Have you ever wondered what phrases such as 'square meal', 'load of old codswallop', 'egg on your face' or 'in the limelight' mean? Where do they come from? Have you ever taken a moment to wonder what we say actually means? The origins of hundreds of common phrases are explained in this irreverent journey through the most fascinating and richest regions of the English language. In a book that takes you all over the world, from nautical origins to food and drink terms, once you have learnt one phrase, you will be eager to learn them all! From the drop of a hat to the bitter end – you'll be surprised and intrigued and you'll never speak English in the same way again.
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Albert Jack. Red Herrings & White Elephants - The Origins of the Phrases We Use Every Day
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
INTRODUCTION
1: NAUTICAL
2: MILITARY
3: LITERATURE
4: LANGUAGES
5: THE ANCIENTS: GREEKS AND ROMANS
6: SPORT
7: WORK AND TRADE
8: THE BIBLE
9: PEOPLE AND PLACES
10: POLITICS
11: THE LAW
12: MUSIC, THEATRE AND PERFORMANCE
13: THE USA
14: FOOD AND DRINK
15: HUNTING
16: SIMPLE PHRASES, SIMPLE ORIGINS
17: MISCELLANEOUS
INDEX TO PHRASES
Copyright
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This book is dedicated to the memory of Albert Victor Childs (1916–1998)
Dedication
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According to The Guardian’s Notes & Queries, Series I, the unhappy sailors of the fleet soon began calling the new watered-down ration ‘Grog’ and as a natural progression drunk sailors were considered ‘groggy’.
Making money Hand Over Fist alludes to the practice of making steady financial gain, and usually pretty quickly. Back in the 18th century the term was originally ‘hand over hand’ and was a nautical term meaning ‘to make fast and steady progress up a rope’. Later modified to ‘hand over fist’, alluding to a flat hand passing over the fist gripping the rope, the phrase widened to describe any steady progress in the forward direction, never backwards, such as a boat race. By the late 19th century the financial markets, where often the largest sums could be made out of industrial shipping, had adopted the expression.
