Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner

Have you ever heard or said a phrase like “winner winner, chicken dinner” and wondered where the heck it originated? I have and decided to learn more about some of these puzzling expressions.

First, I discovered we have Shakespeare to thank for approximately1,500 words and phrases still in use today. While Shakespeare probably didn’t create all of them, they are first cited in his plays. You may recognize the following well-known phrases:

In a pickle – (The Tempest)

As dead as a doornail - (Henry VI)

A laughing stock - (The Merry Wives of Windsor)

Eaten out of house and home - (Henry V, Part 2)

A sea change – (The Tempest)

I have not slept one wink – (Cymbeline)

Primrose Path – (Hamlet)

The game is afoot – (King Henry IV Part I)

Wild goose chase – (Romeo and Juliet)

Fight fire with fire – (King John)

There’s method in my madness – (Hamlet)

Bite the bullet

There are also non-Shakespearean phrases with more “modern” origins. For instance, it is believed that “bite the bullet” was first coined in the 1850s when soldiers were equipped with the British Enfield rifle. They had to bite the head off a cartridge in order to create a spark and ignite it. This was a dangerous act requiring steadiness in order not to maim or kill oneself.

Today, the phrase refers to someone who is courageous in the face of adversity. Although it can be used tongue in cheek such as, “I’ll have to bite the bullet and pay up for a pair of Manolo Blahnik pumps.”

Winner winner, chicken dinner

This perplexing phrase finally made sense when I read that casinos in Las Vegas once sold three-piece chicken dinners including potatoes and vegetables for $1.79. Since winning an average bet could make you $2.00, you had money to buy a chicken dinner.

Paint the town red

“Paint the town red” seems to have originated after a drunken escapade in 1837 when the Marquis of Waterford led a group of friends on a bender through the English town of Melton Mowlbray. The evening culminated in vandalism as they broke windows, pulled knockers off doors and kicked over flowerpots. Then they painted doors, a swan statue, and the tollgate--you guessed it--red.

Always a bridesmaid, never a bride

In the 1920s, LISTERINE® turned this line from a song into a slogan and used it in a series of mouthwash advertisements. Below is copy from one ad:

“Edna’s case was really a pathetic one. Like every woman her primary ambition was to marry. Most of the girls of her set were married—or about to be. Yet not one possessed more grace or charm or loveliness than she. And as her birthdays crept gradually toward that thirty-mark, marriage seemed farther from her life than ever. She was often a bridesmaid but never a bride.”

Shockingly, Edna had halitosis and drove away potential suitors with her bad breath. The ad admonishes, “…you, yourself rarely know when you have it. And even your closest friends won’t tell you.”

I was a bridesmaid six times before being a bride. What does that say about my oral hygiene? Yikes!

Apparently, LISTERINE® popularized the word, halitosis, in 1921 and touted their mouthwash as a cure. Sales skyrocketed as people were afraid of being socially unacceptable. Yep, there’s nothing like using shame and fear to sell a product.

I think Edna should have ditched her so-called friends, bit the bullet and purchased a pair of high heeled shoes, traveled to Vegas and painted the town red.

Do you have a favorite phrase or expression?