Idioms, to make a long story short, are actually nonsense, yet hit the nail on the head. We know what these phrases mean; we all use them. But where do these funny and nonsensical statements come from? Since when can you know the ropes, knock on wood, or wag the dog?
An idiom generally is an expression different from its literal meaning. Often, only people in a particular region or class understand it. Some first appeared in the Bible or were penned by Shakespeare. Today, with the proliferation of mass media, they can spread thick and fast.
Those foreigners or folks from the future are surely scratching their heads. Most of the idiom’s I used in this story confused Monroe as he tried to comprehend what it was I had said. If you're like me, you may have started to wonder just where they came from.
To help you understand, I composed a list of most of the idioms I used. You might find their meaning and origin interesting.
NOTE: Even with the Internet, it was impossible to learn the origins of some of these idioms. Some of the stories of origin that I did find are simply that: stories. Although the intricate stories can sound plausible, often a simple explanation is the real answer. That’s how extraordinary and confusing the English language can be. So, on that note, let’s:
GIVE IT A SHOT OR GIVE IT YOUR BEST SHOT
Meaning: To give it a try, to endeavor.
Origin: Unclear. It might have a military origin. The term “best shot” came from a sixteenth-century shooter who could hit enemies or targets most accurately. It became a common phase in the twentieth century.
STOP AND SMELL THE ROSES
Meaning: To pause. Take time to appreciate.
Origin: Most think it became popular after Ringo Starr’s song in 1981.
SMACK DAB
Meaning: In essence, it means “slapped precisely in the center.”
Origin: First used in 1892. Smack is a transitive verb meaning to strike sharply and with a loud noise. Dab is a chiefly British word meaning clever or skilled. Put the two together and you have an idiom.
CLOUD NINE
Meaning: A state of elation/happiness.
Origin: This term originated with the U.S. Weather Bureau in the 1950s, and denotes the fluffy cumulonimbus clouds that people find attractive. Why the number ‘9’ is unclear.
BRAND SPANKING NEW
Meaning: A new or unused object.
Origin: From doctors spanking newborn babies to make them cry so that they will start breathing.
SPILL THE BEANS
Meaning: To divulge a secret, especially to do so inadvertently or maliciously.
Origin: There is the word “spill,” meaning divulge, but why beans? It could have come from almost anything. One theory: The origin of this expression is sometimes said to be an ancient Greek voting system. The story goes that white beans indicated positive votes and black beans negative votes. Votes had to be unanimous, so if the collector “spilled the beans” before the vote was counted, the vote was halted.
WHAT IN SAM HILL
Meaning: This is a euphemism, an inoffensive expression used to substitute for terms or words that might offend.
Origin: Who is Sam Hill anyway? Some say he was a proponent of the Pacific Highway, the railroad built to reach the West in the 1800s. Those who knew him thought him to be crazy. Anyway, if he could have a nickel for every time someone has used his name, he would have a wealthy estate.
GRASPING AT STRAWS
Meaning: A desperate attempt.
Origin: This term comes from the fact that a drowning person will grab at anything, including a straw, to keep from drowning.
PUT A BUG IN YOUR EAR
Meaning: A reminder, a hint, or suggestion relating to a future event.
Origin: Presumably likens the buzzing of an insect to a hint, although the exact analogy is unclear.
BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE
Meaning: Stuck between two bad options.
Origin: In 1917, mine workers in Bisbee, Arizona were faced with a choice between harsh and underpaid work at the rock-face part of the mine or face unemployment and poverty. Darn if you do, and darn if you don’t.
PULLING YOUR LEG
Meaning: Fooling about something. A joke being played.
Origin: No one seems to know. One speculation is that it might originated from the fact that during the old days in England when people were hung and left to swing in the wind, poor children would pull the hanged person by his or her leg in order to dislodge valuables from his or her pockets. Adults would tell the children to leave them alone and not to pull one's leg. Another theory has it that friends and relatives would often try to end the suffering of the hanged by pulling their legs in hopes of breaking their neck.
NEST EGG
Meaning: Savings set aside for later use.
Origin: The allusion is to putting a real or china egg onto a hen’s nest to encourage the hen to lay. The connection between this and the idea of savings isn’t exactly clear. It may be that the idea was that the egg that was put into the nest could be retrieved and used again after the hen had laid.
BITE OFF MORE THAN YOU CAN CHEW
Meaning: Taking on a task that is too great to complete.
Origin: Watching children stuff their mouths too full, causing difficulty in swallowing. Also slang referring to the use of plug tobacco.
THE WHOLE NINE YARDS
Meaning: The whole way or measure.
Origin: This is another one whose origin no one knows for sure. One theory is it had to do with eighteenth-century women’s gloves that went up to their elbows. They wore them when attending an important event, such as a ball or tea at the palace. The gloves had nine buttons.
NITTY GRITTY
Meaning: The specific or practical details, getting to the heart of the matter.
Origin: The origin of this idiom is somewhat unpleasant and a little unexpected. If you can stomach it, read on. It seems to derive from nits (small lice) found in unclean pubic hair plus the tiny, gritty pieces of dried feces found in unwashed anal hair. In America, the term was popularized by black militants in the Civil Rights movement.
JOSHING
Meaning: Kidding, fooling someone.
Origin: If you think I’m a character, wait until you read about this guy. Josh Tatum was a deaf mute, but a very enterprising man. In 1883 the U.S. mint came out with a new nickel. It was deemed the Liberty Nickel and on the reverse side it had a large Roman numeral V stamped on it. Josh noticed this and the fact that it was nearly the same size as the U.S. $5 gold piece. With the help of a friend familiar with gold electroplating base metal, they turned these coins into a fortune.
Josh went from town to town, shopping in shops and stores. He was careful not to buy anything that cost more than a nickel, and then he would hand over one of the gold-plated nickels. The clerk, thinking it to be a $5 gold piece, would give him back $4.95 in change. He soon amassed a small fortune. The law eventually caught up with him but ironically he was found not guilty because he had purchased items that cost so little. Hence the saying, “You’re not Joshing me, are you?”
LET THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG
Meaning: Give away a secret.
Origin: Alludes to the dishonest practice of a merchant substituting a worthless cat for a valuable pig, a fact that was discovered only when the buyer got home and opened the bag.
HOLD YOUR HORSES
Meaning: slow down, be patient.
Origin: This expression alludes to a driver making horses wait by holding the reins tightly, something that's not too common in modern society.
PIPE DOWN:
Meaning: Stop talking, be silent. Hush. Turn the cell phone off.
Origin: The idiom is also used as an imperative. It comes from the navy, where signals for all hands to turn to and turn in were sometimes sounded on a whistle or pipe.
CLEAR AS A BELL
Meaning: To be understood clearly.
Origin: Bells, such as the ones used in churches, have a loud and clear sound, which can be heard for miles.
NUTS
Meaning: Strange, eccentric, crazy, or insane. Used also to express contempt, disappointment, or refusal. Could pertain to all of us old farts.
Origin: The word “nut” was used as a slang term for “head” around 1820. Gradually it acquired the meaning not merely of “head,” but of “something wrong in the head.” This one really got into Monroe's head.
HOLY COW
Meaning: An exclamation of surprise.
Origin: This term comes from the Indian belief that cows are sacred. I don’t know what that has to do with being surprised. Unless it refers to waking up one morning and finding you are on Medicare.
TWO SHEETS TO THE WIND
Meaning: A state of extreme incapacity due to being tipsy, putting it nicely.
Origin: The phase is properly “three sheets to the wind.” Americans always shorten everything. A sheet is the rope on a sailboat that holds the clew of a sail tight and under control. When three come unsecured, the boat becomes unsteady.
SON OF A GUN
Meaning: Used to express annoyance, disappointment, or surprise.
Origin: This one is a dilly. It generally refers to a person who is a rascal or scamp. My brother comes to mind, but then I am probably coming to his mind.
One nautical myth suggests that in order to keep sailors in the British Navy from deserting, they were kept onboard while in port. The captain would allow “wives” to come aboard. Cramped quarters caused the “wives” to sling hammocks between the cannons. The expression actually questions the legitimacy of those who were born after the encounters in these hammocks. Most must have been males, since you don’t hear “daughter of a gun.”
HOOK, LINE, AND SINKER
Meaning: Falling for a prank, or to be complete.
Origin: This idiom refers to a fishing pole. You have to have all three items on a pole to catch a fish. Wait a minute, don't you need bait too?
GOT UP ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE BED
Meaning: Having a rough or horrible day.
Origin: This alludes to the ancient superstition that it was bad luck to put the left foot on the floor first when getting out of bed. By the 1800’s the expression was associated more with ill humor than misfortune.
UP THE CREEK WITHOUT A PADDLE
Meaning: In trouble, in a serious predicament.
Origin: This idiom conjures up the image of a stranded canoeist. President Truman used the phrase in a 1918 letter and it caught on from there.
FIT TO BE TIED
Meaning: To be furious.
Origin: This refers to the practice of binding uncontrollable, dangerous people into straitjackets.
IT’S NOT OVER TILL THE FAT LADY SINGS
Meaning: Don’t assume the outcome of some activity until it has actually finished.
Origin: This term comes from the opera in the eighteenth century, when many of the lead singers were large women and they would sing the finale.
KICK THE BUCKET
Meaning: You die ... plain and simple.
Origin: This phase originates from the French. In slaughterhouses, the rail on which pigs are hung after slaughter to drain off the blood is known as the bucket bar. Muscle spasms after death sometimes lead to the dead pig twitching as if to kick the bucket bar.
BITE THE DUST
Meaning: Suffer defeat or death.
Origin: This term was popularized by American Western films in the 1930s, in which either cowboys or Indians were thrown from their horses to the dusty ground when shot.
YES SIREE BOB
Meaning: Yes, indeed. I will agree or accept.
Origin: This expression is used as a euphemism for God. The “siree” is a modification of “sir.”
GALLIVANTING
Meaning: To roam about in search of pleasure or amusement, to flirt.
Origin: Perhaps an alternation of the word gallant. Sorry, that was all I could find.
FOOTLOOSE AND FANCY FREE
Meaning: Unattached romantically.
Origin: Another case of human conduct likened to the movements of a sail. On most sailing vessels the lower edge of the main sail, known as the foot, is lashed to a boom to keep it stretched and properly shaped, but there are exceptions. Some vessels have no boom and the sail is allowed to hang loose along the foot. Loose-footed sails, as they are called, are said to have a mind of their own and are difficult to control.
NEW YORK MINUTE
Meaning: Faster than normal.
Origin: The theory is that everything happens faster in New York City. We slow-walking, slow-talking country folk have to quicken our pace to keep up.
COCK AND BULL STORY
Meaning: Tall tale, unbelievable.
Origin: This phrase dates back to the eighteenth century, at the height of the great coaching era, when the town of Stony Stratford was an important stopping-off point for mail and passenger coaches travelling between London and the north. Travelers on these coaches were regarded as a great source of current news from remote parts of the country, which would be imparted in the town's two main inns, The Cock and The Bull. The two establishments rapidly developed a rivalry as to which could furnish the most outlandish and scurrilous tales.
TICKLED PINK
Meaning: Delighted
Origin: The tickling here isn’t the light stroking of the skin - it’s the figurative sense of the word that means “to give pleasure or gratify.” The concept is of enjoyment great enough to make the recipient glow with pleasure.
SHIT
Meaning: Something stinks, it’s not quite right.
Origin: The most functional English word of all. I used it more than a few times and you hear and say it every day of your life. To prove that it is the most fundamental English word consider this:
You can smoke shit, buy shit, sell shit, lose shit, find shit, forget shit, and tell others to eat shit. There are lucky shits and dumb shits. There is horse shit and chicken shit
You can throw shit, sling shit, catch shit, shoot shit, step in shit, shit a brick, and better duck when the shit hits the fan.
You can give a shit or find yourself in deep shit. Things can look like shit and there are times when you feel like shit.
You can have too much shit, not enough shit, the right shit, the wrong shit, or a lot of weird shit.
Sometimes everything you touch turns to shit and other times you fall into a bucket of shit. When all is said and done, shit happens. No way to escape shit. I bet by now you are thinking that all this is nothing but a bunch of bullshit.
Last, but not least. Now, as you know I have travelled to many places, most often in cahoots. Apparently, that is a place you can’t go alone. You have to be in cahoots with someone.
I have been to incognito also, but I hear no one recognizes you there.
I would like to go to conclusions, but you have to jump to get there.
I have also been in doubt, but it’s a sad place to visit and I don’t like it there.
One of my favorite places to be is in suspense. It can really get the adrenalin flowing.