Idioms and Their Meanings
with Sources Noted Too by Warren Bull
Image by Monkgogi Samson on Upsplash
From: Facts on File Dictionary of Clichés
Not Worth a Hill of Beans:
Beans have apparently always been considered of
little value. Chaucer in Troilus and
Criseyde (around 1380) wrote, “swich arguments ne been nat worth a bene.”
Gardeners often plant four of five beans in a mound or hill. “Hill of beans” is
a 19th-century American phrase,
From: History (dot Com)
Turn a blind eye:
The
phrase “turn a blind eye”—often used to refer to a willful refusal to
acknowledge a particular reality—dates back to a legendary chapter in the
career of the British naval hero Horatio Nelson. During 1801’s Battle of
Copenhagen, Nelson’s ships were pitted against a large Danish-Norwegian fleet.
When his more conservative superior officer flagged for him to withdraw, the
one-eyed Nelson supposedly brought his telescope to his bad eye and blithely
proclaimed, “I really do not see the signal.” He went on to score a decisive
victory. Some historians have since dismissed Nelson’s famous quip as merely a
battlefield myth, but the phrase “turn a blind eye” persists to this day.
White elephant:
White elephants
were once considered highly sacred creatures in Thailand—the animal even graced
the national flag until 1917—but they were also wielded as a subtle form of
punishment. According to legend, if an underling or rival angered a Siamese
king, the royal might present the unfortunate man with the gift of a white
elephant. While ostensibly a reward, the creatures were tremendously expensive
to feed and house, and caring for one often drove the recipient into financial
ruin. Whether any specific rulers actually bestowed such a passive-aggressive
gift is uncertain, but the term has since come to refer to any burdensome
possession—pachyderm or otherwise.
Crocodile tears:
Modern
English speakers use the phrase “crocodile tears” to describe a display of
superficial or false sorrow, but the saying actually derives from a medieval
belief that crocodiles shed tears of sadness while they killed and consumed
their prey. The myth dates back as far as the 14th century and comes from a
book called “The Travels of Sir John Mandeville.” Wildly popular upon its
release, the tome recounts a brave knight’s adventures during his supposed
travels through Asia. Among its many fabrications, the book includes a
description of crocodiles that notes, “These serpents sley men, and eate them
weeping, and they have no tongue.” While factually inaccurate, Mandeville’s
account of weeping reptiles later found its way into the works of Shakespeare,
and “crocodile tears” became an idiom as early as the 16th century.
Diehard:
While
it typically refers to someone with a strong dedication to a particular set of
beliefs, the term “diehard” originally had a series of much more literal
meanings. In its earliest incarnation in the 1700s, the expression described
condemned men who struggled the longest when they were executed by hanging. The
phrase later became even more popular after 1811’s Battle of Albuera during the
Napoleonic Wars. In the midst of the fight, a wounded British officer named
William Inglis supposedly urged his unit forward by bellowing “Stand your
ground and die hard … make the enemy pay dear for each of us!” Inglis’ 57th
Regiment suffered 75 percent casualties during the battle, and went on to earn
the nickname “the Die Hards.”
Resting
on laurels:
The
idea of resting on your laurels dates back to leaders and athletic stars of
ancient Greece. In Hellenic times, laurel leaves were closely tied to Apollo,
the god of music, prophecy, and poetry. Apollo was usually depicted with a crown
of laurel leaves, and the plant eventually became a symbol of status and
achievement. Victorious athletes at the ancient Pythian Games received wreaths
made of laurel branches, and the Romans later adopted the practice and
presented wreaths to generals who won important battles. Venerable Greeks and
Romans, or “laureates,” were thus able to “rest on their laurels” by basking in
the glory of past achievements. Only later did the phrase take on a negative
connotation, and since the 1800s it has been used for those who are overly
satisfied with past triumphs.
Read the riot act:
These
days, angry parents might threaten to “read the riot act” to their unruly
children. But in 18th-century England, the Riot Act was a very real document,
and it was often recited aloud to angry mobs. Instituted in 1715, the Riot Act
gave the British government the authority to label any group of more than 12
people a threat to peace. In these circumstances, a public official would
read a small portion of the Riot Act and order the people to “disperse
themselves, and peaceably depart to their habitations.” Anyone that remained
after one hour was subject to arrest or removal by force. The law was later put
to the test in 1819 during the infamous Peterloo Massacre, in which a cavalry
unit attacked a large group of protestors after they appeared to ignore a
reading of the Riot Act.
Paint the town red:
The
phrase “paint the town red” most likely owes its origin to one legendary night
of drunkenness. In 1837, the Marquis of Waterford—a known lush and mischief-maker—led a group of friends on a night of drinking through the English town of
Melton Mowbray. The bender culminated in vandalism after Waterford and his
fellow revelers knocked over flowerpots, pulled knockers off of doors and broke
the windows of some of the town’s buildings. To top it all off, the mob literally
painted a tollgate, the doors of several homes and a swan statue with red
paint. The marquis and his pranksters later compensated Melton for the damages,
but their drunken escapade is likely the reason that “paint the town red”
became shorthand for a wild night out. Still, another theory suggests the
phrase was actually born out of the brothels of the American West and referred
to men behaving as though their whole town were a red-light district.
Running amok:
“Running
amok” is commonly used to describe wild or erratic behavior, but the phrase
actually began its life as a medical term. The saying was popularized in the
18th and 19th centuries, when European visitors to Malaysia learned of a
peculiar mental affliction that caused otherwise normal tribesmen to go on
brutal and seemingly random killing sprees. Amok—derived from the “Amuco,” a
band of Javanese and Malay warriors who were known for their penchant for
indiscriminate violence—was initially a source of morbid fascination for
Westerners. Writing in 1772, the famed explorer Captain James Cook noted that
“to run amok is to … sally forth from the house, kill the person or persons
supposed to have injured the Amock, and any other person that attempts to
impede his passage.” Once thought to be the result of possession by evil
spirits, the phenomenon later found its way into psychiatric manuals. It
remains a diagnosable mental condition to this day.
By and large:
Many
everyday phrases are nautical in origin— “taken aback,” “loose cannon” and
“high and dry” all originated at sea—but perhaps the most surprising example is
the common saying “by and large.” As far back as the 16th century, the word
“large” was used to mean that a ship was sailing with the wind at its back.
Meanwhile, the much less desirable “by,” or “full and by,” meant the vessel was
traveling into the wind. Thus, for mariners, “by and large” referred to
trawling the seas in any and all directions relative to the wind. Today,
sailors and landlubbers alike now use the phrase as a synonym for “all things
considered” or “for the most part.”
The
third-degree:
There
are several tales about the origin of “the third degree,” a saying commonly
used for long or arduous interrogations. One theory argues the phrase relates
to the various degrees of murder in the criminal code; yet another credits it
to Thomas F. Byrnes, a 19th-century New York City policeman who used the pun
“Third Degree Byrnes” when describing his hardnosed questioning style. In
truth, the saying is most likely derived from the Freemasons, a centuries-old
fraternal organization whose members undergo rigorous questioning and
examinations before becoming “third-degree” members, or “master masons.”
I’ve
always been curious about where sayings come from. What about you?
