Phrase Origins
We all use certain phrases every day, many of which are quite catchy and have been around a long time. Such phrases have logical origins but continue to be used long after the rationale has been forgotten. Below are some explanations for how some of our everyday phrases have originated. Some are a matter of conjecture.
To have one’s cake and eat it too
This phrase is easier to understand if it is read as, "You can't eat your cake, and have it too". From the fact that you can enjoy a cake by possessing it and not eating it, or by eating it and therefore no longer possessing it. Once you've eaten your cake, you won't have it anymore - one excludes the other.
Between the Devil & the deep blue sea
Waiting for the verdict, Abraham Solomon
Sailors who had “the devil to pay” often worked close to the side of the ship. A sudden swell or gust of wind could easily knock them overboard. They would then find themselves literally between the devil seam of the ship and the deep blue sea.
Red Tape
This phrase is first recorded in the 16th century when Henry VIII besieged Pope Clement VII with about 85 petitions for the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. The pile of documents was rolled and stacked in their original condition, each one sealed and bound with the obligatory red tape, as was the custom. Actual red tape originated as an anti-fraud measure, similar to wax seals in ancient times. The goal was to ensure that a document received by its intended recipient was the exact same one sent by its author(s). Anyone seeking to alter an official document would have to break the wax seal and untie the red tape. Official Vatican documents were also bound in red cloth tape.
The tradition continued through to the 17th and 18th centuries. Although Charles Dickens is believed to have used the phrase before Thomas Carlyle, the English practice of binding documents and official papers with red tape was popularized in the writings of Carlyle protesting against 'official inertia' with expressions like "Little other than a red tape Talking-machine", and "unhappy Bag of Parliamentary Eloquence". To this day, most barristers' briefs (legal documents used in court) are tied in a pink-colored ribbon known as "pink tape" or "legal tape". Government briefs are usually bound with white tape, introduced as an economy measure to save the expense of dyeing the tape red.
During World War II, newspapers published a series of articles called the "Society of Red Tape Cutters", intending to commend those individuals who kept bureaucracy (i.e. red tape) from deterring the war effort. Recipients for the award included Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. Since then, other groups have taken the same name, including a 'Society of Red Tape Cutters' in Northfield, Illinois - volunteers who help senior citizens get government services.
Jackpot
Though it was used to mean any big prize by 1944 it came from a late 19th-century poker variant in which the ante increased for each new hand when no player was dealt a pair of jacks or better and thus there could result in quite a substantial pot.
So, …. what phrases or saying today will become the name obscure phrase someday? We can speculate to our heart's delight!
Around the web
In this 1951 MGM short, a man goes to Heaven and is at the Pearly Gates. Yet Peter at the gate does not understand the “modern” slang he uses and refers him to Mr. Webster. Mr. Webster visualizes his life story but takes everything very literally. It's “a hoot” and will have your family “in stitches.”
Captain Literally
The comedy series Studio C has a reoccurring segment about a superhero called “Captain Literally.” This superhero seeks out cases where people use the word “literally” out of the strictly proper sense (“I am literally glued to my seat” and so on.) and restores balance by making the use of the saying literally true.
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