Where did the old sayings come from?

[Charlie Two Tracks]

I was thinking of some of the old sayings and wondered where they originated at and their real meaning.
Like: don't look a gift horse in the mouth. I know when buying a horse, you check its teeth. I assume your not supposed to question something given to you.
How about any others you guys got.

[btroj]

Fish or cut bait
**** or get off the pot.

Basically either do it, or don't. But make up your dang mind!

[DeanWinchester]

Southern colloquialisms are mind boggling.
It's a mystery to me how some get started. I've lived all my life in TN and I am amazed that people down here cannot speak without some kind of metaphorical adjective.

"That guy ain't got sense enough to pour piss out of a boot"
..okay, well who pissed in the boot to begin with?!?

"It's hotter than two rats F'ing in a wool sock."
...at what point did someone decide to take measure of the temperature in a sock containing two copulating rodents?!?

In reference to people who lack skill with a motor vehicle I have heard many times:
"He couldn't drive a greasy peg up a billy goats @--"
......I'm not even going think about where tht came from.

[hithard]

Pig and a poke, can someone explain this

[41 mag fan]

When I lived in Tx a saying i heard...."like a cow pis*ing on a flat rock"
So i asked...
answer was it splatters

[41 mag fan]

Pig and a poke, can someone explain this

You just bought something like a pig and didn't know what it was actually worth

[Case Stuffer]

Pig and a poke
I have always heard it as

Like buying a pig in a poke sack.
Meaning you really are not sure of what you are getting / paying for.


A gun in the hand beats a 911 operator on the line.

Perhaps from the voice of experience.

[Sweetpea]

Around here when it rains really hard, it's "wetter than a two c**ted cow pissing on a flat rock...

[Cane_man]

these are fun to think about as they are starting to disappear with today's bros and hos generation... but they all had some kernel of truth to them

[edler7]

The whole 9 yards-

50 cal. belts loaded into fighter plane wings were 27 feet long. If they emptied a belt into an enemy plane, they gave him the whole 9 yards.

[PULSARNC]

Don't really know if this qualifies but" He is so ugly his momma had to tie a pork chop around his neck to get the dog to play with him "
and "as nervous as a longtailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs"

[crowbuster]

Its rainin like a cow pissin on a flat rock. I take it to mean a large volume. Gully washer if you will. My personal favorite is that guy is sharp as a marble. Meaning of course he's dumber than a bag of hammers. Another favorite is a horse that craps fast dont **** long. slow down and take your time, your in it for the long haul

[Guesser]

A very nice little rifle, price a little high but it was purchased with a big smile when the seller stated emphatically that:
It has never been fired after dark and never carried fast over rough terrain!!!!

[Artful]

http://www.localhistories.org/sayings.html

ACHILLES HEEL
In Greek mythology Thetis dipped her son Achilles in the mythical River Styx. Anyone who was immersed in the river became invulnerable. However Thetis held Achilles by his heel. Since her hand covered this part of his body the water did not touch it and so it remained vulnerable. Achilles was eventually killed when Paris of Troy fired an arrow at him and it hit his heel.

AM I MY BROTHERS KEEPER?
Like many old sayings in the English language this one come from the Bible. In Genesis Cain murdered his brother Abel. God asked Cain 'Where is your brother?'. Cain answered 'I don't know. Am I my brothers keeper?'.

APPLE OF MY EYE
This phrase also comes from the Bible. In Psalm 17:8 the writer asks God 'keep me as the apple of your eye'.

Ax to Grind
Benjamin Franklin published a lot of stories, one of which he was the central character. Franklin was approached by a stranger who stopped to admire the family grindstone. He asked to be shown how it worked and offered Ben Franklin an ax to demonstrate. Once his ax was sharp the stranger walked off laughing. Today "having an ax to grind" means that someone has a selfish or mean motive behind their actions. It also means to have a grudge or dispute with someone in which that person seeks some confrontation, justice or reciprocated action. This can be openly known or a hidden agenda, also.

BAKERS DOZEN
A bakers dozen means thirteen. This old saying is said to come from the days when bakers were severely punished for baking underweight loaves. Some added a loaf to a batch of a dozen to be above suspicion.

BEAT ABOUT THE BUSH
When hunting birds some people would beat about the bush to drive them out into the open. Other people would than catch the birds. 'I won't beat about the bush' came to mean 'I will go straight to the point without any delay'.

ON YOUR BEAM ENDS
On a ship the beams are horizontal timbers that stretch across the ship and support the decks. If you are on your beam-ends your ship is leaning at a dangerous angle. In other words you are in a precarious situation.

BEE LINE
In the past people believed that bees flew in a straight line to their hive. So if you made a bee line for something you went straight for it.

BEYOND THE PALE
Originally a pale was an area under the authority of a certain official. In the 14th and 15th centuries the English king ruled Dublin and the surrounding area known as the pale. Anyone 'beyond the pale' was seen as savage and dangerous.

BIG WIG
In the 18th century when many men wore wigs, the most important men wore the biggest wigs. Hence today important people are called big wigs.

BITE THE BULLET
This old saying means to grin and bear a painful situation. It comes from the days before anaesthetics. A soldier about to undergo an operation was given a bullet to bite.

THE BITER BEING BITTEN
This old saying has nothing to do with animals. In the 17th century a biter was a con man. 'Talk about the biter being bitten' was originally a phrase about a con man being beaten at his own game.

BITES THE DUST
This phrase comes from a translation of the epic Ancient Greek poem the Iliad about the war between the Greeks and the Trojans. It was poetic way of describing the death of a warrior.

BITTER END
Anchor cable was wrapped around posts called bitts. The last piece of cable was called the bitter end. If you let out the cable to the bitter end there was nothing else you could do, you had reached the end of your resources.

THE BLIND LEADING THE BLIND
In Matthew 15:14 Jesus criticised the Pharisees, the religious authorities of his day, saying 'they are blind leaders of the blind'.

BLUE-BLOOD
This means aristocratic. For centuries the Arabs occupied Spain but they were gradually forced out during the Middle Ages. The upper class in Spain had paler skin than most of the population as their ancestors had not inter-married with the Arabs. As they had pale skin the 'blue' blood running through their veins was more visible. (Of course all blood is red but it sometimes looks blue when running through veins). So blue-blooded came to mean upper class.

BOBBIES, PEELERS
Both these nicknames for policemen come from Sir Robert Peel who founded the first modern police force in 1829.

TO BOOT
If you get something to boot it means you get it extra. However it has nothing to do with boots you wear on your feet. It is a corruption of the old word bot, which meant profit or advantage.

BORN WITH A SILVER SPOON IN YOUR MOUTH
Once when a child was christened it was traditional for the godparents to give a silver spoon as a gift (if they could afford it!). However a child born in a rich family did not have to wait. He or she had it all from the start. They were 'born with a silver spoon in their mouth'.

BREAK THE ICE
All cities that grew as a result of being on rivers (for trade) suffered during bitter cold times when the river froze. Even large ships got stuck, making them icebound for weeks. Little small sturdy ships known as "icebreakers" were develop to precede the ships breaking ice and making a path. This was important for the ships to get the goods to market. And so every boatman knew that in order to get down to business, you first had to break the ice. Today it represents any sort of start to a project.

CAUGHT RED HANDED
The phrase today means simply to be caught doing something wrong, usually while you are doing it so there's no doubt you are doing something wrong. In the old days, it simply meant to be caught with the red blood of an animal on your hands as a result of butchering an animal that didn't belong to you. According to the laws back then, just having freshly cut meat didn't make you guilty. You had to be caught with the fresh blood of the animal to be convicted.

CHOCK-A-BLOCK
When pulleys or blocks on sailing ship were pulled so tightly together that they could not be moved any closer together they were said to be chock-a-block.

COALS TO NEWCASTLE
Before railways were invented goods were often transported by water. Coal was transported by ship from Newcastle to London by sea. It was called sea coal. Taking coals to Newcastle was obviously a pointless exercise.

COCK AND BULL STORY
This phrase was first recorded in the 17th century. It probably comes from an actual story about a cock and a bull that is now lost.

"Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey"
In the heyday of sailing ships, all war ships and many freighters carried iron cannons. Those cannon fired round iron cannon balls. It was necessary to keep a good supply near the cannon. But how to prevent them from rolling about the deck? The best storage method devised was a square based pyramid with one ball on top, resting on four resting on nine which rested on sixteen. Thus, a supply of thirty cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only one problem -- how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding/rolling from under the others. The solution was a metal plate called a "Monkey" with sixteen round indentations. But, if this plate was made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make "Brass Monkeys." Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faster than iron when chilled. Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannon balls would come right off the monkey. Thus, it was quite literally, "Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey!"

CUT AND RUN
In an emergency rather than haul up an anchor the sailors would cut the anchor cable then run with the wind.

WHAT THE DICKENS!
This old saying does not come from the writer Charles Dickens (1812-1870). It is much older than him! It has been around since at least the 16th century. Originally 'Dickens' was another name for the Devil.

DIFFERENT KETTLE OF FISH
In the past a kettle was not necessarily a device to boil water to make a cup of tea. A pot for boiling food (like fish) was also called a kettle. Unfortunately nobody really knows why we say 'a different kettle of fish'.

DON'T LOOK A GIFT HORSE IN THE MOUTH
This old saying means don't examine a gift too closely! You can tell a horse’s age by looking at its teeth, which is why people 'looked a horse in the mouth'.

DOUBTING THOMAS
This phrase comes from John 20: 24-27. After his resurrection Jesus appeared to his disciples. However one of them, named Thomas, was absent. When the others told him that Jesus was alive Thomas said he would not believe until he saw the marks on Jesus’ hands and the wound in his side caused by a Roman spear. Jesus appeared again and told Thomas ‘Stop doubting and believe!’

DOWN AT HEEL
If the heels of your shoes were worn down you had a shabby appearance.

DYED IN THE WOOL
Wool that was dyed before it was woven kept its colour better than wool dyed after weaving of 'dyed in the piece'.

EARMARKED
This comes from the days when livestock had their ears notched/marked so their owner could be easily identified.

EAT DRINK AND BE MERRY
This old saying is from Ecclesiastes 8:15 'a man has no better thing under the sun than to eat and to drink and be merry'.

ESCAPED BY THE SKIN OF YOUR TEETH
This phrase comes from the Bible, from Job 19:20.

FACE THE MUSIC
When you've got some unpleasant situation, you simply just grin and bear it and deal with it. This is what a soldier who was being discharged dishonorably had to do. He was given his walking papers, then forced to walk through the ranks of his fellow comrades while instruments played some march for ousted soldiers. The ritual wasn't fun, but the soldier had to deal with it directly. Thus, he had to face the music (instruments playing) and his fellow soldiers. This didn't mean he was guilty. Just like today, someone might have to face a bad situation that he had no cause in.

FLASH IN THE PAN
Muskets had a priming pan, which was filled with gunpowder. When flint hit steel it ignited the powder in the pan, which in turn ignited the main charge of gunpowder and fired the musket ball. However sometimes the powder in the pan failed to light the main charge. In that case you had a flash in the pan.

FREELANCE
In the Middle Ages freelances were soldiers who fought for anyone who would hire them. They were literally free lances.

FROM THE HORSES'S MOUTH
You can tell a horse’s age by examining its teeth. A horse dealer may lie to you but you can always find out the truth 'from the horse’s mouth'.

GET THE SACK
This comes from the days when workmen carried their tools in sacks. If your employer gave you the sack it was time to collect your tools and go.

GO TO POT
Any farm animal that had outlived its usefulness such as a hen that no longer laid eggs would literally go to pot. It was cooked and eaten.

[Artful]

The Handwriting on the Wall
We know it today as a sign of some upcoming doom. But the origin goes back to the bible when Belshazzar, the successor to King Nebuchadnezzar got drunk one night and drank from sacred vessels from the temple of Jerusalem. Afterwards, it is said that a mysterious hand appeared and wrote 4 strange words on the banquet room wall. Only Daniel (the prophet) could interpret this writing, which he said was ominous. So, any warning today is referred to "the handwriting on the wall."

HOIST BY YOUR OWN PETARD
A petard was a type of Tudor bomb. It was a container of gunpowder with a fuse, which was placed against a wooden gate. Sometimes all things did not go to plan and the petard exploded prematurely blowing you into the air. You were hoist by your own petard.

HUMBLE PIE
The expression to eat humble pie was once to eat umble pie. The umbles were the intestines or less appetising parts of an animal and servants and other lower class people ate them. So if a deer was killed the rich ate venison and those of low status ate umble pie. In time it became corrupted to eat humble pie and came to mean to debase yourself or act with humility.

KICK THE BUCKET
When slaughtering a pig you tied its back legs to a wooden beam (in French buquet). As the animal died it kicked the buquet.

KNOW THE ROPES
On a sailing ship it was essential to know the ropes.

KNUCKLE UNDER
Once knuckle meant any joint, including the knee. To knuckle under meant to kneel in submission.

LET THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG
This old saying is probably derived from the days when people who sold piglets in bags sometimes put a cat in the bag instead. If you let the cat out of the bag you exposed the trick.

LOCK, STOCK AND BARREL
This phrase comes because guns used to have 3 parts, the lock (the firing mechanism), the stock (the wooden butt of the gun) and the barrel. So it means you have it all (the complete item).

A LONG SHOT
A long shot is an option with only a small chance of success. In the past guns were only accurate at short range. So a 'long shot' (fired over a long distance) only had a small chance of hitting its target.

LONG IN THE TOOTH
When a horse grows old its gums recede and if you examine its mouth it looks 'long in the tooth'.

MAD AS A HATTER
This phrase comes from the fact that in the 18th and 19th centuries hat makers treated hats with mercury. Inhaling mercury vapour could cause mental illness.

NAIL YOUR COLOURS TO THE MAST
In battle a ship surrendered by lowering its flag. If you nailed your colours to the mast you had no intention of surrendering. You were totally loyal to your side.

NAMBY-PAMBY
This was originally a nickname for the poet Ambrose Philips (1674-1749) who was known for writing sentimental verse.

PANDEMONIUM
This comes from John Milton’s poem Paradise Lost. In Hell the chief city is Pandemonium. In Greek Pandemonium means 'all the devils'.

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE
In Matthew 7:6 Jesus warned his followers not to give what is sacred to dogs and not to throw pearls (of wisdom) before swine (the ungodly).

PEEPING TOM
According to legend a man named Leofric taxed the people of Coventry heavily. His wife, lady Godiva, begged him not to. Leofric said he would end the tax if she rode through the streets of Coventry naked. So she did. Peeping Tom is a much later addition to the story. Everybody in Coventry was supposed to stay indoors with his or her shutters closed. However peeping Tom had a sneaky look at Godiva and was struck blind.

A PIG IN A POKE
This is something bought without checking it first. A poke was a bag. If you bought a pig in a poke it might turn out the 'pig' was actually a puppy or a cat. (See Sold A Pup or Letting the cat out of the bag).

Pooped
The term goes back to sailors who brought it to land. The stern of a boat is called the poop. During strong winds and storms, smashed against it repeatedly. Any ship's stern that showed damage from all of this was called "pooped" and lucky to still be floating after days of battering waves. So when the sailors got ashore, in their descriptive way they would often say that they felt as tired and battered and as "pooped" as their ship. People took hold of this phrase and soon used it to describe themselves even when on land as being totally pooped out when they were really tired, fatigued and exhausted from anything.

POT LUCK
In the past all kinds of food went into a big pot for cooking. If you sat down to a meal with a family you often had to take 'pot luck' and could never be quite sure what you would be served.

THE POWERS THAT BE
This comes from Romans 13:1 when Paul says 'the powers that be are ordained of God'.

PRIDE GOES BEFORE A FALL
This old saying comes from the Bible, from Proverbs 16:18 'Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall'.

READ BETWEEN THE LINES
Writing in code has been around for centuries. And, many rulers and military leaders did it. In fact, Charles I of England's papers were so coded that they didn't get understood until 1850. People couldn't understand any coded document soon figured out that the meaning wasn't in the lines that were readable, but the message was written in invisible ink between the lines showing. Soon, society just adapted the phrase "reading between the lines" to mean that any document had hidden information that wasn't obvious when reading what was seen on the paper and to analyze it better

READ THE RIOT ACT
Following a law of 1715 if a rowdy group of 12 or more people gathered, a magistrate would read an official statement ordering them to disperse. Anyone who did not, after one hour, could be arrested and punished.

RED HERRING
Poachers and other unsavoury characters would drag a herring across the ground where they had just walked to throw dogs off their scent. (Herrings were made red by the process of curing).

REDNECK
To be a redneck isn't because anger makes your neck red at all. The term comes from the South, but it refers to anyone who works outdoors, especially in the farm fields, where after a while all that sun exposure gives you a very red neck (from bending over a lot in the fields). Since many wore hats that sheltered their faces, that left them all with red necks. After years of having sun-burned necks, skin just got darker, reddish and more crusty. So the term today, although termed for Southern farmers, can be another who works outdoors rather than in an office.
PS: Along this line, there is a term called a "farmer's tan" which means you have a sun tan from your elbows down, since being outdoors in a T-shirt covers the rest of your body. It's a common phrase in California to tease outsiders (esp. from the Midwest) that they have a "farmer's tan" when in California people pride themselves on having overall tans.

Another version is said that the term originated in the coal mines of Kentucky and West Virginia at The Battle of Blair Mountain, which was the largest civil uprising in US history. In 1921 WVa miners clashed with lawmen and hired hands of the coal companies when they tried to stop the miners from forming a union. Approximately, 13,000 miners with red bandanas tied around their necks (to identify them as a separate group from the others) marched on Logan county. This uprising helped showcase the conditions faced by the minors and helped shape the way unions operated. It also turned union tactics into political battles to get the law on the side of labor. All these miners with red bandanas on their necks is said to be the origin of "red necks."

RED TAPE
This phrase comes from the days when official documents were bound with red tape.

RUB SALT INTO A WOUND
This is derived from the days when salt was rubbed into wounds as an antiseptic.

RULE OF THUMB
This comes from the days when brewers estimated the temperature of a brew by dipping their thumb in it.

SCAPEGOAT
In the Old Testament (Leviticus 16: 7-10) two goats were selected. One was sacrificed. The other was spared but the High Priest laid his hands on it and confessed the sins of his people. The goat was then driven into the wilderness. He was a symbolic 'scapegoat' for the people's sins.

SCOT FREE
This has nothing to do with Scotland. Scot is an old word for payment so if you went scot free you went without paying.

SHAMBLES
Originally a shamble was a bench. Butchers used to set up benches to sell meat from. In time the street where meat was sold often became known as the Shambles. (This street name survives in many towns today). However because butchers used to throw offal into the street shambles came to mean a mess or something very untidy or disorganised.

SHOW A LEG
This comes from the days when women were allowed onboard ships. When it was time for sailors to get out of their hammocks women would show a leg to prove they were females not members of the crew.

SHOW YOUR TRUE COLOURS
Pirate ships would approach their intended victim showing a false flag to lure them into a false sense of security. When it was too late for the victim to escape they would show their true colours-the jolly roger!

SOLD A PUP
If you bought a piglet the seller placed it in a bag or sack. Sometimes, with his hands out of sight, the seller would slip a puppy into the sack. If you were swindled in that way you were sold a pup.

SPINNING A YARN
Rope was made in ports everywhere. The rope makers chatted while they worked. They told each other stories while they were spinning a yarn.

SPICK AND SPAN
Today this means neat and tidy but originally the saying was spick and span new. A span was a wood shaving. If something was newly built it would have tell-tale wood chips so it was 'span new' spick is an old word for a nail. New spicks or nails would be shiny. However words and phrases often change their meanings over centuries and spick and span came to mean neat and tidy.

A SQUARE MEAL
There is a popular myth that this saying comes from the time when British sailors ate of square plates. In reality the phrase began California in the mid-19th century and it simply meant a good meal for your money, as in the phrase 'fair and square'. Later the saying made its way to Britain.

STRIKE WHILE THE IRON IS HOT
This phrase comes from the days when blacksmiths lifted iron objects from the furnace and hammered it. They could only hammer the object into shape while the iron was hot, before it cooled down.

SWINGING THE LEAD
On board ships a lead weight was attached to a long rope. A knot was tied every six feet in the rope. The lead weight was swung then thrown overboard. When it sank to the seabed you counted the number of knots that disappeared and this told you how deep the sea was. Some sailors felt it was an easy job and 'swinging the lead' came to mean avoiding hard work. In time it came to mean feigning illness to avoid work.

TAKEN ABACK
If the wind suddenly changed direction a sailing ship stopped moving forward. It was 'taken aback', which was a bit of a shock for the sailors.

THROUGH THICK AND THIN
This old saying was once 'through thicket and thin wood'. It meant making your way through a dense wood and through one where trees grew more thinly.

THROW DOWN THE GAUNTLET
In the Middle Ages a gauntlet was the glove in a suit of armour. Throwing down your gauntlet was a way of challenging somebody to a duel.

TO SMELL A RAT
The saying means to feel that someone or something is suspicious in nature. The source goes back to the use of dogs in large mansions and palaces to warn of rats. Apparently, it's believed that a dog who suddenly stirred could smell a rat. (No one considered maybe the dog had a keen sense of hearing too and could hear the scratching?) Anyway, whenever a dog suddenly jerked from lying on the carpet or whatever, people would say that "he smelled a rat." Soon, society used the phrase anytime someone got suspicious.

TOUCH AND GO
This old saying probably comes from ships sailing in shallow waters where they might touch the seabed then go. If so, they were obviously in a dangerous and uncertain situation.

TURNED THE CORNER
Ships that had sailed past the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn were said to have 'turned the corner'.

UP THE POLE
The pole was a mast of a ship. Climbing it was dangerous and, not surprisingly, you had to be a bit crazy to go up there willingly. So if you were a bit mad you were up the pole.

WARTS AND ALL
When Oliver Cromwell 1599-1658 had his portrait painted he ordered the artist not to flatter him. He insisted on being painted 'warts and all'.

WASH MY HANDS OF
The Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, refused to be involved in the death of an innocent person (Jesus). So he washed his hands in front of the crowd, symbolically disassociating himself from the execution.

WEAR YOUR HEART ON YOUR SLEEVE
In the Middle Ages knights who fought at tournaments wore a token of their lady on their sleeves. Today if you make your feelings obvious to everybody you wear your heart on your sleeve.

WEASEL WORDS
This phrase is said to come from an old belief that weasels could suck out the inside of an egg leaving its shell intact.

WEIGH ANCHOR
The 'weigh' is a corruption of the old word wegan which meant carry or lift.

WENT WEST
Once criminals were hanged at Tyburn - west of London. So if you went west you went to be hanged.

WIDE BERTH
A berth is the place where a ship is tied up or anchored. When the anchor was lowered a ship would tend to move about on the anchor cable so it was important to give it a wide berth to avoid collisions. Today to give someone wide berth is to steer clear of them.

WILLY-NILLY
This phrase is believed to be derived from the old words will-ye, nill-ye (or will-he, nill- he) meaning whether you want to or not (or whether he wants to or not).

WIN HANDS DOWN
This old saying comes from horse racing. If a jockey was a long way ahead of his competitors and sure to win the race he could relax and put his hands down at his sides.

WHITE ELEPHANT
In Siam (modern day Thailand) white or pale elephants were very valuable. The king sometimes gave white elephant to a person he disliked. It might seem a wonderful gift but it was actually a punishment because it cost so much to keep!

A WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING
In Matthew 7:15 Jesus warned his followers of false prophets saying they were like 'wolves in sheep's clothing' outwardly disarming.

[Bullshop]

To hell in a hand bascket. BS Mom reserched this one for some friends. Working on the Coolie Dam chinese laborers were lowered over the side in hand held baskets held by ropes. Ocasionaly the ropes broke and the coolie went," to hell in a hand basket"

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

the real McCoy , Elissa McCoy , run away slave educated as an engineer in Canada came back tot eh US after the civil war and took a job with the rail road as an oiler , the oiler's job was to at every stop get out and oil the wear points

Elissa built a mechanical oiler with tubes to carry oil to all the points that needed oiling so that a chain could be pulled and it oiled all the points and could be done also while moving

they became known as very good and railroad inspectors would ask Is the at the Real McCoy

meaning is that the McCoy oiler and not a knock off

[LtFrankDrebbin]

"Bolt out of the blue"
cross bow bolt fired from long range, appearing out of the sky and finding its target.

"Loose cannon"
Unpredictable and dangerous. Ships cannon coming loose from its ropes rolling all over the deck.


I kind of think Artful may have studied this topic a little ;)

[Kull]

the real McCoy , Elissa McCoy , run away slave educated as an engineer in Canada came back tot eh US after the civil war and took a job with the rail road as an oiler , the oiler's job was to at every stop get out and oil the wear points

Elissa built a mechanical oiler with tubes to carry oil to all the points that needed oiling so that a chain could be pulled and it oiled all the points and could be done also while moving

they became known as very good and railroad inspectors would ask Is the at the Real McCoy

meaning is that the McCoy oiler and not a knock off


A December 1891 edition of the Canadian newspaper The Winnipeg Free Press also includes the expression. Given that Elijah McCoy and the phrase 'the real MacKay' both moved from Scotland to Canada, it is possible that the adaption from 'real MacKay' to 'real McCoy' was done by him or on his behalf, but the real 'real MacKay', like the 'real McHoy', is Scottish.


For the longest time I thought that one had to do with prohibition and booze.

[oldred]

"That guy ain't got sense enough to pour piss out of a boot"


That's only half the saying, the rest goes on to say "with instructions on the bottom of the boot"

[oldred]

Maybe not an "old saying" in the true sense but one I always get a chuckle out of is when someone comments on how the wind is always blowing in Chicago as if the nickname "Windy City" had something to do with the weather! The nickname comes from the 1800s rivalry between Chicago and Cincinnati and refers to a Chicagoan tendency to brag and exaggerate about their city and has nothing to do with weather!


Another common one is when someone refers to a person unexpectedly getting drunk on "slow" gin because it "creeps up on you", of course that's "Sloe" gin not "slow" and the name has absolutely nothing to do with how fast it makes a person drunk, most people should know a Sloe is a type of plum that the gin is made from but it's amazing at how many think it means the gin is slow to affect the drinker.

[km101]

"Dumber than a box of rocks." Meaning is pretty evident!

"Drunker than a waltzing piss-ant." Also pretty evident. :)

[BruceB]

oldred's Chicago tale reminds me of the Canadian answer to "Why is it windy in Saskatchewan?"

Answer: "Because Manitoba sucks and Alberta blows!" (Manitoba to the east and Alberta to the west of SK, for the geographically challenged.)

[bubba.50]

don't know where they came from but a couple faves from my granny :
"why her @$$ would make so-&-so a Sunday face".
"made me so blamed mad I could spit little black devils".

and from my grampaw :
"aw, the devil & tom walker"
and when ya asked what he had against whoever he might be gripin' about "I ain't got nothin' ag'in him. if I did i'd run it on through him".

[Charlie Two Tracks]

What about : don't be going off half cocked? Pretty sure I know but not positive

[Hardcast416taylor]

"That`ll cost a pretty penny"!

"Colder than a witch`s t*t"!

"About as interesting as watching paint dry"!

"That`s a good crop of `tuckit corn (or any other crop) in that field"! Means the field didn`t produce and you could put the entire crop yield tucked in your back pocket.

"Wish I was a fly on the wall"! Eaves dropper.

"Drives like a bat-outa-h**l"!

Robert

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

a couple from my Dad.
"slicker than snot on a doorknob"
"you can always tell a level headed Swede, he has snoose dripping from both corners of his mouth"
my Dad was Norwegian and my Mom was a Swede...lots of swede jokes around when I grew up (when Mom wasn't around).
Jon

[Reverend Al]

I liked this one! A recent cooking show had a young fellow try a big piece of fresh, raw Ginger ... to which he commented:

"Whoa! That'd make a small dog break a big chain!"

[montana_charlie]

The copy and paste from Artful included 'flash in the pan', but nobody has gone through thje many old sayings that came from the gun world ... especially back when muzzleloaders were common.

Straight as a ramrod (truly honest and upstanding person)
Go off half cocked (react to something before knowing the whole story ... 'explode' unexpectedly)
Lock, stock, and barrel (describes all parts of a rifle, so it refers to 'everything' involved in the subject under consideration)
Keep your powder dry (be ready at all times)
Loaded for bear (a gun loaded with extra powder and ball ... meaning prepared for all adversity)
Hair trigger (a situation where a person reacts loudly or violently to a very mild stimulus)

There are others, but I am out of time to sit here and remember them.

CM

[rl69]

Gentlemen
Only
Lady's
Forbidden

Ship
High
In
Transit

[Marvin S]

One I'm guilty of useing is the dont know #$@* from shineola. Shineola was a shoe polish.

[iomskp]

One from Jed Clampett from the old Beverly Hillbillies, somebody stated there is more than one way to skin a cat and Jeds answer was yup but there is no way the cats going to like it.

[chboats]

I always heard that rule of thumb was Queen E. ruled that a man could not beat his wife with a stick larger than his thumb.

[Bullshop]

Getting the short end of the stick.---The stick was an out house tool used for wipeing. The long end was the handle.
Dryer than a popcorn fart --- Well that ones not hard to figure.

[fouronesix]

"cold sweat and a belly ache"- end-of-roader abandoned homestead

"quiet as a mouse peeing on cotton"- sshhhh

"frog strangler"- raining like cats and dogs

"ID TEN TEE"- idiot

"prepare to panic"- command

[Kull]

"Full of $%*& like a Christmas tree"

One of my favorites.

[TXGunNut]

All hat, no cattle. If you can't figure it out I'll introduce you to a couple of co-workers. Hard to say what they actually do, productive or otherwise but they talk a good line and are always running off to "work" on the next big deal.
If I need help with a real transaction they're nowhere to be found or "too busy".

[deltaenterprizes]

Pig and a poke, can someone explain this

It means to buy something without inspecting it, like buying sight unseen.

[geargnasher]

For a really interesting read, I recommend a book I have here in my hand called A Hog on Ice by Charles Earle Funk. It is literally an encyclopaedia of expressions, origins, and meanings.

One thing I've noticed about the typically bizarre Central Texas expressions is that they are corruptions of ancient colloquialisms, added to by generations of creative and hardworking souls. The expression "tumbled head over heels" became "a$$ over elbows".

Some of my favorites:

Overweight woman--Big at the little and bottom at the top!
Overweight man----Sure are a lotta pork chops on that ol' boy!
Flood-- Frog strangler, turd floater, gullywasher, raining pitchforks and ni**er babies, cow/flat rock analogy, etc.
Higher'n a kite--corrupted to mean "stoned" rather than high up, meaning higher than Gilderoy's kite, a long story of a Scottish highwayman who was hung from high gallows, kite being the Gaelic for "body".

Like Artful I could do this all night, especially if I called up Professor Dad who has a long list of real hum-dingers.

Gear

[Goatwhiskers]

My old Dad used to say if you doctor a cold it would last 14 days, but if you ignore it, it would only last 2 weeks. GW

[Chicken Thief]

The whole 9 yards-

50 cal. belts loaded into fighter plane wings were 27 feet long. If they emptied a belt into an enemy plane, they gave him the whole 9 yards.

And then again not.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_whole_nine_yards

[Chicken Thief]

http://www.localhistories.org/sayings.html


"Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey"
In the heyday of sailing ships, all war ships and many freighters carried iron cannons. Those cannon fired round iron cannon balls. It was necessary to keep a good supply near the cannon. But how to prevent them from rolling about the deck? The best storage method devised was a square based pyramid with one ball on top, resting on four resting on nine which rested on sixteen. Thus, a supply of thirty cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only one problem -- how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding/rolling from under the others. The solution was a metal plate called a "Monkey" with sixteen round indentations. But, if this plate was made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make "Brass Monkeys." Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faster than iron when chilled. Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannon balls would come right off the monkey. Thus, it was quite literally, "Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey!"


Unfortunatly not.
http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/brass.asp

[Chicken Thief]

Gentlemen
Only
Lady's
Forbidden

Ship
High
In
Transit

Again:
http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/golf.asp
http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/****.asp

[Chicken Thief]

I always heard that rule of thumb was Queen E. ruled that a man could not beat his wife with a stick larger than his thumb.

And then not
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2550/does-rule-of-thumb-refer-to-an-old-law-permitting-wife-beating

[Zim]

I wish or i want a ______!
And if a bullfrog had wings, he wouldn't bump his butt on the ground.
Or
And there are people in hell wanting ice water but they ain't going to get it either.

Love you mom! I miss her a lot & her sayings.

[Charlie Two Tracks]

That costs a pretty penny........ Will polished coins buy you more? What's up with that

[oldred]

In the days of sailing ships drinking water was stored in wooden barrels where it would get stagnant in hot weather and become undrinkable, of course no fresh water while at sea can be as bad as none while on arid land. The sailors discovered they could add a small amount of Rum to the water supply and it would not grow stagnant so they could keep it for much longer periods of time, somewhere during this time the Rum treated water became known as "Grog" (from the English sailors is one version) and it was well known at the time if you drank too much of it you would become slow, sluggish and drowsy- or "Groggy".

[Artful]

Unfortunatly not.
http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/brass.asp

Maybe - Maybe knot
http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq107.htm

I wouldn't place all my faith in snopes, after seeing some of snopes reports
http://www.valuesvoternews.com/2009/07/dr-fukinos-second-statement-confirms.html
http://overlawyered.com/2009/02/snopes-and-cpsia/
http://www.wnd.com/2006/11/39068/

[dagger dog]

About as usefull as teats on a boar hog !

Got about as much chance as a popcorn fart in a whirlwind !

It's colder than a well diggers a$$ !

He so dumb he couldn't tell you if Christ was crucified or gored to death by a bull !

[10-x]

Heard "Get your Goat" started in Colonial Virginia when race horses had a goat put in the paddock to calm them as they were high strung. Stealing ones goat before a race was to "fix" the race..........thus Get your goat.

[shredder]

The whole 9 yards-

50 cal. belts loaded into fighter plane wings were 27 feet long. If they emptied a belt into an enemy plane, they gave him the whole 9 yards.

That is great. I always thought football, but somehow 9 yards is just not a first down.....

[Smitty's Retired]

Some I havn't seen mentioned, and not sure where they got started. But heard most of them during my youth.

"He's Drunk as a bicycle" or "Drunker 'N a bicycle" ..... which I take to mean your so wobbly from being intoxicated.

"Two Sheets in the wind." I've heard this used to describe a couple of situations. One being drunk, but I've also heard it related to driving fast.

"Katy Bar to da door!" Usually meaning a bad ending to an event. I've heard from older folks that it was derived back in the day when you barred a door with a board to prevent it from being opened. Usually during an attack.

"Uglier than 'Ole Slew Foot!" Slew foot is a legend of an old bear that was rumored to be huge, battled and ugly. But there was also a legend of Pecos Bill having a girlfriend by the name of "Slew Foot Sue" who was big, not sure if she was ugly tho.

"Slicker 'N Owl S&%T" ..... I think the meaning is apparent, but not sure where it started, or who made the determination of how slick it is compaired to others nor the method used to determine this.

[tommag]

Too busy cutting wood to sharpen the axe.

[bob208]

balls out or balls to the wall. from steam engines when they were wide open the governor balls were standing stright out.

happy as a witch in a broom factory

[Fishman]

My Dad has one that I can't figure out but it's interesting. S--- fire and save matches! Yes theoretically if you could, who would need matches? But then you would need pants, right? The expression is one of surprise and irritation, like "I can't believe this kid is still dallying around and not finished with this chore I gave him!". I heard it somewhat regular growing up.

[Charlie Two Tracks]

I've heard that one quite a bit also Fishman. Very strange indeed when you think about it for a minute. It would be fun to find out how in the world that started. Actually, how did "how in the world" get started? How many of these sayings do I use and not even think of it?

[reloaderman]

"piss poor" meaning you had no money and had to sell your pee to the tanners. ( old English )
" didn't have a pot to piss in" now that's really poor.


An old Texas saying " he's a nice fellow , but he ****s too close the the house"-- I think he's a nice guy, but with some minor dislikes.

[wch]

"Let the cat out of the bag"
An alternative to the other origin is espoused by some is this:
Flogging, the physical beating of criminals, soldiers and sailors who were found guilty of lesser crimes than those deserving of the death penalty, were whipped with a "cat" with nine tails, (the number of strokes given as determined by the adjudicating officer), which "cat" was kept in a red baize bag until needed for the administration of the sentence.
Thus, "letting the cat out of the bag" became an expression portending the imminent penalty.

[Superfly]

No good deed goes unpunished

[Superfly]

Hell or high water

[jaysouth]

Pig and a poke, can someone explain this


At one time, a poke was a common term for a bag or sack. Hence, do not buy a pig unless you examine the pig. It's actually a "pig in a poke".

[jaysouth]

"chewing the string don't prove the pudding"

Once upon a time bologna and liverwurst were called meat puddings. Whatever they make the stuff from was poured into a long cloth bag with a string drawn mouth. The raw puddings were hung up in large ovens and cooked until they filled out the bag. Next time you go into a deli, look at the uncut sticks of bologna and see how the ends are puckered where the raw materials expanded to fill the casing, now plastic.

Thus, you can't chew on the string and approve of the pudding(bologna or whatever)