ETYMOLOGY OF WORDS AND PHRASES, PART 10

Education, Entertainment, History, Humor, Mysteries 4 Minutes

THE WALLS HAVE EARS

“Be careful what you say as people may be eavesdropping.” The Louvre Palace in France was believed to have a network of listening tubes so that it would be possible to hear everything that was said in different rooms. People say that this is how the Queen Catherine de’Medici discovered political secrets and plots.

BIG WIG

Meaning an important person, especially in a particular sphere; in the 18th century, the most important political figures would wear the biggest wigs, hence today influential people are called big wigs.

CAUGHT RED-HANDED

It generally indicates that a person has been discovered in, or just after, the act of doing something wrong or illegal. However, there was an old law stating that if someone butchered an animal that didn’t belong to him, he would only be punished if he was caught with blood on his hands. If one was caught with the meat but his hands were clean, he would not be punished.

RAINING CATS AND DOGS

This idiom has two stories that try to explain its origin. The first explanation says that the origin of this phrase comes from Norse mythology, where cats would symbolise heavy rains and dogs were associated with the God of storms, Odin. The second version says that in 16th century England, houses had thatched roofs which were one of the few places where animals were able to get warm. Sometimes, when it would start to rain heavily, roofs would get slippery and cats and dogs would fall off, making it look like it’s raining cats and dogs!

BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER

Most people believe this means that family relationships and loyalties are the strongest and most important ones. Even though many might think this saying means that we should put family ahead of friends, it actually meant the complete opposite. The full phrase actually was “The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb,” and it referred to warriors who shared the blood they shed in battles together. These ‘blood brothers’ were said to have stronger bonds than biological brothers.

DON’T LOOK A GIFT HORSE IN THE MOUTH

While buying a horse, people would determine the horse’s age and condition based on its teeth, and then decide whether they want to buy it or not. This is the reason why people use this idiom to say it is rude to look for flaws in a thing that was given to you as a gift.

Mardi Gras Tokens

BY THE SAME TOKEN

Bus token? Game token? What kind of token is involved here? Token is a very old word, referring to something that’s a symbol or sign of something else. It could be a pat on the back as a token, or sign, of friendship, or a marked piece of lead that could be exchanged for money. It came to mean a fact or piece of evidence that could be used as proof. By the same token first meant, basically, “those things you used to prove that can also be used to prove this.” It was later weakened into the expression that just says “these two things are somehow associated.”

Irish Shebeen

THE WHOLE SHEBANG

The earliest uses of shebang were during the Civil War era, referring to a hut, shed, or cluster of bushes where you’re staying. Some officers wrote home about “running the shebang,” meaning the encampment. The origin of the word is obscure, but because it also applied to a tavern or drinking place, it may go back to the Irish word shebeen for a ramshackle drinking establishment.

CALLED ON THE CARPET

Carpet used to mean a thick cloth that could be placed in a range of places: on the floor, on the bed, on a table. The floor carpet is the one we use most now, so the image most people associate with this phrase is one where a servant or employee is called from plainer, carpetless room to the fancier, carpeted part of the house. But it actually goes back to the tablecloth meaning. When there was an issue up for discussion by some kind of official council it was on the carpet.

EAT HUMBLE PIE

This has come to mean making an apology and suffering humilitation along with it. However, during the Middle Ages, the Lord of a major would hold a feast after hunting. He would receive the finest cut of meat at the feast, but those of a lower standing were served a pie filled with the entrails and innards, known as “umbles.” Therefore, receiving “umble pie” was considered humiliating because it informed others in attendance of the guest’s lower status.

GIVE THE COLD SHOULDER

It has become a rude way of telling someone they aren’t welcome or to ignore someone. Although it is considered rude today, it was actually regarded as a polite gesture in medieval England. After a feast, the host would let his guests know it was time to leave by giving them a cold piece of meat from the shoulder of beef, mutton or pork.

RUB THE WRONG WAY

In colonial America, servants were required to wet-rub and dry-rub the oak board floors every week. Doing it against the grain caused streaks to form, making the wood look awful and irritating the homeowner.

WAKING UP ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE BED

The left side of the body or anything having to do with the left was often associated with something sinister. To ward off evil, innkeepers made sure the left side of the bed was pushed against a wall so guests had no other option but to get up on the “right side of the bed.”

COME UP TRUMPS

This is a variant of “turn up trumps,” which has been used since the early 17th century. “Trump” is a corruption of Triumph, which was the name of a popular card game during that period.

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148 thoughts on “ETYMOLOGY OF WORDS AND PHRASES, PART 10”

  1. Holy shit! Look at the destruction!!!

    “Thousands dead in Turkey earthquake labeled worst natural disaster to hit region in a century. Thousands of buildings have collapsed trapping people under the rubble, while oil and gas pipelines to Europe have also been significantly damaged”

    February 06, 2023
    editor: REMIX NEWS author: THOMAS BROOKE

    (Rescue workers search for survivors under the rubble of a collapsed building in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Mahmut Bozarsan)

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “Tens of thousands are feared dead after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and surrounding areas on Monday in the worst natural disaster to hit the country in a century. The death toll from the tremor, which struck the Turkish city of Gaziantep on Monday morning, has reached 2,300 and looks set to increase further after a second 7.7 magnitude tremor struck the same region just a few hours later. Hundreds of buildings collapsed in the city located in the south of Turkey, 60 kilometers from the Syrian border.

    “It was felt across our borders in Turkey, Northern Cyprus, Iraq, and Syria and led to loss of life in some places. So far, 100 aftershocks have occurred,” said Dr. Haluk Ozener, director of the earthquake research center at Istanbul’s Bogazici University. Initial modeling provided by Risklayer, a German research group on natural disasters, suggests the death toll could rise to as high as 39,000.

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the disaster is the biggest experienced in the country since the Erzincan earthquake in 1939, which struck eastern Turkey along the North Anatolian Fault. “I wish God’s mercy on our citizens who lost their lives in this great tragedy and a speedy recovery to our wounded,” Erdoğan said in a statement.

    The Turkish president added that more than 5,300 people have been injured in the crisis, and over 9,000 people are conducting rescue operations to dig out survivors across 10 Turkish provinces. Footage circulating on social media showed groups of survivors digging children out from the rubble.

    Several countries have pledged aid to the region, including 10 EU member states, which deployed search and rescue teams to Turkey on Monday. “Urban Search and Rescue teams have been quickly mobilized from Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, France, Greece, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, and Romania to support the first responders on the ground,” the European Commission said in a statement on Monday.

    Turkey’s Energy Minister Fatih Donmez revealed on Monday there had been serious damage to the country’s energy infrastructure. Two critical pipelines used to transport oil and gas to Europe run through the affected region and are understood to have caught fire as a result of the tremors.

    The Turkish parliament will be suspended for a week following the earthquakes, and schools across 10 cities will also close their doors for one week. Airports in Hatay, Maraş, and Antep have temporarily closed.”

    Liked by 1 person

  2. “Danes protest plan to abolish prayer holiday — The government says it can save $654 million by canceling the day, which it will use to fund defense”

    February 06, 2023
    editor: REMIX NEWS author: ZIARE

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “Tens of thousands of Danes demonstrated on Sunday, Feb. 5, against the government’s plan to abolish a public holiday in order to fund the defense budget in the midst of the war in Ukraine, according to AFP.

    “The proposal is totally unfair,” said Lizette Risgaard, head of the FH union, which initiated the demonstration and has 1.3 million members in the country of 5.9 million people. The demonstrators, estimated by police and organizers to number between 40,000 and 50,000, arrived from all over the country by bus in the capital. Gathering outside of Copenhagen’s parliament, they waved placards, chanting “Don’t touch our holidays!” and “Say ‘No’ to war!”

    Social Democrat Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s left-right coalition, in power since December, plans to abolish the religious holiday known as the Great Day of Prayer, celebrated since the 17th century. The government wants to use the money generated from canceling the day, an estimated 4.5 billion Danish crowns ($654 million), to increase the defense budget to NATO’s target of 2 percent of GDP by 2030, instead of 2033 as previously planned. The government insists that the acceleration of the timetable is necessary because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine almost a year ago.

    However, unions say making Danes work an extra day would violate collective wage agreements negotiated with the government. The government’s decision “is an attack on our Danish model,” union head Risgaard told AFP.

    Kurt Frederiksen, head of the hotel and services branch of the 3F union, said he also opposes the government’s plan. “We don’t believe that money for the war will help bring peace,” he said.

    Johannes Gregers Jensen, head of the Copenhagen branch of the Lutheran Church in Denmark, of which 73 percent of Danes are members, regretted the authorities’ plan. Denmark has a long tradition that church affairs “are decided by the faithful, and the government should not interfere in that,” he said. “But it does, and that is a huge problem,” the same religious official added.”

    Liked by 1 person

  3. green fail

    bflyjesusgrl 🍊 😎MEGA MAGA GAME ON😎(@bflyjesusgrl)Online
    Coyote
    February 6, 2023 12:39

    Green Fail: Dozens of Scottish Windmills Powered by Diesel Generators (breitbart.com)

    Scotland’s green-obsessed left-separatist government has been left with egg on its face by revelations that dozens of gigantic onshore wind turbines are having to be hooked up to diesel generators, leaking thousands of litres of hydraulic oil into the countryside.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. vax fail

    bflyjesusgrl 🍊 😎MEGA MAGA GAME ON😎(@bflyjesusgrl)Online
    Coyote
    February 6, 2023 13:23

    Now that fired schoolteachers were on Fox this weekend telling everyone that they’ve let 11,000 unjabbed illegals into the public schools AND former employees filed a $250M lawsuit in January…..

    NYC mayor Eric Adams FINALLY scraps Covid vaccine mandates for city workers | Daily Mail Online

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Liked by 1 person

  9. synce
    synce
    February 6, 2023 2:59 pm
    Reply to synce

    Rioting is anticipated when arguments begin on illegal student loan forgiveness this month

    The fence is back up around the Capitol for SOTU because Biden knows walls work on the ground.

    Joe Biden is more afraid of Americans visiting their Capitol than a Chinese Spy Balloon invading our air space that could have carried God only knows what. pic.twitter.com/PPFiADWP4W

    — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) February 6, 2023

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Liked by 1 person

  13. 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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