I have always been fascinated by
words, terms and expressions we use without giving them any thought. So, I decided to research a few to learn
their origins. I found my answers on
various websites.
What is the origin of:
News
"News"
developed as a special use of the plural form of "new" in the 14th
century. In Middle English, the equivalent word was 'newes', based on the
French 'nouvelles'.
It is not, as is often claimed, an acronym for "north, east, west, south." (Which, I admit, I believed it was.)
It is not, as is often claimed, an acronym for "north, east, west, south." (Which, I admit, I believed it was.)
A Little
Bird Told Me
The text 'a little bird told me' doesn't appear in any version
of the Bible, but the root source of this expression probably is biblical, from Ecclesiastes
10-20 (King James
Version):
"Curse not the king, no not in thy
thought; and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber: for a bird of the air shall
carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter."
Various authors over the centuries, including Shakespeare, have
made reference to birds, feathered or otherwise, giving messages. The first
that comes close to our current version of this phrase is Frederick Marryat, in Peter
Simple, 1833:
"A little
bird has whispered a secret to me."
Off the Wall
Origin: In
certain sports such as handball and racket ball, a player hits a ball against
the wall. When it comes off the wall, one has no idea where it is going.
Therefore, out of this, the expression implied, unpredictability.
Happy as a Clam
Why would clams be happy? It has been suggested that open clams
give the appearance of smiling. The derivation is more likely to come from the
fuller version of the phrase, now rarely heard - 'as happy as a clam at high
water'. Hide tide is when clams are free from the attentions of predators;
surely the happiest of times in the bivalve mollusc world. The phrase
originated in the north-eastern states of the USA in the early 19th century.
The earliest citation that I can find is from a frontier memoir The Harpe's Head - A Legend of
Kentucky, 1833:
"It
never occurred to him to be discontented... He was as happy as a clam."
Close,
but No Cigar
The phrase, and its variant 'nice try, but no cigar', are of US
origin and date from the mid-20th century. Fairground stalls gave out cigars as
prizes, and this is the most likely source, although there's no definitive
evidence to prove that.
It is first recorded in print in Sayre and Twist's publishing of
the script of the 1935 film version of Annie Oakley:
"Close,
Colonel, but no cigar!"
There’s
No Such Thing as a Free Lunch
Free lunch was a
commonplace term in the USA and, to a lesser extent in Britain, from the mid-19th
century onward. It wasn't handouts of food to the poor and hungry; it denoted
free food that saloon keepers used to attract drinkers; for example, this
advertisement for a Milwaukee saloon, in The Commercial Advertiser, June
1850:
At The
Crescent...Can be found the choicest of Segars, Wines and Liquors...A free
lunch every day at 11 o'clock will be served up.
Free lunches, often cold food but sometimes quite elaborate
affairs, were provided for anyone who bought drink. In reality saloon customers
ended up paying for the food in the price of the drinks they were obliged to
consume. It was into this context that the economic theorists enter the fray
and 'there's no such thing
as a free lunch' is coined. It isn't known who coined the phrase.
I hope you enjoyed learning the origins of common expressions
and words. I would love to hear some of
yours too. Leave them as a comment
below.
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