
Will you eate of a Pike with a high dutche sauce?
Many other examples followed:
Dutch cheese - first used in 1700.
Dutch barn - 1742.
Dutch hoe - 1742.
Dutch oven - 1769.
The Anglo-Dutch wars of the 17th and 18th centuries were acrimonious even by the usual standards of war.
Following the conflicts the English came to hold the Dutch in very low regard and as a consequence there are numerous English phrases which portray them in an unflattering light, often as skinflints or drunkards.
The common strand in all of these disparaging 'Dutch' expressions is that anything Dutch is the opposite of what it ought to be. Examples of these expressions are:
Dutch bargain - a bargain made when one is debilitated by drink - first recorded in 1654.
Dutch defence - a legal defence in which the defendant seeks clemency by deceitfully betraying others - 1749.
Dutch comfort - cold comfort; only good because things could have been worse - 1796.
Dutch metal/Dutch gold - a cheap alloy resembling gold - 1825.
Dutch courage - brash bravery induced by drink - 1826.
Dutch treat - no treat as such; each person pays for their own expenses - 1887.
Added to that list is 'double Dutch'.
The Anglo-Dutch wars were a very long time ago and we are all friends now, but at this point we can introduce another reason for the English to have held on so long to hostile stereotyping of the Dutch, that is, the link with the UK's 20th century military rivals, the Germans.
'Dutch' was originally the generic name for both Germans and, as they were formally called, Hollanders. High Dutch was the language of southern Germany and Low Dutch the language of The Netherlands.
Double Dutch is in fact a synonym for High Dutch and as such is a slur on the Germans rather than the Dutch, although the distinction may not have been apparent to the average 18th century English sailor.
Charles Dibdin was the first to allude to the incomprehensibility of the language, in Collected Songs, 1790:
Why, I heard our good chaplain palaver one day,
About souls, heaven, mercy and such;
And, my timbers! what lingo he'd coil and belay,-
Why, 'twas just all as one as High Dutch.
The earliest example of 'double Dutch' that I have found is in John Davis' Travels of Four Years and a Half in the United States of America, 1803, in which the author spoke to a colleague in Welsh:
"Mr Adams - What devil language is that? Is it double Dutch coiled against the sun?"
The coiling that was referred to in both the above citations was the winding of rope. Sailors called anti-clockwise winding 'coiling against the sun'.
This was generally disparaged and an indication that 'double Dutch' was the linguistic equivalent of a badly coiled rope.
Most of the early citations of 'double Dutch' are in their full form 'double Dutch coiled against the sun'.
We can safely assume that what was meant by 'double Dutch' was 'Dutch that is malformed and twisted' rather than 'Dutch, twice over' |
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Sayings- A Means to an End
Updated: 27 Oct 2011
Means to an end
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In philosophy, the term means to an end refers to any action (the means) that the sole purpose of it is to achieve something else (an end).
It can be thought of as a metaphysical distinction, as no empirical information differentiates actions that are means to ends from those that are not—that are "ends in themselves."
It has been incurred that all actions are means to other ends; this is relevant when considering the meaning of life.
Immanuel Kant's theory of morality, the categorical imperative, states that it is immoral to use another person merely as a means to an end, and that people must, under all circumstances, be treated as ends in themselves.
This is in contrast to some interpretations of the utilitarian view, which allow for use of individuals as means to benefit the many.
Idiom
A means to an end is also an idiom.
It often refers to an activity (such as an undesirable job) that is not as important as the goal you hope to achieve (monetary gains for example).
For example, Mike doesn't have any professional ambitions.
For him, work is just a means to an end.
One starts something and finishes it, without that something leading into something else.
Thus, it is an end in itself
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Sayings-"Jack"
Updated: 21 Oct 2011
'Jack' phrases
The origin of the many phrases that contain the name Jack
If it is true, as I'm sure it is, that the phrases in a language define a culture's interests and preoccupations then the English-speaking world must be fascinated by people. English phrases frequently include names.
Some of these refer to actual individuals, for example, 'Gordon Bennett!', 'Sweet Fanny Adams' and the numerous people referred to in Cockney rhyming slang, but more often than not the person referred to is imaginary.
Examples of phrases that include invented names are 'the life of Riley', 'heavens to Betsy' and 'moaning Minnie'.
Jack appears in more phrases than does any other name.
That might be expected as Jack is a colloquial form of John and, for the period in which the majority of these phrases were coined, John was the most common boy's name amongst English speakers.
Jack was the generic name for the common man; a lad, a fellow, a chap, but also with the hint of knave or likeable rogue.
'John' appears in our phrases and sayings hardly at all and this is probably because 'Jack' was considered the more interesting character.
The use of 'Jack' with the meaning of 'young rogue' dates back to the 16th century and examples are known from Nicholas Udall and others in Middle English.
An early example in a form of English that is easily accessible to us now is found in Shakespeare's Taming of Shrew, circa 1616:
A mad-cap ruffian and a swearing Jacke.
Some well-known linguistic Jacks are:
- Jack the Lad - a self-assured young man who is a bit of a rogue. This is the archetypal Jack; young, roguish and male. See more about Jack the Lad...
- Jack Tar - sailors coated their clothes and the ropes of their ships to make them weatherproof. They even smeared their hair and beards to avoid stray wisps getting caught in the rigging. What better name for sailors than Jack Tar?
- Jack of all trades - the common man, who will turn his hand to any form of work. See more about Jack of all trades...
- Jack Robinson - in the phrase 'Before you can say Jack Robinson'. Possibly a rare example of a Jack that was a real person. See more about Jack Robinson...
- All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy - this proverbial expression has been known since 1670.
Jack was the name given to many of the sprites, imps and supernatural creatures that were imagined to have human form, for example, Jack Frost (an imp that nips our ears and toes with cold), Jack o' lantern (a fairy that lives in hedges), Jack-in-irons (a malevolent giant).
Jacks, being typically young and mischievous, feature strongly in nursery rhymes, for example, Little Jack Horner, Jack Sprat and Jack and Jill.
The latter two of these pre-date their appearance in nursery rhyme.
Jack Sprat was the name given to any dwarf from the 16th century onward and Jack and Jill was used as the name of any young couple as early as the 1450s.
Cockney Rhyming Slang has an association with roguish street trading and is another linguistic area where Jacks flourish.
Examples are: Jack Palancing (dancing), On your Jack (Jones > alone), Jack-in-the box (pox), Jack Randle (candle).
I've not listed every man Jack as there are so many - the OED includes over hundred of them.
Time to jack it in I think.
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Sayings- Benjamin Franklin Quotes
Updated: 20 Oct 2011
Benjamin Franklin Quotes
Here are quotes by one of America's greatest founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, and related quotations about America's founding. For more history, see Founding Fathers.
A dying man can do nothing easy.
Benjamin Franklin, after his daughter asked him to move, April 17, 1790
A fine genius in his own country is like gold in the mine.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1733
A penny saved is twopence clear.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1737
A Spoonful of Honey will catch more Flies than a Gallon of Vinegar.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1748
All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of superintending providence in our favor. To that kind providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? Or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance? I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth-that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the Ground without his Notice, is it probable that an Empire can rise without his Aid?"
Benjamin Franklin, To Colleagues at the Constitutional Convention
All the property that is necessary to a Man, for the Conservation of the Individual and the Propagation of the Species, is his natural Right, which none can justly deprive him of: But all Property superfluous to such purposes is the Property of the Publick, who, by their Laws, have created it, and who may therefore by other laws dispose of it, whenever the Welfare of the Publick shall demand such Disposition. He that does not like civil Society on these Terms, let him retire and live among Savages. He can have no right to the benefits of Society, who will not pay his Club towards the Support of it.
Benjamin Franklin, letter to Robert Morris, December 25, 1783
And as to the Cares, they are chiefly what attend the bringing up of Children; and I would ask any Man who has experienced it, if they are not the most delightful Cares in the World; and if from that Particular alone, he does not find the Bliss of a double State much greater, instead of being less than he expected.
Benjamin Franklin, Reply to a Piece of Advice, March 4, 1734/5
Be in general virtuous, and you will be happy.
Benjamin Franklin, letter to John Alleyne, August 9, 1768
But they have two other Rights; those of sitting when they please, and as long as they please, in which methinks they have the advantage of your Parliament; for they cannot be dissolved by the Breath of a Minister, or sent packing as you were the other day, when it was your earnest desire to have remained longer together.
Benjamin Franklin, letter to William Straham, August 19, 1784
Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.
Benjamin Franklin, Advice to a Young Tradesman, 1748
Finally, there seem to be but three Ways for a Nation to acquire Wealth. The first is by War as the Romans did in plundering their conquered Neighbours. This is Robbery. The second by Commerce which is generally Cheating. The third by Agriculture the only honest Way; wherein Man receives a real Increase of the Seed thrown into the Ground, in a kind of continual Miracle wrought by the Hand of God in his favour, as a Reward for his innocent Life, and virtuous Industry.
Benjamin Franklin, Positions to be Examined, April 4, 1769
Have you something to do to-morrow; do it to-day.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1742
Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it, is.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richards Almanack, 1749
He that goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing.
Benjamin Franklin, from his writings, 1758
Here comes the orator! With his flood of words, and his drop of reason.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1735
History affords us many instances of the ruin of states, by the prosecution of measures ill suited to the temper and genius of their people. The ordaining of laws in favor of one part of the nation, to the prejudice and oppression of another, is certainly
Benjamin Franklin
History affords us many instances of the ruin of states, by the prosecution of measures ill suited to the temper and genius of their people. The ordaining of laws in favor of one part of the nation, to the prejudice and oppression of another, is certainly the most erroneous and mistaken policy. An equal dispensation of protection, rights, privileges, and advantages, is what every part is entitled to, and ought to enjoy... These measures never fail to create great and violent jealousies and animosities between the people favored and the people oppressed; whence a total separation of affections, interests, political obligations, and all manner of connections, by which the whole state is weakened.
Benjamin Franklin, Emblematical Representations, Circa 1774
History will also give Occasion to expatiate on the Advantage of Civil Orders and Constitutions, how Men and their Properties are protected by joining in Societies and establishing Government; their Industry encouraged and rewarded, Arts invented, and Life made more comfortable: The Advantages of Liberty, Mischiefs of Licentiousness, Benefits arising from good Laws and a due Execution of Justice, etc. Thus may the first Principles of sound Politicks be fix'd in the Minds of Youth.
Benjamin Franklin, Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania, 1749
How many observe Christ's birth-day! How few, his precepts! O! 'tis easier to keep Holidays than Commandments.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1743
Human Felicity is produced not so much by great Pieces of good Fortune that seldom happen, as by little Advantages that occur every Day.
Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography, 1771
I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.
Benjamin Franklin, On the Price of Corn and Management of the Poor, November 1766
I pronounce it as certain that there was never yet a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous.
Benjamin Franklin, The Busy-body, No. 3, February 18, 1728
If by the liberty of the press were understood merely the liberty of discussing the propriety of public measures and political opinions, let us have as much of it as you please: But if it means the liberty of affronting, calumniating and defaming one another, I, for my part, own myself willing to part with my share of it, whenever our legislators shall please so to alter the law and shall chearfully consent to exchange my liberty of abusing others for the privilege of not being abused myself.
Benjamin Franklin, An Account of the Supremest Court of Judicature in Pennsylvania, viz. The Court of the Press, September 12, 1789
In reality there is perhaps no one of our natural Passions so hard to subdue as Pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will now and then peek out and show itself.
Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography, 1771
It is very imprudent to deprive America of any of her privileges. If her commerce and friendship are of any importance to you, they are to be had on no other terms than leaving her in the full enjoyment of her rights.
Benjamin Franklin, Political Observations
Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1738
No nation was ever ruined by trade, even seemingly the most disadvantageous.
Benjamin Franklin and George Whaley, Principles of Trade, 1774
Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.
Benjamin Franklin, letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy, November 13, 1789
Remember, that Time is Money.
Benjamin Franklin, Advice to a Young Tradesman, 1748
Repeal that [welfare] law, and you will soon see a change in their manners. St. Monday and St. Tuesday, will soon cease to be holidays. Six days shalt thou labor, though one of the old commandments long treated as out of date, will again be looked upon as a respectable precept; industry will increase, and with it plenty among the lower people; their circumstances will mend, and more will be done for their happiness by inuring them to provide for themselves, than could be done by dividing all your estates among them.
Benjamin Franklin, letter to Collinson, May 9, 1753
Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve.
Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography, 1771
Slavery is such an atrocious debasement of human nature, that its very extirpation, if not performed with solicitous care, may sometimes open a source of serious evils.
Benjamin Franklin, An Address to the Public, November 1789
Strangers are welcome because there is room enough for them all, and therefore the old Inhabitants are not jealous of them; the Laws protect them sufficiently so that they have no need of the Patronage of great Men; and every one will enjoy securely the Profits of his Industry. But if he does not bring a Fortune with him, he must work and be industrious to live.
Benjamin Franklin, Those Who Would Remove to America, February, 1784
Strive to be the greatest man in your country, and you may be disappointed. Strive to be the best and you may succeed: he may well win the race that runs by himself.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1747
That wise Men have in all Ages thought Government necessary for the Good of Mankind; and, that wise Governments have always thought Religion necessary for the well ordering and well-being of Society, and accordingly have been ever careful to encourage and protect the Ministers of it, paying them the highest publick Honours, that their Doctrines might thereby meet with the greater Respect among the common People.
Benjamin Franklin, On that Odd Letter of the Drum, April 1730
The good Education of Youth has been esteemed by wise Men in all Ages, as the surest Foundation of the Happiness both of private Families and of Common-wealths. Almost all Governments have therefore made it a principal Object of their Attention, to establish and endow with proper Revenues, such Seminaries of Learning, as might supply the succeeding Age with Men qualified to serve the Publick with Honour to themselves, and to their Country.
Benjamin Franklin, Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania, 1749
The happy State of Matrimony is, undoubtedly, the surest and most lasting Foundation of Comfort and Love; the Source of all that endearing Tenderness and Affection which arises from Relation and Affinity; the grand Point of Property; the Cause of all good Order in the World, and what alone preserves it from the utmost Confusion; and, to sum up all, the Appointment of infinite Wisdom for these great and good Purposes.
Benjamin Franklin, Rules and Maxims for Promoting Matrimonial Happiness, October 8, 1730
The ordaining of laws in favor of one part of the nation, to the prejudice and oppression of another, is certainly the most erroneous and mistaken policy. An equal dispensation of protection, rights, privileges, and advantages, is what every part is entitled to, and ought to enjoy.
Benjamin Franklin, Emblematical Representations, Circa 1774
They are of the People, and return again to mix with the People, having no more durable preeminence than the different Grains of Sand in an Hourglass. Such an Assembly cannot easily become dangerous to Liberty. They are the Servants of the People, sent together to do the People's Business, and promote the public Welfare; their Powers must be sufficient, or their Duties cannot be performed. They have no profitable Appointments, but a mere Payment of daily Wages, such as are scarcely equivalent to their Expences; so that, having no Chance for great Places, and enormous Salaries or Pensions, as in some Countries, there is no triguing or bribing for Elections.
Benjamin Franklin, letter to George Whatley, May 23, 1785
They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
This gave me occasion to observe, that when Men are employ'd they are best contented. For on the Days they work'd they were good-natur'd and chearful; and with the consciousness of having done a good Days work they spent the Evenings jollily; but on the idle Days they were mutinous and quarrelsome, finding fault with their Pork, the Bread, etc. and in continual ill-humour.
Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography, 1771
To the haranguers of the populace among the ancients, succeed among the moderns your writers of political pamphlets and news-papers, and your coffee-house talkers.
Benjamin Franklin, Reply to Coffee House Orators, April 9, 1767
We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.
Benjamin Franklin (attributed), at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
Where liberty dwells, there is my country.
Benjamin Franklin (attributed), letter to Benjamin Vaughn, March 14, 1783
Wish not so much to live long as to live well.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1746
Without Freedom of Thought there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as Public Liberty, without Freedom of Speech.
Benjamin Franklin, writing as Silence Dogood, No. 8, July 9, 1722
Work as if you were to live 100 Years, Pray as if you were to die To-morrow.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1757
[E]very Man who comes among us, and takes up a piece of Land, becomes a Citizen, and by our Constitution has a Voice in Elections, and a share in the Government of the Country.
Benjamin Franklin, letter to William Straham, August 19, 1784
[I]t is a common observation here that our cause is the cause of all mankind, and that we are fighting for their liberty in defending our own.
Benjamin Franklin, letter to Samuel Cooper, May 1, 1777 |
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SAYINGS- Keeping your head above water
Updated: 11 Oct 2011
keep one's head above water
1. Lit. to keep from drowning when swimming or floating. I was so tired I could hardly keep my head above water.
2. . Fig. to manage to survive, especially financially. We have so little money that we can hardly keep our heads above water. It's hard to keep your head above water on this much money.
3. Fig. to keep up with one's work. It's all I can do to keep my head above water with the work I have. I can't take on any more. We have so many orders that we can hardly keep our heads above water.
See also: above, head, keep, water
keep your head above water
to have just enough money to live or to continue a business With extra income from private sponsorship, the club is just about managing to keep its head above water.
See also: above, head, keep, water |
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Sayings- Give up the Ghost
Updated: 11 Oct 2011
Give up the ghost
Meaning
To die, or in the case of inanimate objects, to cease working.
Origin
There are many uses of this phrase in the Bible, including this, from Miles Coverdale's Version, 1535, Acts 12:23:
Immediatly the angell of the LORDE smote him, because he gaue not God the honoure: And he was eaten vp of wormes, and gaue vp the goost.
The metaphorical use of the phrase, i.e. in relation to something not living and not able to become a ghost, is 19th century; for example, James Kirke Paulding's, Westward Ho!, 1832, includes:
"At length it gave up the ghost, and, like an over-cultivated intellect, became incurably barren."
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Sayings- The Daily Grind
Updated: 11 Oct 2011
The Daily Grind
Grinding the days corn on a grinding stone ?
A repetitive chore
grind
//
(gr nd)
v. ground (ground), grind·ing, grinds
v.tr.
1.
a. To crush, pulverize, or reduce to powder by friction, especially by rubbing between two hard surfaces: grind wheat into flour.
b. To shape, sharpen, or refine with friction: grind a lens.
2. To rub (two surfaces) together harshly; gnash: grind the teeth.
3. To bear down on harshly; crush.
4. To oppress or weaken gradually: "Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law" (Oliver Goldsmith).
5.
a. To operate by turning a crank: ground a hurdy-gurdy.
b. To produce or process by turning a crank: grinding a pound of beef.
6. To produce mechanically or without inspiration: The factory grinds out a uniform product.
7. To instill or teach by persistent repetition: ground the truth into their heads.
v.intr.
1. To perform the operation of grinding something.
2. To become crushed, pulverized, or powdered by friction.
3. To move with noisy friction; grate: a train grinding along rusty rails.
4. Informal To devote oneself to study or work: grinding for a test; grinding away at housework.
5. Slang To rotate the pelvis erotically, as in the manner of a stripteaser.
n.
1. The act of grinding.
2. A crunching or grinding noise.
3. A specific grade or degree of pulverization, as of coffee beans: drip grind.
4. Informal A laborious task, routine, or study: the daily grind.
5. Informal A student who works or studies excessively.
6. Slang An erotic rotation of the pelvis |
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Sayings- Fathom ( it Out )
Updated: 06 Oct 2011
Fathom out
Meaning
To ascertain something; to deduce from the facts.
Origin
A fathom is one of those units of linear measurement that we learned at school (at least we did when I was at an English grammar school in the 14th century) and now can't quite remember just what length they refer to.
There's the furlong (a 'furrow long', or the length of a mediaeval field - about 220 yards), the rod or pole or perch (all the same measurement - of five paces), the cubit (from the elbow to the fingertips).
These peculiarly named units are matched in their imprecision by the fathom, which is the span encompassed by the outstretched arms from fingertip to fingertip - about six feet.
Naturally, not everyone's arms were the same length and so the fathom wasn't an agreed distance. The woolliness over the definition of the term is illustrated in Ephraim Chambers' Cyclopaedia, 1728:
There are three kinds of Fathoms.
The first, which is that of Men of War, contains six Feet:
The middling, or that of Merchant Ships, five Feet, and a half;
and the small one, used in Fluyts, Flyboats, and other Fishing-vessels, only five Feet.
When we say that we fathom something now we mean that we grasp or understand it. In the Middle Ages to fathom something was, in keeping with the literal 'fingertip to fingertip' meaning of the word, to encircle it with the arms.
From the 14th century onward, people who embraced each other were said to be fathoming.
That meaning has now fallen out of use, which at least spares us from daily 'fathom and tell' stories in our tabloid newspapers.
'Fathoming out' refers to measuring by using the outstretched arms, a usage that dates back to at least the 16th century; for example, this piece from Richard Eden's The Decades of the Newe Worlde, 1555:
Seuen men... with theyr armes streached furthe were scarsely able too fathame them [trees] aboute.
As time went by 'to fathom' began to mean 'to get to the bottom of' or 'to take soundings about'. This probably derives from the most commonly believed derivation of 'fathoming out', which is the measuring of the depth of water beneath a ship by use of a weight fixed to a rope marked out in fathoms. This 'sounding out' was known both literally and figuratively by the early 17th century; for example, this literal usage, recorded in Sir William Brereton's Travels in Holland, 1634:
Fathoming the depth of the water over against Brill, we found it there where the buoys are placed to warn all seamen of the danger of that passage, that we had not above two feet more water than the ship drew.
Philip Massinger's comic play A New Way to Pay Old Debts, 1633, makes a figurative use of 'fathoming', that is, a usage that makes no explicit reference to distance but which moves the meaning of 'fathoming' from 'getting the measure of' to 'understanding':
The Statesman beleeues he fathomes The counsels of all Kingdomes on the earth.
Fathoms are so strongly associated with seafaring that it seems unecessary to look any further than the nautical measurement as the source of 'fathom out', especially as this form of measuring was still commonplace when the term was coined.
See also: swing the lead and other nautical phrases. |
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WHAT IS A "BUNNY BOILER"- SAYINGS
Updated: 23 Sep 2011
Bunny boiler
Meaning
An obsessive and dangerous female, in pursuit of a lover who has spurned her.
Origin
The expression 'bunny boiler' derives from the 1987 film Fatal Attraction, written by James Dearden and Nicholas Meyer.
The plot centres around Alex Forrest (Glenn Close) obsessively pursuing her ex-lover Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas).
The phrase comes from the plot device whereby Forrest, in a fit of frenzied jealousy, boils her erstwhile lover's daughter's pet rabbit. Gallagher's suspicions should have become aroused earlier, when Forrest was trying to persuade him to meet her, when she said "Bring the dog, I love animals... I'm a great cook."
At the time that the phrase first came into general use it referred to someone unable to remain rational at the end of a romantic relationship.
Very quickly that usage became moderated and it came to be used, often with some degree of irony, in much less extreme situations.
Any needy, possessive or even just mildly annoying woman is now liable to be described as a 'bunny boiler'.
The phrase is the modern equivalent of the woman referred to in the expression 'Hell has no fury like a woman scorned' which, in the competition for 'best-known phrases attributed to Shakespeare that were actually by someone else', runs 'music has charms to soothe the savage breast' into a close second place.
Both these phrases were coined by William Congreve in 1697, in the play The Mourning Bride. For reasons that I'll leave others to explain, it is only women who are thought to become unhinged by being what is now graphically known as 'being dumped'. There's no male equivalent of 'a women scorned' or a 'bunny boiler'.
As 'bunny boiler' is a recent phrase with such a clear source we are able to trace how it has found its way into popular use.
It wasn't directly from the film, as the epithet isn't used in the dialogue, nor any of the advertising blurb used to promote it. As to who coined it, that's not clear, although it may well have been Glenn Close.
The first use of it in print is from an interview Close gave to the US magazine the Ladies' Home Journal, reported in the Dallas Morning News on 6th December 1990:
"There's nothing like portraying a psychopathic bunny-boiler to boost one's self-esteem, Glenn Close tells Ladies' Home Journal."
Popular phrases that have found their way into the language since the emergence of the Internet appear first in online discussion groups, blogs and online newspapers.
The earliest large archive of online colloquial messages is that of USENET groups, but Bunny boiler isn't found there until 1994, nor does it appear more than once or twice in the archives of US or British newspapers before that date.
If the phrase were a commercial product then marketing people would say that it reached its target audience in 1994. It certainly saw a sudden and widespread use from then onwards and is now a commonly used phrase.
Fatal Attraction was released in 1987 and Close referred to the phrase in 1990. Newly coined terms appear to spread in the community like viruses and, like flu viruses, they float around in the populace until they reach a threshold of infected cases, above which they spread rapidly.
It appears that 'bunny boiler' got to that point sometime in 1994.
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SAYINGS- "MAY YOU LIVE IN INTERESTING TIMES"
Updated: 16 Sep 2011
May you live in interesting times
Meaning
May you experience
much disorder and trouble in your life.
Origin
While purporting to be a blessing, this is in fact a curse. The expression is always used ironically, with the clear implication that 'uninteresting times', of peace and tranquillity, are more life-enhancing than interesting ones.
 'May you live in interesting times' is widely reported as being of ancient Chinese origin but is neither Chinese nor ancient, being recent and western.
It certainly seems to have been intended to sound oriental, in the faux-Chinese 'Confucius he say' style, but that's as near to China as it actually gets.
Confucius's actual sayings are as elusive as those of his western counterpart Aesop - we have no written records from either of them.
The phrase was introduced in the 20th century in the form 'interesting age' rather than 'interesting times' and appears that way in the opening remarks made by Frederic R. Coudert at the Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science, 1939,
Some years ago, in 1936, I had to write to a very dear and honored friend of mine, who has since died, Sir Austen Chamberlain, brother of the present Prime Minister, and I concluded my letter with a rather banal remark, "that we were living in an interesting age."
Evidently he read the whole letter, because by return mail he wrote to me and concluded as follows: "Many years ago, I learned from one of our diplomats in China that one of the principal Chinese curses heaped upon an enemy is, 'May you live in an interesting age.'"
"Surely", he said, "no age has been more fraught with insecurity than our own present time." That was three years ago.
This citation has to be treated with caution as Chamberlain didn't speak Chinese and never visited China, although he was in contact with diplomats stationed there during his time as British Foreign Secretary, that is, 1924-1929.
We have the 1939 citation in print, so the 'interesting age' form must be at least that old. If we are to believe Coulson's assertion, the phrase dates from before 1936 and, if we trust in Chamberlain's recollection, we can push the origin back to pre-1929.
As to the currently used 'interesting times' version, we can only date that to post WWII. In a speech to the 2nd session of the US Congress in August 1946, Senator Robert Byrd addressed a remark to Harry S. Truman:
Mr. President, there is an old Chinese curse that says, 'May you live in interesting times.'
Most generations think their times are especially troubling - now as ever.
Senator Byrd probably had a better reason than many to call 1940s USA 'interesting', as it was less than a year after the US's use of atomic bombs and the surrender of Japan and Germany in WWII and only a month or two after Winston Churchill's 'Iron Curtain' speech, made in Fulton, Missouri, warning of the rise of Soviet power.
I hope you found that interesting.
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SAYINGS- QUOTATIONS ABOUT HISTORY
Updated: 16 Sep 2011
Quotations about History
History is a cyclic poem written by Time upon the memories of man. ~Percy Bysshe Shelley
If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday. ~Pearl Buck
We used to root for the Indians against the cavalry, because we didn't think it was fair in the history books that when the cavalry won it was a great victory, and when the Indians won it was a massacre. ~Dick Gregory
Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history. ~Plato, Ion
History is a vast early warning system. ~Norman Cousins
Each time history repeats itself, the price goes up. ~Author Unknown |
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SAYINGS - FOR GOOD MEASURE
Updated: 08 Sep 2011
For good measure
Meaning
As an additional extra.
Origin
'Good measure' has been part of the language since the first English-speaking 'purveyor of fyne goodes' set up shop, and it just means 'an ample or generous quantity of that which is sold by measure'.
The first instance of the expression in print is found where many other first coinages originated, in John Wyclif's Middle English translation of the Bible, circa 1384, in Luke 6:38:
Thei schulen yyue in to youre bosum a good mesure, and wel fillid, and schakun togidir, and ouerflowynge; for bi the same mesure, bi whiche ye meeten, it schal be metun ayen to you.
[They shall give into your bosom a good measure, and well-filled, and shaken together, and overflowing; for by the same measure, by which ye mete, it shall be meted again to you.]
We might expect the extended term 'in good measure' to refer to an abundance of something. In fact, its rather the reverse. 'Measured' also means 'moderate; restrained' and if a person acts 'in good measure' they are being especially temperate in their actions. As it happens, Wyclif was also one of the first to put that meaning of 'good measure' into print, in a collection of sermons known as Controversial Tracks, circa 1400, which was directed at the clergy:
Ye shulden lyue on ye puple in good mesure as Paul biddin.
[You be sustained by the people in moderation, as St. Paul bids you.]
It wasn't until much later that the use of the phrase 'good measure' returned to its original 'ample' meaning. In the 19th century people began to express the idea of things being 'thrown in for good measure', that is, added as a complimentary extra portion. In 1811, the British mathematician Patrick Kelly wrote The Universal Cambist, which was an exhaustive study of the weights and measures in use in different parts of the world and a method of converting from one to another. In the notes on Swedish measurement he included:
Corn, and other dry commodities, are measured by Tunnor. The Tunne is divided into 32 Kappar. But to every Tunna of wheat 4 Kappar are allowed for good measure.
Before long, the expression 'for good measure' began to be used figuratively, that is, in circumstances where no actual measurement was taking place. An example appears in the May 1850 edition of the American magazineLittell's Living Age, in a report of a public flogging in California:
'Give him another for good measure' - 'Hit him again' - were the sounds which greeted his ears.
'For good measure' might appear to be linked to the 'Baker's dozen', as both phrases express the notion of a little extra being added above the absolute requirement. In fact, the two phrases aren't connected, 'Baker's dozen' being much older. While the extra that was added 'for good measure' was added willingly, the extra that made up a Baker's dozen was added under threat of severe punishment. In mediaeval England, being light in the loaves was as risky as being 'light in the loafers' was prior to the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the 1967 Sexual Offences Act.
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SAYINGS- THE SUN IS OVER THE YARD ARM
Updated: 06 Sep 2011
Re: Sun is over the yardarm
Posted by ESC on September 22, 2002
: I am try to find out the meaning of
: "Is the sun over the yard arm"
SUN IS OVER THE YARDARM - "(time for happy hour to begin). This expression is thought to have its origins in an officers' custom aboard ships sailing in the north Atlantic. In those latitudes, the sun would rise above the upper yards - the horizontal spars mounted on the masts, from which squaresails were hung - around 11 a.m. Since this coincided with the forenoon 'stand easy,' officers would take advantage of the break to go below for their first tot of spirits for the day. The expression washed ashore where the sun appears over the figurative yardarm a bit later in the day, generally after 5 p.m., and the end of the workday." From "When a Loose Cannon Flogs a Dead Horse There's the Devil to Pay: Seafaring Words in Everyday Speech" by Olivia A. Isil (International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press, McGraw-Hill, 1996)
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SAYINGS- LIKE IT OR LUMP IT
Updated: 02 Sep 2011
Like it or lump it
Meaning
Said of an unpleasant outcome that one has no choice but to accept - one can either endure it willingly or endure it with suffering.
Origin
When we are given a fait accompli in a situation in which we would normally expect some sort of choice, we might not be too pleased about it. We may then be told to 'like it or lump it'. Had the expression been coined in the 16th century this is no doubt what Thomas Hobson would have said to his prospective customers when he offered them 'Hobson's choice'.
But how exactly do we 'lump' something? Although 'lump' is almost always used as a noun rather than a verb, there are many meanings of the verb form of 'lump' to choose from:
- To bet all of one's money on a single wager (first recorded in the 19th century)
- To make something into a lump (18th century)
- To classify various things as a group, i.e. lump them together (17th century)
- To slouch along lazily (17th century)
- To look sulky or disagreeable (16th century)
Of course, it is the last of these lumps that is the alternative to 'like it'.
'Lumping' in the sense of mooching about grumpily may well be of Irish origin and is first recorded in Richard Stanyhurst's Treatise Describing Irelande, 1577. The Dublin born Stanyhurst risked the wrath of his contemporaries by suggesting that the English rule in Ireland wasn't the source of all their troubles:
Here percase some snappish carper will snuffinglie snib me for debasing the Irish language: because that by proofe and experience we see, that the pale was neuer in more florishing estate than when it was wholie English, and neuer in woorsse plight than since it hath infranchised the Irish. But some will saie, that I shew my selfe herein as friuolous... They stand lumping and lowring, fretting and fuming.
[Note: Stanyhurst's expressive phrase 'snuffingly snib' means 'rebuke in a snorting manner'.]
[Note: see also 'Beyond the pale'.]
Soon afterwards, in 1581, Barnaby Rich used the term in Farewell to Military Profession:
She beganne to froune, lumpe, and lowre at her housebande.
Rich was a naval captain and undoubtedly English, but most of his writing related to Ireland and he moved to Dublin to write on his retirement from the Navy.
People had been lumping it for a few hundred years before anyone thought of the phrase 'like it or lump it'. A play on words between the noun and verb usages of the word lump was what brought it about. The early uses of the expression refer to things that have lumps in them, as in this example from the London magazine The Monthly Mirror, 1807, in a piece titled Rules For Punning:
Mrs. ...purposely sends a dish of tea to a lady, without sugar, of which she complains.
Mr. ...(Handing the sugar basin) - Well, ma'am, if you don't like it, you may lump it.
The English love of wordplay is long lasting, some might say chronic, and Zadie Smith made the same little joke in her novel White Teeth, 2000:
We're all English now, mate. Like it or lump it, as the rhubarb said to the custard.
The first example that I can find of the precise 'like it or lump it' wording of the expression is in Specimens, 1841, Josiah Shippey's book of morally uplifting essays, which were delivered in the form of tortured rhyming couplets, worthy of William McGonagall:
Yet his merit, though some may be ignorant of it,
And as he by it wishes each one may profit;
Imperiously forces, or like it or lump it,
Himself, honest fellow, to blow his own trumpet.
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SAYINGS - BY DAN QUAYLE - YOU SAY POTATA
Updated: 26 Aug 2011
INCREDIBLE DAN QUAYLE QUOTES
"Welcome to President Bush, Mrs. Bush, and my fellow astronauts."
"We're going to have the best-educated American people in the world." 9/21/88
"We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a 'part' of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe. We are a 'part' of Europe."
"The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation's history. I mean in this century's history. But we all lived in this century. I didn't live in this century." 15/9/88
"Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children." 18/9/90
"It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it."
"It is wonderful to be here in the great state of Chicago"
"I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have was that I didn't study Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people."
"I love California, I practically grew up in Phoenix."
"For NASA, space is still a high priority." 5/9/90
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SAYINGS-BLOOD SWEAT AND TEARS
Updated: 26 Aug 2011
Blood, sweat and tears
Meaning
Hard work and effort in difficult circumstances.
Origin
The expression 'blood, sweat and tears' is usually said to have been coined by Sir Winston Churchill in his famous "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat" speech in 1940, when he warned the British people of the hardships to come in fighting WWII.
Each country seems to have a shortlist of people to whom they attribute colourful quotations that lack an accredited author. In the USA the sage of choice is Mark Twain; in Ireland, Oscar Wilde and in England, Winston Churchill. However, it wasn't Churchill who coined 'blood, sweat and tears' - ultimately it is has a biblical source.
The first occurrence of the expression that I can find in print is in Sermons on Various Subjects by Christmas Evans, translated from the Welsh by J. Davis, 1837:
Christ the High Priest of our profession, when he laid down his life for us on Calvary, was bathed in his own blood, sweat and tears.
Evans, a.k.a. 'The John Bunyan of Wales' (25 December 1766 - 1838) was an eccentric but widely admired preacher.
We can't now be sure if it was he who coined the phrase or his translator.
Either way, we can be sure that the phrase was in the language by 1837.
Christmas Evans knew the Bible by heart and was no doubt influenced in his choice of words by this passage from The King James Bible, Luke 22:44:
And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Churchill, although no great theological scholar, borrowed 'blood, sweat and tears' for his famous wartime speech and can certainly take the credit for the popular take-up of the phrase into everyday language.
 Al Cooper picked up on the phrase as the name for his new jazz-rock band in 1967.
Cooper could hardly have known how apt a choice it was.
The band has gone through more disagreements, sackings and changes of direction than most, with at least 140 musicians having been members at some point.
Many of the things Churchill is supposed to have said are wrongly attributed. One of the better ones that can be verified is his exchange with the socialite and politician Nancy Astor:
Astor: Winston, if I were your wife I would put poison in your coffee!
Churchill: And if I were your husband I would drink it.
My favourite Churchillism is a supposed reply to an unwelcome letter that has all the hallmarks of the man's work but is probably apocryphal:
"Dear Sir, I am in the smallest room in the house and your letter is before me.
Very soon it will be behind me."
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SAYINGS- LOOSE CANNON
Updated: 19 Aug 2011
Loose cannon
Meaning
An unpredictable person or thing, liable to cause damage if not kept in check by others.
Origin
 Between the 17th and 19th centuries wooden warships carried cannon as their primary offensive weapons. In order to avoid damage from their enormous recoil when fired they were mounted on rollers and secured with rope. A loose cannon was just what it sounds like, that is, a cannon that had become free of its restraints and was rolling dangerously about the deck.
As with many nautical phrases, the use of 'loose cannon' owes something to the imagination as no evidence has come to light to indicate that the phrase was used by sailors in the days that ships actually carried cannon. The imagination in question belonged to Victor Hugo who set the scene in the novel Ninety Three, 1874. A translation of the French original describes cannon being tossed about following a violent incident onboard ship:
"The carronade, hurled forward by the pitching, dashed into this knot of men, and crushed four at the first blow; then, flung back and shot out anew by the rolling, it cut in two a fifth poor fellow... The enormous cannon was left alone. She was given up to herself. She was her own mistress, and mistress of the vessel. She could do what she willed with both."
Henry Kingsley picked up this reference in his novel Number Seventeen, 1875, in which he made the first use of the term 'loose cannon' in English:
"At once, of course, the ship was in the trough of the sea, a more fearfully dangerous engine of destruction than Mr. Victor Hugo’s celebrated loose cannon."
The earliest figurative use of 'loose cannon' in print that I can find is from The Galveston Daily News, December 1889:
The negro vote in the south is a unit now mainly because it is opposed by the combined white vote. It would in no event become, as Mr. Grady once said, "a loose cannon in a storm-tossed ship."
The phrase might have dwindled into obscurity in the 20th century but for the intervention of the US president Theodore Roosevelt. William White was a noted US journalist and politician around the turn of the 20th century and was a close friend of Roosevelt. White's Autobiography, published soon after his death in 1944 contained the following reminiscence:
He [Roosevelt] said: "I don't want to be the old cannon loose on the deck in the storm".
As I suggested, nautical terms are rife with romanticism and another term in which items are imagined to be rolling about the deck of a sailing ship (incorrectly in this case) is 'cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey'.
See also - Nautical Phrases.
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Sayings
