Where do they come from? I'm talking about those sayings we use so casually everyday like; In the doghouse, In a jiffy, Easy as pie. Well I decided to find out. Check the bibliography below if you're interested!
In a Jiffy: A Jiffy is the unit of time it takes for light to travel a centimeter in a vacuum. 0.0000000000033357 seconds. Its quite doubtful that if someone says they'll do something 'in a jiffy' that they'll actually get it done!
In cahoots with: The term Cahoots comes from the frenchh word for cabin ' Cahute' and is first recorded around 1820. American fur trappers on the frontier probably borrowed it from the french trappers there. Trappers living together in a Cahute were usually parteners, leading to the phrase 'in cahoots with'.
In the doghouse: Now for this one I've heard many theories about its origination (is that a word?). I'll tell you the one I heard first. Apparently it originated from Peter Pan as Mrs Darling made Mr Darling sleep in Nana's doghouse when she was displeased with him.
Easy as pie: Well the word 'pie' used to be slang for easy. Easy as easy=easy as pie.
To pull out all the stops: This one apparently came from pipe organs. When you pull out all the stops the sound plays loudly.
In the limelight: Before electricity, lime was used as a source of light in Victorean theatres since the combustion of oxygen and hydrogen on the surface of lime produced a very bright light. Beams of light were used to shine on the stage but not all the stage could be lit up at once so some were in the limelight, others...not so much.
In the nick of time: Even into the 18th century some businessmen kept track of transactions and time by carving notches (nicks) on a tally stick. Someone arriving just before the next nick was carved would arrive in time to save the next day's interest. Therefore being 'in the nick of time'.
Its all fiddlesticks: Back in 1811 "Fiddlesticks end" meant "nothing". The ancient fiddlestick (violin bow) ended in a point hence, metaphorically, used to represent a thing ending in nothing.
Thats all for now folks. Like I said if you're interested in this kind of stuff check the bibliography or just tell me a saying and I'll look it up.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- http://www.joe-ks.com/phrases/phrasesI.htm
- Sue Thomas F B Eye (the T.V. show, sorry I forget which episode!!)
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