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Post by AA on Jun 26, 2015 15:56:19 GMT
"Don't Throw the Baby Out with the Bath water"
Baths were a big tub filled with hot water and the man of the house had his bath first followed by the sons and other men, then the women and finally the children. By the time the baby was bathed the water was so dirty it would have been easy to lose someone in it!
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Post by AA on Jun 28, 2015 17:06:36 GMT
Bakers Dozen
A bakers dozen means thirteen. This came from the days when bakers were severely punished for baking underweight loaves so they added an extra loaf to the batch of a dozen to be above suspicion.
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Post by dudette2001uk on Jul 1, 2015 18:15:07 GMT
Loving all these! I'm such a geek! :-D
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Post by AA on Jul 2, 2015 15:54:14 GMT
Go the Whole Nine Yards
Meaning - To try your best at something. Origin - During World War II the fighter pilots were equipped with nine yards of ammunition, when they ran out it meant that they had tried their best at fighting off the target with their entire amount of ammunition.
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Post by meltingmom on Jul 2, 2015 17:37:24 GMT
I am on tenterhooks.
Tenterhooks are the hooks in the corner of frames that were used to stretch hides.
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Post by AA on Jul 3, 2015 11:59:45 GMT
Let the cat out of the bag
Meaning: Divulging a secret.
In times gone by farmers would bring suckling pigs to market wrapped in a bag. Unscrupulous ones would substitute a cat for the pig. If someone let the cat out the deceit was then uncovered.
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Post by AA on Aug 18, 2015 20:13:56 GMT
Get One's Goat
Meaning: Irritate Origin: A horse racing term. Nervous horses could often be calmed down by placing a goat in the stall with them. Dastardly rival horse owners would sometimes steal or "get" these goats thereby upsetting the horse and most likely causing it to lose the race.
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Post by AA on Sept 9, 2015 16:25:56 GMT
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.
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Post by AA on Oct 3, 2015 10:53:42 GMT
Make a clean breast of it.
To make a full disclosure; to confess.
Origin
The Oxford English Dictionary defines the noun breast as 'the two soft protuberances situated on the thorax in females'. The meaning used in 'make a clean breast of it' is an earlier and less literal one. The 'breast' there is the seat of the one's emotions and secrets; one's 'heart'. To disclose this openly was to clean one's heart of impurity. Any mention of breasts now is likely to be a reference to the 'soft protuberances' - we are more liable these days to 'get something off our chest'.
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Post by AA on Oct 26, 2015 20:12:59 GMT
Bee Line
In the past it was believed that bees flew in a straight line to their hives so if you made a bee line for something you went straight to it.
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Post by AA on Dec 1, 2015 19:57:28 GMT
Wet behind the ears
Meaning
Naive.
Origin
The allusion is to the inexperience of a baby, so recently born as to be still wet.
This phrase was in circulation in the USA in the early 20th century - twenty years before it was first recorded elsewhere.
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Post by AA on Dec 12, 2015 0:54:01 GMT
Get down to brass tacks
Meaning: Engage with the basic facts or realities
Origin: The figurative expression "getting down to brass tacks" isn't particularly old as phrases go. It's first appearance in print is from the USA in January 1863 in the Texas newspaper The Tri-Weekly Telegraph: "When you come down to 'brass tacks' - if we may be allowed the expression- everybody is governed by selfishness."
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Post by AA on Jan 24, 2016 16:05:36 GMT
Butter someone up
Meaning: To impress someone with flattery
Origin: This was a customary religious act in ancient India. The devout would throw butter balls at the statues of their gods to seek favor and forgiveness.
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Post by AA on Mar 12, 2016 12:11:51 GMT
Diamond in the rough Meaning Someone who is basically good hearted but lacking in the social graces and respect for the law.
Origin: The phrase is a metaphor clearly referring to the original unpolished state of diamond gemstones especially those that have the potential to become high quality jewels. It is more commonly expressed in the fore "Rough Diamond". The first recorded use in print is in John Fletcher's "A Wife for a Month" 1624... "She is very honest and will be as hard to cut as a rough diamond"
The term is often now used to describe people on the edge of the criminal fraternity who, while they may not commit serious crimes themselves, probably know people who do.
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Post by blubex on Mar 14, 2016 18:54:24 GMT
Pulling your leg. ....
When people were hung if they didn't die straight away people would jump up and pull on the persons leg until they croaked! !!!
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