ETYMOLOGY OF WORDS AND PHRASES – PART 8

Education, Entertainment, History, Mysteries 5 Minutes

Continuing my etymology series, today I am focusing only on some common phrases. If you have any phrases you are curious about, hit me up and I’ll see what I can find for you. Enjoy!!!

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

This proverb, like many others, warns against taking risks. It suggests that you should keep what you have and not risk losing it by going after more. The allusion may be to falconry where a bird in the hand (the falcon) was a valuable asset and certainly worth more than two in the bush (the prey).

This proverbial saying is first found in English in John Capgrave’s “The Life of St Katharine of Alexandria, 1450”: “It is more sekyr [certain] a byrd in your fest, Than to haue three in the sky a‐boue.”

John Heywood’s 1546 glossary “A Dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the Prouerbes in the Englishe tongue” also includes a variant of the proverb: Better one byrde in hande than ten in the wood. The 7th century Aramaic “Story of Ahikar” has text that modern translations render as “Better is a sparrow held tight in the hand than a thousand birds flying about in the air.”

Cat got your tongue?

The origin of the phrase ‘has the cat got your tongue?’ isn’t known. What is certain is that it isn’t derived as a reference to the cat o’ nine tails or people’s tongues being fed to cats in ancient Egypt. Both of these have been suggested and there’s no shred of evidence to support either of them.

‘Cat got your tongue?’ is the shortened form of the query ‘Has the cat got your tongue?’ and it is the short form that is more often used. It is somewhat archaic now but was in common use until the 1960/70s. It was directed at anyone who was quiet when they were expected to speak, and often to children who were being suspiciously unobtrusive.

There’s no derivation that involves any actual cat or celebrated incident of feline theft. Like the blackbird that ‘pecked off his nose’, the phrase is just an example of the light-hearted imagery that is, or was, directed at children.

The expression sounds as though it might be old but isn’t especially so. There are no instances of it in print until the mid 19th century. The early examples of the expression in print all come from the USA, which reinforces the falsity of the Egyptian or Royal Navy origins.

Hell’s bells

The exclamation ‘Hell’s bells’ has been used in both the UK and the USA since at least the mid-19th century. The earliest example of it in print that can be found is from the weekly London sporting newspaper “The Era,” February 1840. The rather fanciful story concerned a character who had stolen his friend’s partridges and replaced them with pigeons, claiming them to be ptarmigan.

There’s no reason to look for any special meaning of Hell’s bells – it doesn’t refer to diabolical campanology – the ‘bells’ are added just for the rhyme. It is an uncommon phrase in that, as well as being an example of reduplication, it is also a minced oath. Adding ‘bells’ was simply a way of uttering the oath ‘Hell’ and making it sound acceptable in polite company.

The expression is often extended by other evocative but meaningless additions. In the UK this is often ‘Hell’s bells and buckets of blood’ and, in the USA, ‘Hells bells and little fishes’ or ‘Hells bells and a bunch of parsley’. There are many other variants, in fact almost anything can be added to ‘Hell’s bells…’ as there’s no requirement for the addition to make sense.

Hold a candle

The expression ‘can’t hold a candle to’ refers to someone who compares badly to an known authority – to be unfit even to hold a subordinate position. Apprentices used to be expected to hold the candle so that more experienced workmen were able to see what they were doing. Someone unable even to do that would be of low status indeed.

Sir Edward Dering used a similar phrase ‘to hold the candle’ in his “The fower cardinal-vertues of a Carmelite fryar,” 1641: “Though I be not worthy to hold the candle to Aristotle.”

‘To hold a candle’ is first recorded in 1883 in William Norris’s “No New Thing:” “Edith is pretty, very pretty; but she can’t hold a candle to Nellie.”

Raise Cain

Cain was the first murderer according to scriptural accounts in the Bible – Genesis 4 and in the Qur’an – 5:27-32.

The biblical account, from the King James’ Version, tells of how Cain and Abel, the two sons of Adam and Eve, bring offerings to God, but only Abel’s is accepted. Cain kills Abel in anger and is cursed by God.

The transitive verb ‘to raise’ has been used since at least the 14th century to mean ‘to conjure up; to cause a spirit to appear by means of incantations’. Geoffrey Chaucer made use of that meaning in “The Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale,” circa 1395:

I haue yow told ynowe To reyse a feend al looke he neuere so rowe.

In Modern English – [I have told you enough already to raise a fiend, look he never so savage.]

If you make trouble you are raising, that is, conjuring up, the accursed spirit of Cain. This is similar to several phrases that allude to calling-up or ‘raising’ the Devil. There’s ‘raise the Devil’ of course and also ‘raise hob’ and ‘raise hell’.

The phrase is American and is first found there in the late 19th century; for example, this little pun on the word ‘raised’ from the St. Louis’ “Daily Pennant,” May 1840: “Why have we every reason to believe that Adam and Eve were both rowdies? Because they both raised Cain.”

A picture is worth a thousand words

This phrase emerged in the USA in the early part of the 20th century. Its introduction is widely attributed to Frederick R. Barnard, who published a piece commending the effectiveness of graphics in advertising with the title “One look is worth a thousand words”, in “Printer’s Ink,” December 1921. Barnard claimed the phrase’s source to be oriental by adding “so said a famous Japanese philosopher, and he was right.”

Printer’s Ink printed another form of the phrase in March 1927, this time suggesting a Chinese origin: “Chinese proverb. One picture is worth ten thousand words.”

The arbitrary escalation from ‘one thousand’ to ‘ten thousand’ and the switching from Japan to China as the source leads us to smell a rat with this derivation. In fact, Barnard didn’t introduce the phrase – his only contribution was the incorrect suggestion that the country of origin was Japan or China. This has led to another popular belief about the phrase that it was coined by Confucius. It might fit the Chinese-sounding ‘Confucius he say’ style, but the Chinese derivation was pure invention.

A similar idea was seen very widely in the USA from the early 20th century, in adverts for “Doan’s Backache Kidney Pills,” which included a picture of a man holding his back and the text “Every picture tells a story.”

Neither of the above led directly to ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’. Who it was that married ‘worth ten thousand words’ with ‘picture’ isn’t known, but we do know that the phrase is American in origin. It began to be used quite frequently in the US press from around the 1920s onward. The earliest example found is from the text of an instructional talk given by the newspaper editor Arthur Brisbane to the “Syracuse Advertising Men’s Club,” in March 1911:

“Use a picture. It’s worth a thousand words.”

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Army veteran (1976-1979), retired with entirely too much time on my hands

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182 thoughts on “ETYMOLOGY OF WORDS AND PHRASES – PART 8”

  1. I don’t know this man….

    bflyjesusgrl 🍊 😎MEGA MAGA GAME ON😎
    bflyjesusgrl 🍊 😎MEGA MAGA GAME ON😎(@bflyjesusgrl)Online
    Coyote
    January 4, 2023 12:30

    Freedom Caucus’ Chip Roy just made history by nominating Byron Donalds for House Speaker. With Jeffries and Donalds both being nominated, it’s the first time ever 2 black men are nom’d for SoH. Took Dems a minute, but they finally stood up and clapped. Took even more minutes when they half azz clapped when Roy said we value content of character more than color of skin. Let’s see how this round goes.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. WeThePeople2016
    WeThePeople2016
    January 4, 2023 1:02 pm

    Matt Gaetz

    @mattgaetz
    ·
    1h
    McCarthy is losing it.

    He texted one of my colleagues who didn’t vote for him:

    “I am ready to fund an endless war”

    I’m assuming this is in *addition* to Ukraine.

    McCarthy is losing it.

    He texted one of my colleagues who didn’t vote for him:

    “I am ready to fund an endless war”

    I’m assuming this is in *addition* to Ukraine.

    — Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) January 4, 2023

    Liked by 1 person

  6. EXCERPT: “I get a little bit frustrated when I see some of these jurisdictions saying, ‘even if you’re healthy and vaccinated, you must wear a mask because we’re seeing increased cases.’ Understand what that message is sending to people who aren’t vaccinated,” DeSantis said. “It’s telling them that the vaccines don’t work. I think that’s the worst message you can send to people at this time.”

    While DeSantis stressed the importance and efficacy of the vaccine, he also warned against government officials pushing vaccination too hard.

    “They have different reasons for why they don’t take it and I think the more they’re hectored by government officials or some of these folks – that is not going to get them to ‘yes.’ I can tell you that right now,” he said. “I think these are folks that have skepticism of authorities. I think they have different reasons why they may not do it. I don’t think most of them think COVID is a hoax or anything. I think they understand.”

    https://www.wfla.com/community/health/coronavirus/vaccines-are-saving-lives-desantis-stresses-importance-of-shots-as-florida-covid-cases-spike-criticizes-mask-mandates/

    Liked by 1 person

  8. “Sweden: 4 Eritreans who gang-raped 40-year-old Swedish woman will not be deported — The convicted gang rapists will see their sentences automatically reduced by one-third, which is customary in Sweden”
    January 04, 2023
    editor: REMIX NEWS author: DENES ALBERT AND JOHN CODY

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “The four Eritreans who committed aggravated rape against a 40-year-old Swedish woman in Stockholm in June of last year have been sentenced to jail. However, despite the prosecutor’s request, the court decided they will not be deported. As Remix News previously reported, on the night of June 26, 2022, a 40-year-old intoxicated woman was attacked by four men, all of whom were unknown to her, in Flemingsberg, south of Stockholm. One of the men kicked the woman to the ground in a forest near the train station. He and the other three foreigners then took turns raping her. Afterward, two of the perpetrators brought the woman to Flemingsberg station where they raped her again in an elevator.

    Prosecutor Axel Frick at the Södertörn Prosecutor’s Office said at the time that the crime is serious due to the fact it was a gang rape and the men “showed particular recklessness or brutality” by filming the abuse. Prosecutor Axel Frick argued that all four rapists should be deported to Eritrea and banned from returning to Sweden for the next 15 years if convicted. However, the court ruled that all the men can stay in Sweden, and authorities will be barred from deporting them for this crime.

    Media avoided naming suspects’ foreign origins — When the case was first reported, a number of Swedish outlets, including TT, the Swedish national news agency, claimed that the four suspects were from the Swedish cities and towns of Sandviken, Huddinge, Motala, and Vallentuna. However, Swedish news outlet NyaTider wrote at the time that these news outlets “chose to omit the fact that all of the suspected men come from Eritrea and need an interpreter,” despite police having released that information.

    Gang rapists have sentences automatically reduced by one-third — Samnytt reported that the Södertörn District Court sentenced three of the men to five years and six months in prison for aggravated rape. The fourth man was sentenced to two years and three months in prison for rape. In all cases, one-third of the sentence has been deducted in accordance with common practice. In addition to the prison sentences, the four men must pay damages to the woman.

    The two youngest perpetrators, Huluf Kindeya Gebremariam (27) and Seare Measho Redae (29), came to Sweden during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Both were granted residence permits that same year. The other two are 33-year-old Haileab Ghebre Weldemichael, who only has a temporary residence permit, and 35-year-old Mihretab Haile Gebrehiwt, who has a permanent residence permit. Both arrived in Sweden in 2014.

    Sweden is known for handing out light sentences for rape, even as the country experiences an explosive rise in rape cases. For example, one migrant who raped a 9-year-old girl avoided deportation; another migrant who raped a 12-year-old child in a public toilet only had to attend gender sensitivity courses, avoiding both jail time and deportation.

    Sweden’s gang rape crisis — The country has faced numerous gang rape cases in recent years, nearly all of them involving foreigners. At the same time, well-known and respected Swedish researchers were prosecuted after they determined that most rapes in the country are committed by foreigners.

    In 2018, Expressen reported on this growing trend in Sweden. After an investigation into court cases involving gang rape over the previous two years, the paper found that 43 men had been convicted of the offense. It also determined that 40 of the 43 men with gang rape convictions were either immigrants born abroad or men born in Sweden to immigrant parents. Furthermore, in 2018, SVT reported that rape statistics in Sweden showed that 58 percent of men with rape or attempted rape convictions over the preceding five years were immigrants born outside the European Union, mainly from North Africa, South Africa, Afghanistan, and the Middle East.

    The BBC also reported that in cases where victims did not know their attackers, the proportion of foreign-born men convicted of sexual assault was 80 percent. Gang rapes involving migrants are not unique to Sweden either, with half of all gang rapes in Germany committed by foreigners.”

    Liked by 1 person

  9. “70% of those arrested for New Year’s Eve riots in Berlin have a migration background — A night of celebration swiftly descended into chaos as rioters targeted emergency service vehicles”
    January 04, 2023
    editor: REMIX NEWS author: THOMAS BROOKE
    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “The vast majority of those arrested for riots in Berlin on New Year’s Eve are migrants, local police have confirmed. On Tuesday evening, Berlin police provided an update on the situation of those arrested in connection with the civil disorder witnessed across the German capital on Saturday. The figure of 159 arrests was amended to 145, citing duplication in the initial reporting.

    Of those arrested, 100 have a migration background while just 45 hold German citizenship. A total of 18 different nationalities were recorded among the transgressors, a police spokesperson revealed. The largest migrant contingent of 27 suspects originated from Afghanistan, while 21 were Syrian.

    All suspects, the majority of whom were men, have now been released following the completion of required police measures. More than 20 suspects were also detained in the port city of Hamburg during a celebratory evening that swiftly descended into chaos, resulting in injuries to police officers and the torching of emergency service vehicles.”

    Liked by 1 person

  10. “‘Whore’ and ‘dirty’: Swedish teacher recounts torrent of abuse from immigrant students because she is ‘White and a Christian’ — The teacher told a Swedish newspaper she has been followed home by students threatening violence against her and has considered wearing a protective vest to work”

    January 04, 2023
    editor: REMIX NEWS author: THOMAS BROOKE

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “A Swedish teacher who works at a school in a Stockholm suburb with a largely immigrant population has revealed she is regularly followed home, threatened with violence, and called “dirty” by pupils because she is “White and a Christian.” In a damning interview with the Swedish newspaper Expressen, the teacher spoke about the extent of abuse she regularly receives from pupils at her workplace in Järva, an area with a high number of migrants that has become notorious for gun violence and gang-related crime.

    The 60-something educator said she has become used to working in a violent environment and is often insulted by students who call her a “whore” and tell her, “I’m going to fuck your mother.” Threats have become so commonplace that the teacher, who is referred to only as “Gunvor,” revealed she has considered wearing a protective vest as a precautionary measure when at work. “At school, the students say I’m dirty. By ‘dirty’ they mean that I am white and Christian,” she told the Swedish newspaper. ‘Don’t touch me, you’re dirty,’ they shout.”

    However, it is not just insults that the female teacher faces. She recounts clear incidents of harassment and intimidation by students, including a pupil following her home after she reprimanded him in class. “He started stalking me a couple of times after work in the evening. I don’t really care that much, but he said, ‘Be careful’ and other similar expressions,” she revealed. Gunvor also told Expressen how one pupil followed her home and stood outside her front door with a group of friends; they then attempted to gain entry.

    “I heard them trying to get in through the door. Then I received about 53 text messages with the message that I should be careful; there were also pictures of me. They sent lyrics from rap songs.” She explained how she feels unable to take public transport to work due to safety concerns. “It feels too unsafe,” she said, adding that she rents a parking spot near the school and pays someone to guard her vehicle during school hours to ensure it is not vandalized.

    Despite the torrent of abuse she receives, Gunvor remained resilient when asked about her future at the school and insisted she would not let the bullies and harassers win. “I am not afraid at work, but it is unpleasant. The salary is very high, and that helps. They won’t make me move; I enjoy my work in any event.” She did, however, admit that a number of staff who have experienced similar ordeals have found it too much to cope with and have left their jobs. “Among the staff, people have resigned,” she said, adding that other teachers remain vigilant regarding which students to watch out for, such as those with dangerous family members who may already be in organized gangs.

    Many schools across Sweden, particularly those in the capital of Stockholm, are situated in areas where gang violence is prevalent. Recent mapping by Swedish broadcaster SVT revealed that 16 percent of school children attend a school where one or more shootings have taken place within a 500-meter radius in the last three years.

    Over 700 shootings have taken place near schools in Sweden in the last three years alone, the majority of which were gang-related.”

    Liked by 1 person

    1. this is abhorrent! as a country they have become a cesspool. how pathetic. you open your country to “migrants” and the ungrateful bastards wipe their feet on their hosts.

      Liked by 1 person

  12. Coming up on the 1 year anniversary of my skin cancer surgery. Still aches now and then and still has a couple of scabs that the doctor warned me not to pick off prematurely. So I leave them alone. I’ve been very careful about not banging it on anything until a couple of days ago, which is probably why it aches now. So far, so good anyway!

    Liked by 1 person

        1. He’s doing fine – I catch him hightailing it back over from the neighbors after he’s snatched any food he can find there. I did manage to get his ears treated for the ear mites. One more dose should take care of it. As soon as he hears me moving around in the morning, I can hear him meowing at the door, wanting his breakfast.

          Liked by 2 people

  32. “The Tragedy of Damar Hamlin: What they are not saying speaks volumes and what they are saying is garbage — An expert and intense frame by frame analysis of Damar Hamlin’s on-field tragedy overlaid by medical and scientific information from the NIH to effectively dismiss the cover story of commotio cortis”

    Political Moonshine
    40 min ago

    EXCERPT: “Let’s get right to the crux of one of the worst sporting tragedies in recent memory and especially so given the context of a highly anticipated Monday night NFL game, which is averaging 14.8 million viewers in 2022: If Damar Hamlin were NOT vaccinated/boosted for COVID-19, it would be plastered all over every newscast and newspaper in America. But that is NOT not the case. What does that tell us? It says that what they’re not saying speaks volumes.

    I was reminded of this by longtime Moonshine contributor, Wall St., who sent me this message in-part: “I learned from listening to lying management CEOs/CFOs. If they don’t even address the elephant in the room then the elephant is far bigger than you think and most of the other people in the room won’t ever figure out there even is an elephant until after they’ve lost their money.”

    https://politicalmoonshine.substack.com/p/the-tragedy-of-damar-hamlin-what

    Liked by 1 person

  42. Issue: January 4, 2023
    “Researchers are testing biometric recognition of newborns for vaccinations — Adding newborns to a biometric database.”
    By Didi Rankovic
    Posted 4:11 pm

    ENTIRE ARTICLE @ ReclaimTheNet: “Work has been underway for a while in the US – and research and reports say it is progressing well – to achieve an effective level of collecting people’s biometric data. From the very moment they are born. The purpose is to make sure newborn babies and young children are identified and monitored for healthcare purposes, such as vaccination.

    A recent clinical study into how this is going using technology that is currently available has been published by the US National Library of Medicine. It was carried out by the University of California San Diego – and Mexico’s Universidad Autonoma de Baja California and Hospital Central, both in the town of Tijuana. The study makes a note that while adults are relatively easily “processed” by biometric tech, the same is not true of very young humans. Hence, a problem to solve, in a world the study’s authors believe is “universally” calling for the use of biometrics.

    The non-randomized study included 500 children in Mexico, followed for a period of over up to two years from 2017 to 2019, and these kids and newborns were fingerprinted to provide what’s known as longitudinal (observing changes over time in groups of subjects) biometric system recognition. The study found that biometric verification accuracy had 77 percent success for babies up to three days old, using the true accept rate (TAR), while it rose to 96 percent for four-day-olds, and older.

    When the method was the top-ranked match score, these numbers went up to 86 and 97 percent accuracy, respectively. And even though the infants and toddlers monitored for the sake of the study were “outsourced,” i.e., Mexican, the biometric device that the study utilized was developed at the University of California San Diego. And now with these “optimistic” results, those behind the device wouldn’t mind creating some monetization opportunities.

    In order to commercialize it, the researchers are teaming up with fingerprinting “gurus” NEC – a company strangely advertising itself as one “orchestrating a brighter world.” And in order to justify the use of the device, the researchers turned to the UN:

    “(…) these data suggest that a high-resolution, free space imaging technique may fill the final gap for universal biometrics across all populations called for by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 16.9.”

    Liked by 1 person

  43. 01/04/23 • BIG FOOD

    “What’s Really Behind the Plan to ‘Redesign’ Our Food System?”

    EXCERPT: “At first glance, the “food is medicine” revolution suggests the government is finally realizing the importance of nutrition, but it’s really just a plot by corporations and groups like the Rockefeller Foundation to control your food purchases.

    Story at a glance:

    — At the end of September, the White House hosted the Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health, during which President Biden laid out a “bold goal” to “end hunger and increase healthy eating and physical activity by 2030.”

    — At first glance, it may seem that government finally taking an interest in nutrition and realizing its impact on health is great news. But things are not at all what they seem.

    — Google and Warner Bros. are among those responsible for improving food access and affordability. Danone, Dole, Instacart and Walgreens will empower consumers to make and have access to healthy choices, and the Rockefeller Foundation is part of the group that will tackle enhanced nutrition and food security research.

    — The goal of this “food is medicine” revolution is to control the population through food as health care. Integrating nutrition with health care will facilitate the creation of new policies, funding and control over both areas simultaneously.

    — They’re working to get more people into public assistance programs so that purchases can be controlled through digital food tokens. They’re also working to replace traditional farming with indoor vertical growing of patented GMO, or genetically modified, seeds, while animal farming will be regulated into oblivion in order to be replaced by insect farms (so-called micro livestock), gene-edited food and lab-grown meat.

    The planned destruction of our food system is well underway, under the banner of “redesigning” it for greater “equity.” At the end of September, the White House hosted the Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health, during which President Biden laid out a “bold goal” to “end hunger and increase healthy eating and physical activity by 2030.”

    The stated goal is to end diet-related disease, while simultaneously “closing disparities among the communities that are impacted most.”

    https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/redesign-food-system-online-grocery-cola/

    Liked by 1 person

  44. I am adding a short daily prayer to the board. I would invite each of you, if you wish, to also add one or maybe two of your own liking. I do not want to stifle anyone but please limit yourself to one or two religious postings. here’s one I found that I liked.

    Like

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