I’ve always been absolutely fascinated by the origins of commonly employed sayings and phrases in our language.
By way of an example is the popular expression of, ‘Painting The Town Red.’ to describe a wild night out.
This apparently stems from a particularly inebriated episode in 1837, when the Marquis of Waterford led a group of friends on a night of drinking through the English town of Melton Mowbray. During this riotous and infamous night, he and his friends ostensibly decided that it would be fun to dab red paint over the doors and windows of the houses they passed.
Hence - Painting the town red.
Please share any you know of my good folks  |
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Freeze the balls of a brass monkey
The dish on a ships deck which held the cannon balls was a brass material and called a monkey, when it was really cold it wound contract and the cannon balls would fall of and roll around the deck
Hence freeze the balls off a brass monkey |
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"That really gets my goat" as a way of referring about what gets you angry apparently comes from horse racing.
Horses love companionship and dislike being alone, so they used to be paired up with other (cheaper) animals for company and goats seemed to calm horses down the best.
The story goes that it started to become a 'thing' for race horse breaders to steal the goat from a rival horse's stable just before a race, so it would become agitated and not run so well, giving their own horse an advantage.
It's probably bollocks, but I like it. |
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‘Mad as a hatter’: Contrary to popular belief, this doesn’t actually stem from Lewis Caroll’s Alice in Wonderland.
Its actually dates back to 17th century France, wherein poisoning frequently occurred among hat makers who used mercury for the hat felt. The so called ensuing, ‘Mad Hatter Disease’ led to the phrase we use today. |
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‘Cut Of Your Jib’: Sir Walter Scott is said to have brought this phrase into common use in 1824.
A jib denotes the triangular sail on sailing ships, and as each country at the time had its own style of jib, the 'cut of your jib' described where a boat originated from.
We frequently employ it today to denote a perceived style or attitude in a person |
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He needs taking down a peg or two, apparently goes back to days when beer was sold in large wooden tankards. Which were shared around the tankard had wooden pegs at intervals drinkers pulled out the peg and drank they allotted share. When a drinker was pissed the others said take them down a peg or two.  |
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By *ocusMan
over a year ago
Cambridge |
I’ve got a feeling that both the origins of the brass monkey and the get my goat phrases are still unknown.
The cannonball one is often bandied around but I don’t think it’s true.
Iirc the earliest known mention of “get my goat” is from a US stage play or it might have been a radio drama from the 1920s. Weird how it’s relatively new but the origin is still unclear. |
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Nail your colours to the mast - refers to Naval Warfare in the age of sail, where striking your colours (taking your flag down) indicated surrender. If you nailed the colours to the mast, you would not be easily able to surrender. Probably comes from actiona taken aboard HMS Venerable in the Battle of Camperdown (1797).
Mr KC |
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One of my favourite sayings: ‘A nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse.’
This one is a little complicated as it has developed a dual meaning over time it would seem.
Some people interpret it to denote something as holding little value i.e neither the figurative nod nor the wink will be perceived by the metaphorical horse. However, it has also been utilised historically to convey that one understands the meaning in something spoken I.e, ‘You may nod or wink - either way I will take your meaning.’
The earliest example of the proverb in print however derives from writer Joseph Ritson, in 1793 in which he states, ‘A nod, you know, is as good as a wink to a blind horse.’
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He needs taking down a peg or two, apparently goes back to days when beer was sold in large wooden tankards. Which were shared around the tankard had wooden pegs at intervals drinkers pulled out the peg and drank they allotted share. When a drinker was pissed the others said take them down a peg or two. |
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"He needs taking down a peg or two, apparently goes back to days when beer was sold in large wooden tankards. Which were shared around the tankard had wooden pegs at intervals drinkers pulled out the peg and drank they allotted share. When a drinker was pissed the others said take them down a peg or two. "
You obviously need taking down a peg or two cos you posted that 2 hours ago  |
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We’ve all heard the term, ‘Crying crocodile tears.’ which is employed to infer someone putting on an exaggerated show of insincere emotion.
In fact the saying stems from the 14th century and comes from a book called ‘The Travels of Sir John Mandeville.’ which amongst other things, details how the intrepid explorer/author witnessed crocodiles weeping in sorrow as they devoured their prey.
Whilst a commonly held myth of the time, we now know it to be entirely erroneous of course, as crocodiles eat their prey with a bloody great big smile on their face 
Nonetheless the realisation of the inaccuracy, coupled with the utter nonchalance with which Crocodilians typically gulp down their food led to the saying which was even picked up by Shakespeare himself |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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MIDDLE FINGER FUCK YOU!!!!!
In archery you use the middle finger to let loose the arrow.
Joan of arc wars the English used to cut the middle finger off of captured French soldiers.
Therefore the French would flash the middle finger to the English as a fuck you gesture.
Told to me by a local French historian so I’ve no idea if it’s true.
T |
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"MIDDLE FINGER FUCK YOU!!!!!
In archery you use the middle finger to let loose the arrow.
Joan of arc wars the English used to cut the middle finger off of captured French soldiers.
Therefore the French would flash the middle finger to the English as a fuck you gesture.
Told to me by a local French historian so I’ve no idea if it’s true.
T"
Apparently the coarse, two finger salute/gesture stems from a similar source; During the battle of Agincourt, captured English archers would have their index and middle fingers cut off, rendering their archery skills null and void.
The crude gesture commonly utilised therefore was employed to taunt French knights that the perpetrator of the act still possessed both fingers and was battle ready so to speak |
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An Apple A Day Keeps The Doctor Away:
This traditional saying dates back to 1866 (incidentally the same year Fry’s Chocolate Cream became available - but I digress...)
The original statement was; ‘Eat an apple on going to bed, And you'll keep the doctor from earning his bread.’
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"Piss poor:
Poor people used to sell their urine to leather tanners.
The poorest of all "didn't even have a pot to piss in""
 I love that phrase.
There is also a further somewhat more sorrowful extension of the latter; ‘Not a pot to piss in....nor a window to throw it out of.’ - which presumably serves to doubly emphasise the sheer destitution described |
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A Bird In The Hand Is Worth Two In The Bush:
This one originates from medieval times and originates from the sport of falconry, wherein the 'bird in the hand' (the falcon) was worth more than 'two in the bush' - the prey.
Quite as to how to employ it in everyday conversation nowadays however, I am somewhat befuddled.
I suppose there is the vulgar option of a bird (a decidedly sexist term denoting a woman) in one hand who could take it (presumably a penis) in her bush (her unshaven vagina).
That’s just plain rude though and this certainly isn’t the sort of site for such decidedly coarse shenanigans... |
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Blood Is Thicker Than Water:
This is an interesting one in that it has technically been misused for centuries!
We typically employ it today to denote that family relationships and loyalties are the strongest and most important bonds.
However....it actually, in its original form meant the complete opposite!
The full phrase actually was ‘The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.’ and it referred to warriors who shared the blood they shed in battles together. These ‘blood brothers’ were said to have stronger bonds/ties than even biological brothers. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Some of you probably know this one.. for those working the "graveyard shift".. goes back to when ppl were mistakenly buried alive so they began to leave bells attached to some strings for the unfortunate souls who were mistaken to be dead.. and it was one mans job to sit out in the graveyard through the night to listen out for the bell should the recently buried still be alive..
Another one i know is the term "raining cats and dogs" which comes from household pets falling off the thatched roofs as they were notoriously slippery during heavy rainfall |
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