The Surprising Origins of 12 Phrases

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  • Опубликовано: 17 ноя 2024

Комментарии • 76

  • @bhasty1
    @bhasty1 2 месяца назад +22

    I will never get sick of Erin. She bosses this channel.

    • @teddyray8597
      @teddyray8597 2 месяца назад

      Same. I've low-key got a crush on her.

    • @bhasty1
      @bhasty1 2 месяца назад

      @@teddyray8597 Awww. That's cute. She seems to be a very cheerful sweet person.

  • @mentalflosserin
    @mentalflosserin 2 месяца назад +13

    can't tell you how many times i'm having a conversation, say some weird phrase, then stop and go, "why the heck do we say that? where did it come from???" next thing you know it's a piece on mental floss 🤣

    • @bhasty1
      @bhasty1 2 месяца назад +2

      @@mentalflosserin Same.

  • @y_fam_goeglyd
    @y_fam_goeglyd 2 месяца назад +1

    I love these word lists, whether singular or phrases. Etymology is one of my biggest loves, so thank you!

  • @SpacePatrollerLaser
    @SpacePatrollerLaser 2 месяца назад +8

    I understood "kick the bucket" to come from the notion that when a person tries to commit suicide by sel-hanging, they stand on a bucket, then after everything is set, kick the bucket away, which is a horrible way to die as it is not done by snapping the neck, but by strangulation
    There are so many of these phrases, like "bite the dust", "he went west" that you could "rinse and repeat" until "the cows come home"

    • @kyleward3914
      @kyleward3914 2 месяца назад +1

      That was the explanation I had heard, and I was coming to the comments to say as much. You, however, had already done so, saving me the need to comment.

    • @invisibleninja86
      @invisibleninja86 2 месяца назад

      I came to the comments to see if that was the explanation anyone else was taught as well.

  • @snakejawz
    @snakejawz 2 месяца назад +5

    I'm a huge fan of Malaphors. My personal favorite is "We'll burn that bridge when we come to it." or "It's not rocket surgery."

    • @sethsevaroth
      @sethsevaroth 2 месяца назад

      I frequently use "I guess we'll burn that bridge when we cross it" and "when flies pig".

    • @bigandfluffy2000
      @bigandfluffy2000 2 месяца назад

      not the sharpest fish in the shed
      not the brightest knife in the bowl
      not the smartest bulb in the drawer

    • @aroundtheworldlearning2309
      @aroundtheworldlearning2309 2 месяца назад

      @@bigandfluffy2000 I totally used to say "the brightest bulb in the drawer." not thinking about how weird that was because my parents kept our light bulbs in a drawer.

    • @DistrarSubvoyikar
      @DistrarSubvoyikar 2 месяца назад

      Those are hilarious!

    • @kenbrown2808
      @kenbrown2808 2 месяца назад

      @@bigandfluffy2000 not the sharpest french fry in the drawer.

  • @baronvg
    @baronvg 2 месяца назад +4

    Anyone else convinced “Bucket List” existed long before the movie of the same name?? Is this another Mandela Effect because I just can’t believe that.

  • @btetschner
    @btetschner 2 месяца назад +1

    A+ video!
    LOVE IT! What awesome expressions and their origins, very thought-provoking!

  • @wwiinnggnnuutt
    @wwiinnggnnuutt 2 месяца назад +1

    "How'd you like them apples?" My grandmother would always say...usually referring to something you wouldn't like I think. I was never exactly sure what she meant because I liked apples. 😂

  • @toastheaven
    @toastheaven 2 месяца назад +3

    There's a phrase in my family: Sufficiently Suffoncified, meaning to have eaten one's fill in a comfortable manner. It's not specific to my family, though I think it is somewhat regional, and I've never been able to find a solid origin for the phrase any time I've tried doing shallow research on it!

    • @suchanhachan
      @suchanhachan 2 месяца назад

      Do you live near Canada? I think in Canada suffonsify means to eat well or satisfy the appetite...

    • @toastheaven
      @toastheaven 2 месяца назад

      @@suchanhachan I'm in Southern Ontario, yep! Afaik, it can be found here and on the East Coast especially.

  • @freekazoid8489
    @freekazoid8489 2 месяца назад +1

    In spanish the coloquial phrase "estirar la pata" means to die this translates literally to "straighten out the leg" as reference to the leg twitch. Kicking the bucket and estirar la pata mean the same thing literally and figuratevely.

  • @XaloGunner
    @XaloGunner 2 месяца назад +1

    "Hands down this is the best day I can ever remember - always remember the sound of the stereo, the gleam of the soft lights, the scent of your hair as you twirl around your fingers and the time on the clock when we realized 'it's so late!' and the walk that we shared together." Really surprised to see no Dashboard reference from a fellow Millenial!

  • @kenbrown2808
    @kenbrown2808 2 месяца назад

    #3 is only surprising to the young. us olds knew the name came from the higher quality screens being silvery in color. addendum: we also watched the movie, "the bucket list" on them.

  • @btetschner
    @btetschner 2 месяца назад

    x Relating to Slush Fund:
    o The reason I put oregano on pasta is because it is from the movie Heathers...a movie in which J.D. is Veronica's "Slush Fund" (he buys her a cherry slushie at the local convenience store).
    † Heathers was also one of the most important movies I watched while in graduate school.
    - So much that last year, on my anniversary of my graduation from grad school, I watched the double feature I call Mean Heathers - It is watching the movie Mean Girls then Heathers.
    x Related to an albatross:
    o One of the most anticipated movies to see at the theater when I was in elementary school was The Rescuers Down Under, which had an albatross named Wilbur (voiced by John Candy) that they flew like he was a plane.
    † The Rescuers Down Under is a sequel to the very successful movie The Rescuers.
    † I really loved The Rescuers movie and had a picture book of it too.
    † I, like Penny in The Rescuers, really loved teddy bears.
    † The writers thought that they could get kids to care as much about an endangered golden eagle (in The Rescuers Down Under) as they could get them to care about a poor, good-natured, isolated girl with hardly a hope in the world (Penny in The Rescuers)...a mistake that ended their film franchise.
    - It FELT like a box-office bomb when I saw it in theater and hardly a word was spoken of it afterwards.
    - It was released the same date Home Alone (the only movie I watched three times in the theater) and Rocky V was released.
    † Interestingly, there is an Enneagram Tritype called The Rescuer.
    - It is a type whose main purporse is to rescue people that need it, which is basically identical to the mindset of the rescuers in the movie The Rescuers.
    - I have talked and observed people of that tritype before and their actions are consistent with the description of the type.
    - Some people of that type actually memorized the "Rescue Aid Society" song of The Rescuers and sang it over and over again! (here is the song: ruclips.net/video/VN1W5iq4724/видео.html)
    x Relating to the silver screen:
    o I was born in 47 county (Valley County), 47 being the atomic number for silver in '79 (79 is the atomic number for gold).
    x About the bucket list:
    o In the 2000s (what I call The Explorer Decade), I bought a large leather binder from a thrift store and created a Bucket List Binder.
    † This was in response to the general pattern of others losing motivation to do basically anything after passing milestones like graduating college or starting a family.
    † I was VERY committed to my Bucket List Binder, would look at it basically everyday, and would add to it all the time.
    † I used clear sheets for notebook pages and computer printouts for things I wanted to do, which ranged from things like places I wanted to visit, unique experiences I wanted to have, to books I wanted to read and movies I wanted to see.
    † Some examples of some of the entries were:
    - Eat anchovy pizza
    - Watch the tv series Twin Peaks
    - Eat Durian
    - Read Madame Bovary
    - Travel around the state of Arizona
    - Train in an MMA gym
    - Find a Four-Leaf Clover
    - Go to the Roller Skating Museum
    - Stay in a treehouse (haven't accomplished that one yet)
    - Sky dive (haven't accomplished that one yet either)
    x Related to kick the bucket:
    o The main reason I had a Bucket List Binder for things to complete before I "kick the bucket" is simply to be confident that I am doing the best I can and to maintain the thrill of living.
    x Related to Egg on Your Face:
    o The cats and kittens that I give eggs to in the morning sometimes get egg on their faces...and their coats.
    † They like the eggs so much that when I drop them on the cement porch they really go wild and pounce right under where I am dropping them.
    † Chance (one of the tortoiseshell cats) is so enthusiastic about getting eggs that she climbs up to the top of the screen with her claws (when she sees me with the eggs) and then jumps down for the eggs.
    x In reference to Egg On:
    o I celebrated Mischief Night (October 30th) night one year and we ran around in dark clothes and ski masks throughout the night.
    o We made sure to put the "Egg On" everything that we threw it at, from other Misfits to all types of creative things.
    o We were hiding behind the bleachers and the local sheriff turned on his lights to corner us...
    † One daring/insane member of our group threw an "Egg On" the sheriff's car hood and the sheriff lost it!
    - He starting saying "YOU KIDS THINK YOU'RE SO TOUGH BUT JUST YOU WAIT! COME ON OUT UNLESS YOU'RE TOO SCARED!
    (Note: We weren't scared, but we also weren't braindead. They never caught us MU HA HA HA!)
    x About Apple Of My Eye:
    o In reference to Apples, Vala's Pumpkin Patch added the Apple Orchard part to their name likely because apples are part of a lot of Halloween traditions.
    † They now have a lot of ciders (some of which are hard ciders) served in all types of glasses.
    † They also have big apple dumplings, apple pie, candy apples, caramel apples.
    † They do a type of apple tour where they take guests to the orchard and they can pick the apples from the tree and put into their bag.
    x A fantastic example of the The Writing On The Wall:
    o From The Greatest Adventure: Stories From the Bible - Daniel and the Lion's Den ( ruclips.net/video/CwrLkBEmWtc/видео.html )
    x In reference to The Land of Nod (where Cain was exiled after murdering Abel)
    o One of the top 100 best-selling books in the world is Kane & Abel.
    † It is story of two men born worlds apart and but are born on the same date.
    † Voice actor Eric Bauza and I both have the same birthdate (December 7, 1979), he recently won Emmy Awards for his performances in Looney Tunes cartoons.
    x In reference to Close, But No Cigar saying at Carnivals:
    o I went on my first date at the D.C. Lynch Carnival.
    x Speaking of Hands Down and horse races:
    o The celebrity most similar to my personality is Jennifer Lawrence, whose hometown (Louisville) is the location of the famous Kentucky Derby.

  • @flamshiz
    @flamshiz 2 месяца назад

    I hope pulling out all the stops is part of this. one of my favorite obscure-ish origins that make total sense once you hear it

    • @flamshiz
      @flamshiz 2 месяца назад

      I suppose it wasn't! I had thought perhaps pulling out all the stops was a reference to pipe organ stops and I was delighted when that appeared to be the case

  • @geoffroi-le-Hook
    @geoffroi-le-Hook Месяц назад

    "came on like gangbusters" -- Gangbusters was a popular radio show during the golden age where actual police officers and detectives would narrate the story by proxy; that is, an actor would read their lines. It came on with lots of loud sirens and whistles and gunfire at the beginning. So anything with a spectacular beginning was said to come on like Gangbusters.

  • @markressler8997
    @markressler8997 2 месяца назад +1

    I can’t believe you guys didn’t do “screwed the pooch.”

  • @eifelitorn
    @eifelitorn 2 месяца назад +1

    I like how the phrase "balls to the wall" has no anatomical origins.

    • @jphilb
      @jphilb 2 месяца назад

      I was running balls out to make that comment. .

  • @flowertrue
    @flowertrue 2 месяца назад

    Once when we were having dinner at an older couple's house, the hostess told us that the mashed potatoes were gone by telling us there "wasn't enough to stick in your eye." My family was baffled by this and we used it ironically ever since.

  • @emilyharter3996
    @emilyharter3996 2 месяца назад

    I always assumed that “the silver screen” was a reference to the fact that silver is used in the processing of the actual film.

  • @leespitzer9997
    @leespitzer9997 2 месяца назад +1

    Two entries on this list are Iron Maiden related.

  • @andyjohnson4907
    @andyjohnson4907 2 месяца назад

    My crossword clue this morning was
    Easy (2,1,6)
    The answer was "At a canter". I imagine that has something to do with horse races, too.

    • @geoffroi-le-Hook
      @geoffroi-le-Hook Месяц назад

      more a leisurely pace than racing ... from when horses were not just for racing

  • @fuzzywolfcub
    @fuzzywolfcub 2 месяца назад

    Two odd phrases we use in my family. "Daft haypeth" which I assume is shortened from half penny worth meaning stupid and "not as green as I am cabbage looking" meaning not as stupid as I look

  • @aroundtheworldlearning2309
    @aroundtheworldlearning2309 2 месяца назад

    I never realized it was weird, but in my family when you are helping a little kid change their shirt - as you pull off the shirt you say "skin the bunny!" I never even pondered the meaning until a few years ago. Why are we happily comparing taking a child's shirt of to skinning a bunny.

  • @flamshiz
    @flamshiz 2 месяца назад

    I had always thought "kick the bucket" was both more literal and more..... self-inflicted, as it were

  • @whatthefunction9140
    @whatthefunction9140 2 месяца назад +1

    I always say
    Scratched the tip of the iceberg

  • @whatthefunction9140
    @whatthefunction9140 2 месяца назад +1

    I heard that egg on your face mean you were eating eggs you were supposed to be collecting for the family or farmer.

  • @HeliosKou
    @HeliosKou 2 месяца назад

    My dad used to say "you can lead a horse to water, but if you can get him to float on his back ,you got something there"

    • @kenbrown2808
      @kenbrown2808 2 месяца назад

      I extended "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink" with "you can lead a man to logic, but you can't make him think."

    • @geoffroi-le-Hook
      @geoffroi-le-Hook Месяц назад

      ​@@kenbrown2808 you can lead a horticulture but you cannot make her think

  • @SwampNymph522
    @SwampNymph522 2 месяца назад

    I like to use close but no chocolate bar 🍫especially when talking to children.

  • @jackwood8307
    @jackwood8307 2 месяца назад

  • @angeladuncan7699
    @angeladuncan7699 2 месяца назад

    Dang, always heard that was how you break your dog from killing your chickens!

  • @thefishking7582
    @thefishking7582 2 месяца назад

    I had thought that "close but no cigar" was originally from men sharing cigars after a child's birth. I am happy to now know that the phrase is not actually about miscarriages.

  • @patricksmith6334
    @patricksmith6334 2 месяца назад +2

    A phrase I use often is, "in one fell swoop", which I'm pretty sure has origins in Macbeth or maybe Hamlet?

    • @TonyHammitt
      @TonyHammitt 2 месяца назад +1

      In one swell foop is also fun to say

    • @joanhoffman3702
      @joanhoffman3702 2 месяца назад

      It’s from Macbeth. Macduff learning his family is dead: “What, all my pretty chickens and their dam at one fell swoop?” as if his family were birds and they were killed by a raptor in one attack.

    • @joanhoffman3702
      @joanhoffman3702 2 месяца назад

      @@TonyHammitt It sure is!😂

  • @erincutright7020
    @erincutright7020 2 месяца назад +2

    I'd like to know the origin of asking someone to do you a solid as a means to ask for a favor.

    • @elainebenes7971
      @elainebenes7971 2 месяца назад +2

      It's simply a shortening of "do me a solid favor".

  • @Apophis324
    @Apophis324 2 месяца назад

    Hmm, I haven't heard about an albatross around my neck, but I have heard about a monkey on my back.. Do they have similar origins?

  • @allenvasher5358
    @allenvasher5358 2 месяца назад

    I have never had a negative connotation to slush fund my understanding was it was extra money designated for things not foreseen in the budget.

  • @ellengutoskey2604
    @ellengutoskey2604 2 месяца назад +2

    going to the land of Nod does anyone need anything

    • @jliller
      @jliller 2 месяца назад +1

      Tell Kane the Tiberium isn't ripe yet.

  • @jeffreymeleg4719
    @jeffreymeleg4719 2 месяца назад

    When "Jumping through hoops" doesnt accurately describe the level of effort you activity is taking,.. replace the "hoop" with your own asshole. Ive been hearing and saying "im jumping through my own asshole" as a way to describe being super busy for decades.

  • @jeremyi4693
    @jeremyi4693 2 месяца назад

    I've been wondering for a while the origin of telling someone to pound sand.

  • @ottoillian8795
    @ottoillian8795 2 месяца назад

    Another expression ,"In one ear and out the other", for someone is not listening or paying attention.

  • @hilburn-
    @hilburn- 2 месяца назад

    I prefer 'off to Bedfordshire" rather than land of Nod personally

  • @MrAtrophy
    @MrAtrophy 2 месяца назад

    "My retirement grease!"

  • @jphilb
    @jphilb 2 месяца назад

    Do “the whole nine yards” and watch the comment section blow up.

  • @ZOB4
    @ZOB4 2 месяца назад

    I thought "Hands Down" meant that the opinion was not up for debate, as in don't raise your hand to argue - hands down.

  • @woofwoofaskapup
    @woofwoofaskapup 2 месяца назад

    why was my comment on kicking the bucket removed I believe that is the real origin in an old method of suicide

  • @kenbrown2808
    @kenbrown2808 2 месяца назад

    "because elephants don't climb trees."

  • @btetschner
    @btetschner 2 месяца назад +1

    x Eating Chicken Alfredo...while watching this video!
    o I added basil, oregano, and parmesan cheese.
    o Chicken Alfredo is the meal I would make for guests when I was a graduate student at the University of Missouri.
    o Chicken Alfredo is the most popular favorite meal of the Burwell High School Class of 2004, 11% reported it is their favorite.

  • @piratesapper
    @piratesapper 2 месяца назад

    keep your powder dry

  • @jliller
    @jliller 2 месяца назад

    Upvote if you know the plot of the "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" only thanks to Iron Maiden.

  • @Freddles279
    @Freddles279 2 месяца назад

    Oh yeah, Because there's NOOOO corruption in today's government. I almost spit out my food. LOL

  • @JaTjr32
    @JaTjr32 2 месяца назад

    I couldn't tell you the number of times my sister reminded me what I said was of racial origins. She doesn't usually have to tell me twice, but, boy oh boy, I'm way more racist than I'm comfortable with.

  • @musAKulture
    @musAKulture 2 месяца назад

    i like how chinese people describe these kinds of phrases and idioms
    "story.zip"