ETYMOLOGY OF WORDS AND PHRASES, PART 13

Education, Entertainment, History 6 Minutes

Curiosity killed the cat is a well-known phrase that is found repeatedly in English literature. The meaning of ‘curiosity killed the cat’ is easy to summarise: don’t go poking your nose into other people’s affairs, and don’t be overly inquisitive about things which don’t concern you, as it will only cause trouble.

The phrase suggests that a cat that went nosing about in something it shouldn’t have came a-cropper and died as a result. However, the phrase began life quite differently. ‘Care killed the cat’ – a phrase with a subtle, but important, different meaning – has a much longer, and older, pedigree. ‘Care killed the cat’ is found as early as 1598, in Ben Jonson’s city comedy, “Every Man in His Humour.” In that play, we find the line: ‘Helter skelter, hang sorrow, care’ll kill a cat, up-tails all, and a louse for the hangman.’

So when did ‘curiosity killed the cat’ take over as the cat-killing expression or phrase of choice – and why? It had certainly come into being by the second half of the nineteenth century: James Allan Mair’s 1873 book, “A handbook of proverbs: English, Scottish, Irish, American, Shakesperean, and scriptural; and family mottoes” lists ‘curiosity killed the cat’ as a familiar phrase, with an ‘I.’ next to it to suggest that the phrase is Irish in origin.

This is perfectly possible, especially as the phrase seems to have really taken off in the United States, where it was perhaps introduced by Irish immigrants in the second half of the nineteenth century. The prolific short-story writer O. Henry, in his 1909 story ‘Schools and Schools,’ wrote: ‘Curiosity can do more things than kill a cat; and if emotions, well recognized as feminine, are inimical to feline life, then jealousy would soon leave the whole world catless.’

Turnabout is fair play is a proverb with its roots in the mid-1700s. A proverb is a short, common saying or phrase that particularly gives advice or shares a universal truth.

Turnabout is fair play is a proverb that means if someone has harmed you, it is permissible to retaliate in kind. Turnabout is fair play is used to justify paying back a real or perceived injury. The phrase turnabout is fair play originated in the mid-1700s in reference to gaming, meaning taking turns assures a fair game.

Today, the term has taken on the connotation of revenge or retaliation, in the sense of two parties taking equal advantage of each other. Occasionally, turnabout is fair play is used in a friendly, teasing manner as an admonishment to keep things fair and equal.

Beggar belief is not a phrase that means the beliefs of beggars. Instead, its true meaning as an idiomatic expression is to be undeserving of being believed or to become unbelievable. People also use the term as a verb meaning to defy belief. The idiom beggar belief comes from the verb to beggar, which means to make poor or impoverished.

In American English, the famous meaning of beggar is a noun that refers to an impoverished person. Some people believe that beggar as a verb was coined by William Shakespeare. He used the term in 1616 in Antony & Cleopatra: ‘For her owne person It beggerd all discription.’

However, it has been around since the early 16th century. Three centuries later, beggar as a verb was combined with belief to mean be unbelievable. The phrase was first found in John Whitley’s “Completion of Prophecy.” He used it in the 19th century to describe the “heathens” who didn’t believe in the Bible.

Catty-corner, kitty-corner, and cater-cornered all derive from the Middle English catre-corner, literally meaning four-cornered. All three forms are used throughout the English-speaking world. They usually mean positioned diagonally across a four-way intersection, but they can work in other contexts relating to one thing being diagonal from another.

Gobsmacked, a British colloquialism, means (1) surprised, (2) dumbfounded, or (3) awestruck. In parts of Britain, gob is slang for mouth, and to be gobsmacked (one word) is to be figuratively smacked in the mouth—that is, struck dumb by something. Gobsmacked is most common in British and Australian speech and writing. It appears occasionally in Canadian and U.S. publications, but it gives the impression that the writer is either British or affecting a British voice.

Another version of this adjective is gobsmacking. Usually things are gobsmacking while people are gobsmacked. The term’s origins are pretty literal. When people are shocked or in awe, they clap or smack their hands to their mouths or gobs. Another related term is a gobstopper, or a jawbreaker in the United States. The candy is round and hard, usually meant to be sucked on instead of chewed, effectively stopping one’s gob from other tasks such as talking.

To have another string in your bow can mean that you have a backup plan in case the current plan fails. This is analogous to an archer carrying an extra bowstring in the event that the first breaks. Alternatively, the phrase may mean to have two strings in one bow that may work together, or to have two methods of acquiring a goal. This would be similar to a bow having two or more strings to increase the force propelling the arrow forward. The arrow would hit the target faster.

A slight variation of this last definition is that by having an extra string in your bow, you have learned a new talent that will help in your career. Or in other words, you have more than one skill to rely on to accomplish your goals. This may refer to an archer having different kinds of strings, some of different materials and strengths.

It should be noted that all of the archer analogies have been used since the sixteenth century and some of them have morphed over time. It is unlikely that each phrase was coined with the explicit analogy in mind. This idiom is mostly found outside of the United States, and it is extremely changeable.

To be at a loose end is to have nothing to do. It is primarily used in British English. In the United States, there is a variant phrase to be at loose ends. This also means to have nothing to do, but it carries the connotation of nervousness, as in the situation of not being able to do anything about a stressful situation. The British phrase suggests only boredom.

The chart shows that the global popularity of the two versions has traded places over time, with the current favorite being ‘at loose ends’. A straight internet search finds ‘at a loose end’ slightly more popular. As with all informal phrases, research is somewhat unreliable about usage since most usage is verbal.

Boggle the mind and mind-boggling are terms that have their roots in the sixteenth century, though their current use only became popular in the 1950s. To boggle the mind means to baffle someone, to astonish or overwhelm someone. The term begins with the word boggle, which dates back to the sixteenth century. At that time, boggle was mostly used to describe the state of a startled horse.

The word boggle is most probably derived from the dialect word bogle, which meant an unseen specter. Presumably, these unseen specters were blamed for startled horses. Today, the word boggle is almost exclusively used in the phrase boggle the mind or the adjective form, mind-boggling. Note that when used as an adjective before a noun, the term is hyphenated. Related terms are boggles the mind, boggled the mind, boggling the mind.

The word cheapskate is a closed compound word made of the words cheap and skate. But it does not refer to affordable skates. The term describes a person who goes beyond frugal living. Cheapskate is a noun that refers to a miserly or stingy person. It’s usually someone who tries to avoid paying their share of expenses or costs. This scornful term describes someone with “short arms and long pockets.”

A cheapskate is not only a cheap person or someone who wants to save money and live debt-free. It’s also someone who does not want to spend money even though it’s necessary. Ebenezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol is a clear example of a cheapskate. Despite being wealthy, he underpays his employee and hounds debtors relentlessly. He hates Christmas because he associates it with reckless spending.

The origin of cheapskate is not recorded. But it’s worth noting that skate is a slang word for a mean or contemptible person. It might have originated from skite, a Scottish slang with the same definition. Then, in the 20th century, skate and cheapskate became synonymous in the USA and UK. The earliest recorded use of cheapskate can be found in George Ade’s “Artie: A Story of the Streets and Town” (1896):

“Them sporty boys don’t last. They get in with a lot o’ cheap skates and chase around at nights and think they’re the real thing.”

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Published by NebraskaFilly

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

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145 thoughts on “ETYMOLOGY OF WORDS AND PHRASES, PART 13”

  2. Morning All!
    it’s lighter and lighter when i get up and the birds are happily singing…that all puts a big ole smile on my face!
    my daughter told me she got an alert on her phone (for pete’s sake, right?) that the first hummer has crossed into PA! (seriously…how do they know?)
    thanks for the great open Filly!!!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Good Morning ☀️!
      I was just thinking that it was time to put out the hummingbird feeder! I thought I may have heard a Baltimore Oriole yesterday…they share the hummer’s feeder.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Morning Bill!
        I am excited to know they’re coming back…although considering I live at the top of the state, it could still be a while…LOL
        I tie an old hummer feeder tray bottom to my deck railing and put grape jelly in it for the orioles so they let the hummers have their feeders.
        when they eat all the jelly, they hang on the hummer feeder chain to let me know…LOL…then i refill their jelly and they’re happy

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    2. When Trump took office and signed the XO about confiscating the assets of anyone affiliated with ANY groups even tangentially connected to child trafficking, the evil bastid signed over almost his entire fortune to his Open Societies Foundation.

      Liked by 1 person

  13. Citizen 817
    April 10, 2023 12:28 am

    @realDonaldTrump

    3h
    Just like New York, the Racist District Attorney in Atlanta, who presides over one of the most deadly and violent jurisdictions in the U.S. (and does nothing about it!), is having an impossible time showing that my “PERFECT” phone call was bad, when none of the many lawyers on the call interjected that I was saying something wrong or improper – Not even a word of admonishment. They never hung up or said “how dare you.” That’s because, as everyone knows, there was nothing wrong with the call!

    Liked by 1 person

  15. Citizen 817
    April 10, 2023 12:58 am

    💥 Florida Homeowners 💥

    DESANTIS DROPS BOMBSHELL ON FLORIDA REAL ESTATE OWNERS!

    DeSantis is instituting socialist insurance policy in Florida. When the next hurricane comes those covered by the last resort state insurance fund and other insurers will be required to pony up the money for any losses beyond what the state insurance fund can cover. How can someone who pretends to be conservative come up with something like this?

    Liked by 1 person

  16. for pete’s sake…they are changing the rules to declare you dead so they can harvest your organs sooner…
    FTA
    The UDDA has been controversial since its inception in 1981, and experts on both sides of the issue admit that it has serious flaws. Most notably, organ donors declared dead under its criteria are, in fact, still alive. The heart beats, lungs exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide, kidneys produce urine, livers remove toxins, children go through puberty, pregnant women gestate babies, hair grows, and in many cases the brain and body communicate to regulate life-sustaining functions. Organ donors declared dead under the UDDA do not meet the Dead Donor Rule (DDR) and are exploited for body parts.

    In 2018, Harvard Medical School hosted “Defining Death.” At this watershed medical conference about “organ transplantation and the 50-year legacy of the Harvard report on brain death,” the experts determined that the UDDA was not true to a biological definition of death and the DDR was violated as a result.

    These revelations about UDDA and DDR inconsistencies are not new. In the 2008 affirmation of the UDDA, “Controversies in the Determination of Death: A White Paper by the President’s Council on Bioethics,” the chairman, Edmund D. Pellegrino, M.D., pointed this out. “Ideally,” he wrote in his minority dissent, “a full definition would link the concept of life (or death) with its clinical manifestations as closely as possible,” and the UDDA does not satisfy these objective findings. He stated: “The only indisputable signs of death are those we have known since antiquity, i.e., loss of sentience, heartbeat, and breathing; mottling and coldness of skin; muscular rigidity; and eventual putrefaction as the result of generalized autolysis of body cells.”

    ULC commissioner James Bopp, National Right to Life Committee, argues that people declared dead under the neurologic criterion of the UDDA are entitled to the same protections as unborn babies. He states these are an “identical debate, just a different context.” Thus, those who vigorously defend life as starting at conception (i.e., at the level of cells) are inconsistent when they accept the UDDA whole-brain definition of death.

    In May of 2021, Alan Shewmon, M.D. and 107 experts in medicine, bioethics, philosophy, and law recommended that the UDDA be revised but stated that the RUDDA was not the way to do it. Shewmon has documented 175 cases of people meeting the neurological standard for death who continued to live on, some for over twenty years. He has also reported and testified in court on behalf of “brain-dead” children, most notably Jahi McMath. Although legally dead in California, Jahi experienced puberty, which requires brain and body interaction, and even started to recover before she received her second death certificate five years later. Many have even recovered and have gone on to live normal lives after a diagnosis of “irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem.”

    The ULC solicits expert opinions and suggestions on the proposed changes to the UDDA. We believe that the changes being proposed to the UDDA will only benefit transplant stakeholders at the expense of the rights of patients and families. Declaring a comatose, brain-injured patient dead to be able to harvest his organs is an issue of concern to every American, especially since roughly 170 million people are registered as organ donors (see “Cherish Your Life! DON’T Be a Registered Organ Donor”). Shewmon put it best: “Just as cigarette ads are required to contain a footnote warning of health risks, ads promoting organ donation should contain a footnote along these lines: ‘Warning: it remains controversial whether you will actually be dead at the time of the removal of your organs.'” The public deserve a voice at the table before a law is passed that takes away their right to life.

    https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/04/comatose_people_to_be_declared_dead_for_use_as_organ_donors.html

    Liked by 1 person

    1. This is exactly why having a Durable Power of Attorney with someone you can trust is absolutely CRITICAL. You can make one up for yourself – search on-line for the appropriate form for your state. since the laws are different. It will likely require notarization – your bank or your City Office will have a notary – Melissa does it for me at n/c. Failing that, the courthouse. You can do the same with a Living Will.

      My DL is marked that I am a donor; some years ago I saw something similar and considered taking it off. Instead, I chose to go with a POA in my sister’s hands. I may or may not put my GS back in – we’ll see how this all goes.

      “A power of attorney (POA) authorizes someone else to handle certain matters, such as finances or health care, on your behalf. If a power of attorney is durable, it remains in effect if you become incapacitated, such as due to illness or an accident.

      Durable powers of attorney help you plan for medical emergencies and declines in mental functioning and can ensure that your finances are taken care of. Having these documents in place helps eliminate confusion and uncertainty when family members have to make tough medical decisions.”

      https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/what-is-a-durable-power-of-attorney

      “A Living Will, also known as an Advance Healthcare Directive or Advance Medical Directive, is a legal document that provides your family, doctors, and caregivers with information about what life-saving measures you wish to undergo should there come a time when you are unable to communicate your wishes. This includes resuscitation options, guidelines of medications to give, and your wishes regarding life support. Living Wills work in concert with other medical directives, such as Do Not Resuscitate orders and Medical Power of Attorney.”

      https://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Living-Will

      Liked by 1 person

      1. the article says they are taking it out of YOUR hands basically…changing the definition so to speak of when you are “dead” without informing the patients’ families.

        Liked by 1 person

  18. gees…Monday’s…our 35 year old Maytag washer is hiccuping this morning…water all over the floor. I think i overfilled it honestly with laundry. We’ll see…sigh

    Liked by 1 person

      1. it’s a good sturdy maytag, and I’m normally pretty good at estimating how much I load in there. but i messed up this morning. The second load didn’t overflow, it went thru the cycle like a champ…so it was all my fault!

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  24. How Long Have You Been Consuming Gene Therapied Pork?
    Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola
    Fact Checked
    April 10, 2023

    EXCERPT: “STORY AT-A-GLANCE:

    — For the last couple of years, I’ve recommended not eating pork due to its high linoleic acid (LA) content, but there’s an even bigger reason to avoid it now. Since 2018, pork producers have been using customizable mRNA-based “vaccines” on their herds

    — The very first RNA-based livestock vaccine, a swine influenza (H3N2) RNA shot licensed in 2012, was developed by Harrisvaccines. The company followed up with an avian influenza mRNA shot in 2015. Harrisvaccines was acquired by Merck Animal Health later that year

    — CureVac developed an mRNA-based rabies shot for pigs in 2016

    — The swine vaccine platform Sequivity, introduced in 2018, was developed by Merck in partnership with Moderna. Sequivity can produce endlessly customized “vaccines,” none of which undergo safety testing

    — Americans have been eating pork treated with gene therapy for nearly five years already, and even more of our meat supply is about to get the same treatment. mRNA-lipid nanoparticle shots for avian influenza are in the works, as are mRNA shots for cows. Lobbyists for the Cattlemen’s Association recently confirmed they intend to use mRNA “vaccines” in cattle, which might affect both dairy and beef

    — Missouri House bill 1169 would require labeling of products that can alter your genes. It would also require companies to share information about the potential transmissibility of gene-altering interventions, and asserts that fully informed consent must be given for all vaccines, gene therapies and medical interventions

    https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2023/04/10/eating-pork-treated-with-gene-therapy.aspx

    Liked by 1 person

  26. “Do you know now, why they want all the queers in the army? They are being trained. They are being told that there is a Trans genocide and their existence is at stake. This will be the “Trans Floyd” movement. The truth is that your existence is at stake. You are being set up to be persecuted, assaulted and prosecuted for being Phobic, a bigot , a racist, a fascist a Nazi. The pogroms are coming to America and you are the new Jew. Genocide is in the air. Act accordingly”

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Yeah, right….so the answer is to be just as corrupt as they are? NOT ON YOUR FRICKING LIFE!!! That is giving them EXACTLY what they want!!!!! Anyone who does that is just as bad as they are – worse, actually…..MUCH, MUCH WORSE!!!!

      Like

      1. I don’t think that’s what they’re saying. it’s like ballot harvesting. if it’s legal in the state, we HAVE to learn to do it and fast. If they can use the law to go after repubs, then we have to use the law to go after them. no one is advocating lawlessness.
        we are fighting on equal terms.

        Like

        1. Participating in lawfare is continuing to contribute to the corruption within the entire judicial system – it is simply filing frivolous lawsuits and trying to bankrupt people. Wrong, wrong, wrong! THAT is NOT what our courts are for!!!

          Liked by 1 person

          1. but you can’t change that UNTIL you get in power or rid the system of the disease. if you never win another election you are powerless.
            what is legal for one side HAS TO BE legal for the other side.

            Like

      1. Did you ever see Bird On A Wire? That was a funny one!

        “An old flame discovers her ex-boyfriend from the past is a relocated FBI informant out to stop the bad guys.”

        Like

    1. It’s not quite as black and white as it looks, IMO. I can easily see where he was just joking – according to the article, that seems to be how the boy took it.

      Like

  44. Yummy! GS brought home some left-overs last night – just had some yummy brisket – the meat just shredded when I pulled it apart, easy to eat, with some macaroni and potato salads. There’s another plate in there that I haven’t looked at yet…..who knows what other goodies may be waiting??? LOL – he is off to his interview at Norfolk Iron & Metal.

    Liked by 1 person

  47. Ah! First time I can put my Vincas out in front! They are going to look perfect once I get the railing in and plants in the ground! Gorgeous sunny day, slight breeze from the south, 75 and climbing!

    Liked by 1 person

          1. Oh, yeah – Menards has a BUNCH of stuff like that – all kinds of different styles, colors and types of trellises, gates, etc. And they just built another huge open warehouse on the end of the previous outdoor section. There used to be a bank there but they sold out and built a bigger building, consolidating several Norfolk branches in one nearby, across from WM. Menards bought the property, I guess. I can’t wait to spend an afternoon wandering around looking…..

            Liked by 1 person

  48. NF: I’ve not read this yet….should be interesting at least! Spacing edited.

    “Trump Did It – The Year Is 2050, and We Won”
    Justin Deschamps
    36 min ago

    MAGA Ride by Jon McNaughton

    EXCERPT: “Author’s note: The following account represents a fictional projection and tour of the post-globalist world. I took the liberty of painting a picture of the future that dramatizes one likely scenario, which is that Trump and the patriots had the solution the whole time but that WE, THE PEOPLE weren’t ready to accept it until Trump had prepared the way.”
    ———————–
    “Trump fulfilled his promises, but not without plenty of gnashing of teeth. Images of Trump and the heroes who helped restore true freedom are gloriously displayed for all to see. Trump’s likeness can be seen next to famous patriots and regular Americans—both of which fought side by side to defeat the greatest enemy the world has ever known.

    Below an iconic image of Trump, one that has come to symbolize all that he did for the world, is the phrase: “Without the true rule of law, there can be no freedom.”

    Trump uttered these words many times after taking office as the 47th President of the United States in 2024, the most iconic of which was his 2038 address to the newly formed global body for preserving unalienable rights in a post-NWO, post-globalist world.

    Ironically, even though globalism was defeated, the world is more united than ever as truly sovereign nation-first countries—MAGAism, as they now say, swept over the world. MAGAism is the idea that every individual has unalienable rights and their government is meant to foster the fair use of those rights, focusing on the family first, then the community, and finally the nation. MAGAism, as the reformed media would report many times after Trump’s epic 2024 win, is the great dream of the founding fathers realized.

    Today, in 2050, the government is small, and taxes and other inflationary policies that unfairly tax the people have been abolished. For the first time in modern history, personal and sovereign debt is gone—almost every nation on earth is on the path toward increasing wealth and prosperity. The bitter divisions that nearly caused WWIII were exposed as propaganda operations on the part of globalist actors.”

    https://badlands.substack.com/p/trump-did-it

    Liked by 1 person

    1. OK, now that I’ve read it….no, sorry, we cannot institute Biblical law, which is the overall jist of it, with a lot of gobbledy-gook trying to tie it all together.

      Like

  50. “Macron Returns from China and Drives a Stake Through the Heart of Biden’s Foreign Policy. If Europe is positioning itself to become a ‘third superpower,’ the United States should drop its failing globalist projects and prepare to go it alone.”
    Kyle Becker
    14 min ago

    EXCERPT: “The U.S.’s foreign policy disasters are continuing to mount on President Joe Biden’s watch. The situation has become so dire that Biden may have just lost… France. Emmanuel Macron has returned from a four-day state visit to China with a renewed sense of commitment to see France and the E.U. further distance themselves from the United States.

    The French president criticized the U.S. for forging closer relations with Taiwan, positioning itself to end its “One China” policy, and possibly provoking a Beijing-Taiwan war. According to a Chinese communiqué, Macron called Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s visit to the United States “regrettable,” and formally expressed his support for the “One China” policy.

    “The question posed to us Europeans is: do we have an interest in things speeding up over Taiwan?” Macron reportedly asked. “No. The worst thing would be to think that we Europeans must blindly follow on this issue, adapting to U.S. rhythm and Chinese overreactions. Why would we need to follow a rhythm others have chosen for us? At a certain point, we must pose the question of our own interests. … It would be paradoxical, as we set up elements of a true European strategic autonomy, if we suddenly began to follow U.S. policy in a sort of panic response.”

    Macron also reportedly asked for Xi’s help to “bring Russia back to a reasonable policy” in Ukraine. Xi responded, as the Chinese People’s Daily reported, by pledging to “work with France to call on the international community to maintain rationality and restraint to avoid actions that will make the Ukraine crisis deteriorate further.”

    The French president also expressed doubt in the long-term position of the dollar as the global reserve currency. “I want to take the opportunity to insist on one point: we should not depend on the extraterritoriality of the US dollar,” he said. Macron’s comment comes as Russia, Brazil and Saudi Arabia have all brokered deals with China to carry out trade using the Chinese yuan.”

    https://thekylebecker.substack.com/p/macron-returns-from-china-and-drives

    Like

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