The Origin Of Commonly Used Idioms
“Pull someone’s leg”
Definition: Joking or fooling with someone.
Origin: To pull someone’s leg had much more bad intentions when it first came into use. It was originally a method used by thieves to entrap their pedestrians and afterwards, rob them. One thief would be assigned ‘tripper up’ duty, and would use different instruments or methods to knock the person to the ground. Luckily, these days the saying is much more friendlier, though being on the end of a joke might not always be fun.
Resource: http://all-that-is-interesting.com/post/5692281236/interesting-origins-of-7-common-english-idioms/2
“Bark up the wrong tree”
Definition: To make the wrong choice or pursue the wrong course.
Origin: When hunting raccoons for fur was a popular sport, hunting dogs were used to sniff them out of trees. Being a nocturnal animal, the hunter had to work at night, and the dogs would sometimes end up choosing the wrong tree, or as the idiom goes, ‘bark up the wrong tree”. The term was first used in a book by Davy Crockett in 1833.
Resource:
http://all-that-is-interesting.com/post/5692281236/interesting-origins-of-7-common-english-idioms/2
“Stool Pigeon”
Definition: anyone who is used to sell out his or her friends
The origin of this phrase goes back to when pigeons were considered a good source of food. Hunters would take a pigeon and tie it to a stool in order to attract its wild brethren. The pigeon that was tied to the stool was used to trap others of its kind.
Resource:
http://www.ranker.com/list/the-origins-of-15-common-words-and-phrases/analise.dubner
“Spill The Beans”
Definition: someone who reveals the truth or hidden secrets
In ancient Greece, voting was done with beans. White and black beans were used to determine your vote. One would vote with the bean color for their choice and drop it in a jar to be counted by the officials later. However, on a few occasions a clumsy voter would knock over the jar and reveal the beans and the outcome of the vote. Hence the idiom, “spill the beans”.
Resource:
http://www.ranker.com/list/the-origins-of-15-common-words-and-phrases/analise.dubner
“Put Up Your Dukes!”
Definition: the old-fashioned way to challenge someone to a fight.
The origin goes back to Frederick Augustus, the 2nd son of King George III. Frederick was the Duke of York and he was obsessed with fighting. Because he became well-known for fighting, fighters nicknamed their fists “Dukes of York”. The phrase later shorted to just “Dukes”.
Resource:
http://www.ranker.com/list/the-origins-of-15-common-words-and-phrases/analise.dubner?page=2
“Mind Your Own Beeswax”
Definition: to mind your own business
Personal hygiene needed much improvement in early days. As a result, many women and men had developed acne scars by adulthood from not having the right resources for a good clean showering. The women would spread bee’s wax over their facial skin to smooth out their complexions.
When they were speaking to each other, if a woman began to stare at another woman’s face she was told, ‘mind your own beeswax.’
If the woman should smile, the wax would crack, hence the term ‘crack a smile’.
Resource:
http://www.squidoo.com/origins-of-words-and-phrases
“Riding Shotgun”
Definition: sitting alongside the driver of a moving vehicle.
Back when stagecoaches existed as the main means of transport, the passenger seat was reserved for individuals holding a shotgun. Such a spot allowed the protectors to better scare away or hold off any bandits attempting to loot passengers. As engineering marched on into motor vehicles, the name for the coveted spot stayed the same.
Resource:
http://www.bachelorsdegree.org/2011/01/30/30-common-english-idioms-and-the-history-behind-them/
“Get up on the wrong side of the bed”
Definition: to start the day in a bad mood
Origin: In Roman times, it was considered bad luck to get out of bed on the left side. Hence if you exited on that wrong side, your day was determined to be a bad one.
Resource:
http://www.womansday.com/life/the-origins-of-12-common-idioms-83098
“Let the cat out the bag”
Definition: to reveal or tell a secret
Origin: First seen in several London publications in the 1700s, its origin dates well before that and refers to a then-common street fraud. Market scamsters apparently attempted to replace pigs (valuable) with cats (not so much); if the cat was let out of the bag, the gig was up. That’s related to why you don’t want to buy “a pig in a poke” (a small bag): You might not be getting the real item.
Resource:
http://www.womansday.com/life/the-origins-of-12-common-idioms-83098
“Raining cats and dogs”
Definition: raining heavily
Origin: There are about 200 theories on this one. The most probable? In 17th-century England, public sanitation wasn’t what it is today—hence during deluges, rain coursing down the streets would often carry dead animals with it. As a result, even though cats and dogs never literally showered down from above, they became associated with severe rainstorms.
Resource:
http://www.womansday.com/life/the-origins-of-12-common-idioms-83098
