Origins of Popular Sayings

1300 Words3 Pages

English is an amazing language that reflects many different cultures. Americans have many popular sayings and figures of speech that, if taken literally, make no logical sense. If you mention the phrases “white elephant,” “spill the beans,” or “to pull someone’s leg,” they make no sense unless you are familiar with the culture.

The word “idiom” is used to describe these forms of speech. Idioms are considered to be part of a nation’s culture, and idioms can make learning a foreign language quite challenging. Scholars have estimated American English to contain at least 25,000 idiomatic expressions. People learning a new language must memorize the meanings of these phrases like vocabulary, because the interpretations of idioms can be unclear.

Yet, popular sayings that seem rather silly when taken literally, do have origins that at one time actually made sense. The origins of many common idioms reflect history and folklore.

Etymology is the study of word origins. Studying word etymologies can be interesting, enlightening, and humorous. Have you ever wondered about the origins of many popular sayings? Here are a few common idioms and the history behind them.

“Caught Red-Handed”

One popular saying is “to be caught red-handed.” This phrase means that someone was found in the act of doing wrong. At one time, this was phrase was quite literal.

In many communities of the past, stealing a neighbor’s livestock or other animal was a common problem. Many thieves would butcher the stolen animal and cook it for dinner. However, simply possessing chicken soup or a nice beefsteak could not be definitive proof of the thief’s guilt. The crook had to be caught with the blood of the freshly killed animal on his hands to proven guilty ...

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...kers who were not completely sane. In Carroll’s time, felt hat-makers used the poisonous metal mercury while working with hats. One symptom of mercury poisoning is insanity.

Every language has its share of idioms. These are only a sampling of the thousands of popular sayings that make the English language so interesting. The next time you use a phrase, consider its possible origins. Many times, if you give it enough thought, you may be able to figure out the etymology yourself. If it is still a mystery, using Google for only a few minutes will broaden your knowledge of our amazing language.

Works Cited

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/steal?region=us

http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/P1710/

http://www.brownielocks.com/wordorigins.html

http://www.neatorama.com/2008/08/07/origins-of-familiar-phrases/

http://www.fun-with-words.com/etym_phrases.html

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