Posts Tagged Phrase Origins

Definition: To take from one to give to another.

Origins: The origins of this idiom is said to be from a popular 16th century legend. According to the legend, money was taken from the St. Peter Church in Westminster, London to pay for the repairs of the St. Paul’s Cathedral in Rome. The saying, however, was seen in print before the legend. Around 1382, the saying first appeared in “Select English Works” by John Wycliffe.

Ammer, Christine. The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997, 542.
Cartoons via Cartoonstock.com

Definition: Not everything that looks expensive or precious actually is.

Origins: If you, like me, were raised on 90’s one hit wonders and the first thing that this phrase brings to mind is the refrain from Smash Mouth’s 1999 song, “All Star,” than I applaud your memory. However, I hate to be the one to tell you that the actual song words mean the opposite of this idiom. The refrain actually goes like this: “Hey now you’re an All Star get your game on, go play/ Hey now you’re a Rock Star get the show on get paid/ And all that glitters is gold/ Only shooting stars break the mold.” The song leaves out “not,” which changes the entire meaning and implies that all shiny precious things are just that. The origins for the saying “all that glitters is not gold” can be traced as far back as the 12^th century where French theologian Alain de Lille wrote a variant of the saying: “Do not hold everything gold that shines like gold.” After de Lille, other authors, poets and playwrights such as Chaucer, Cervantes, and Shakespeare have taken on the saying in various forms. The present form of the phrase originated in 1687 when English author John Dryden stated, “All, as they say, that glitters is not gold,” in The Hind and the Panther.

Hendrickson, Robert. Words and Phrase Origins. 3rd ed. New York: Facts On File, 2004, 18.
(cartoon)

Definition: The saying means that a person has a hidden or secret advantage.

Origins: In the 16th century, it was common for people to store things in their sleeves because clothes did not yet have pockets. The definition has changed slightly since then. The current meaning comes from gambling situations when dishonest players conceal ideal cards up their sleeves.

Ammer, Christine. The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997, 103.
Photo found here.

An illustration of the Roman road system.

Definition: Different methods will yield the same result.

Origins: The idiom, “all roads lead to Rome,” was being used as early as the 1100s. It was based off of the ancient Roman road system where roads radiated from the capital of Rome. The road system resembled spokes of a wheel as the picture above shows around the circle.

Ammer, Christine. The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997, 12.

John Tenniel's original illustrations of Tweedledee and Tweedledum from Carroll's 1871 "Through the Looking-Glass."

Definition: Two people or entities that are alike.

Origins: In 1725, poet John Byrom coined “tweedledum” and “tweedledee” when he used those terms to make fun of two quarreling composers (Handel and Bononcini). Byrom stated that both composers had similar music and because of this, one was “tweedledum” and the other “tweedledee.” The term later gained notoriety and popularity when Lewis Carroll used the term for two twin brothers in his 1872 successful novel Through the Looking-Glass.

Ammer, Christine. The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997, 684.

Located at a garden at the 19th century palace, Achilleon, on the Greek Island of Corfu. This statue depicts Achilles dying as he tries to remove the arrow embedded in his tendon.

Definition: If a person has an Achilles’ heel, it means that they have a fatal weakness or vulnerable spot.

Origins: If you have seen Troy, the 2004 movie with Brad Pitt as Achilles, you already know the origins of this popular saying. For those who do not race to the theater for a Brad Pitt movie, the birth of this saying comes out of Greek mythology. The legend has it that the heroic warrior Achilles’ mother, Thetis, wanted her son to be immortal. Before Achilles’ birth, Thetis received a prophecy about her son’s future death in battle. Because of this, she wanted to counteract this foretelling by trying to make him immortal. When Achilles was born, Thetis held onto her son’s heel and dipped him in to the river Styx. The Styx is the mythical river that separate earth from Hades or the Underworld. As Achilles grew, he became a great warrior. Homer discusses Achilles and his role in the Trojan War in his epic poem, the Iliad. Homer did not mention Achilles’ death later in the war, but the legend states that Achilles met his death by an arrow into his heel. In fact it was the same heel his mother held onto when she attempted to make Achilles immortal.

The Achilles tendon was named after this legend.

Information:
Ammer, Christine. The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997, 3.
Photo of the statue of Achilles is found online here.

"A soldier kissing his daughter goodbye before he leaves Britain."

There have been versions of this saying dating to the Roman times, but it’s popularity came much later. Thomas Haynes Bayly, an English poet and songwriter, used the phrase in one of his songs. In Bayly’s 1850 song The Isle of Beauty, “absence makes the heart grow founder” was the last line used. It is around this time that the saying became synonymous with lost love or, more commonly, love increasing due to being separated by distance or obstacles.

Ammer, Christine. The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997, 2.
Image and Caption courtesy of Getty Images.

A French girl with a CARE package in 1946.

While people have been sending friends and loved ones packages filled with goodies and items not readily available for centuries, the use of the words “care package” did not occur until much later.

After World War II on November 27, 1945, a relief organization called CARE was created. CARE packaged food, clothing and other items to nations affected by war. In the next 20 years, CARE sent over 100 million packages to people in need worldwide. According to their website the first CARE packages contained the following:

• one pound of beef in broth
• one pound of steak and kidneys
• 8 ounces of liver loaf
• 8 ounces of corned beef
• 12 ounces of luncheon loaf (like Spam)
• 8 ounces of bacon
• 2 pounds of margarine
• one pound of lard
• one pound of fruit preserves
• one pound of honey
• one pound of raisins
• one pound of chocolate
• 2 pounds of sugar
• 8 ounces of egg powder
• 2 pounds of whole-milk powder
• 2 pounds of coffee

Since then the term “care package” has broadened to mean packages sent to children away at camp, students at school and people serving overseas.

Information and photo via CARE website.

I couldn't find a Colonial Era image I liked relating to this topic, so I picked a picture of Post-Its. Why you ask? Because I live dangerously!

During the Colonial Era, if someone wanted to share news or information with the community, the person would post a note on a large wooden post. The wooden post usually was in a centralized area where people gathered for conversation or gossip. This is where the saying “keep me posted” originated from, because people literally had to nail it on a post.

Charlotte Lowe, History Fact-O-Pedia, New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2011, 8.
Image found here.

Ring a Ring o’ roses,
A pocket full of posies,
A-tishoo! A-tishoo!
We all fall down.

Ring a Ring o’ roses, a child’s rhyming game, has entertained children for many years. Reportedly, the origins of this song and dance routine occurred during a dark time in history. From 1665-1666, the Great Plague of London decimated England. Within London, around 70,000 died, a large percentage of the city’s total population of 460,000.

The rhyme follows the effects of the plague in the following ways:

• Ring a Ring o’ roses – An early symptom of the plague was a red, circular rash.
• A pocket full of posies - One superstition was that posies would help protect against the disease, so they would carry the herb with them. It was also used as a fragrance against the disease’s smell.
• A-tishoo! A-tishoo! – Sneezing or coughing was one of the last symptoms before death. In later rhyme versions, Ashes! Ashes!, replaces this sentence. The bodies of plague victims were usually cremated, so this later adaption still works within the original idea.
• We all fall down - This last line states the final result of the plague - death.

Panati, Charles. Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things. New York: Harper & Row, 1987, 196.

The Great Plague

Photos – Illustration; Black and White

Mary had a little lamb and Thomas Edison

“Mary had a little lamb,” is perhaps the most popular children’s song. In 1830, Sarah Josepha Hale of Boston wrote this popular rhyme after hearing a story of a lamb following its young owner to school. It was published in the fall edition of Juvenile Miscellany, a children’s journal that Hale was editor of.

On November 20, 1877, Thomas Edison recorded the first words of human speech into his phonograph. Those first words were “Mary had a little lamb.”

Panati, Charles. Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things. New York: Harper & Row, 1987, 196.

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It is common to hear the phrase “rule of thumb” when someone is discussing rules or regulations. Have you ever wondered about the origin of the phrase? I wish I could say it came from a children’s fable or that a famous person uttered it long ago, but unfortunately the phrase’s beginning is not as pleasant. The saying emerged around the Civil War when it was legal, and socially acceptable, for a husband to beat his wife. The only stipulation was the instrument used could not be thicker than the thumb. Thus the saying “rule of thumb” found it’s way into our everyday language.