"Hold 'er Newt, she's headed for the rhubarb." -- IDIOMS

[tycho657]

"Lock stock and barrel"
The meaning is everything. When early americans were purchasing a gun they needed to buy the lock, stock,& barrel in order to get a complete gun.

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[Fjordmom]

Aug 14, 2015 23:34:37 GMT -5 ProudTVJunkie said:

Get Down to Brass Tacks

Where does it come from? No one is really sure. It was first coined in a Texas newspaper The Tri-Weekly Telegraph in 1863:

"When you come down to 'brass tacks' - if we may be allowed the expression - everybody is governed by selfishness."

Although it’s origins are still considered unknown, there are two popular theories.

1. Brass tacks were commonly used in Tudor furniture but long predate the use of the phrase. The supporters of that idea say that, in order to re-upholster a chair, the upholsterer would need first to remove all the tacks and fabric coverings, thus getting down to the basic frame of the chair. While that is true, it doesn't seems to match the exact meaning of the expression, as the tacks would be the first thing to be removed rather than the last.

2. The second explanation that relies on actual tacks comes from the haberdashery trade. Here the notion is that, in order to be more accurate than the rough-and-ready measuring of a yard of material by holding it out along an arm's length, cloth was measured between brass tacks which were set into a shop's counter.


I vote for #2.

#2 gets my vote!!!!

[Fjordmom]

"Close,  but no cigar."

Carnival games of skill, particularly shooting games, once gave out cigars as a prize. A contestant that did not quite hit the target was close, but did not get a cigar.
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[ProudTVJunkie]

Aug 23, 2015 18:38:36 GMT -5 Fjordmom said:

"Close,  but no cigar."

Carnival games of skill, particularly shooting games, once gave out cigars as a prize. A contestant that did not quite hit the target was close, but did not get a cigar.
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I was just wondering about this one Fjordmom. Thank you for looking it up.

[shutterbug5269]

Can somebody explain the saying "The whole nine yards" to me?

[tycho657]

Aug 25, 2015 2:58:27 GMT -5 shutterbug5269 said:

Can somebody explain the saying "The whole nine yards" to me?

I just heard this at a museum in Hood River. The first machine gun prior to WWI HAD an ammunition belt that was 9 yards long. When you fired the whole belt you fired "the whole 9 yards".

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[Deleted]

"Let Sleeping Dogs Lie" is a favorite at our house. Both literally, and metaphorically. lol....

For one, we have a 97 pound lab/shepherd mix ( Who's name happens to be Katherine Lucille... arky.... ), and she goes ape-crazy excited when someone comes over that she loves. i.e. my mom. SO, when she finally settles down, we are careful to not get her excited or call attention to her, or she won't leave whomever it is that she is excited to see, alone! LoL!

But yes, metaphorically, we say that to not dig up old issues. I have not researched where the saying came from, but I will do that at some point. I was just here "looking around" and remembered to add this one.

[arky]

Well now....that beats anything I ever helt,felt,smelt or slept with!

[Deleted]

Taken from "Historically Speaking".... Fascinating. Love it!

**************************************************************************************************************

"The old saying, let sleeping dogs lie, means more than just to let sleeping dogs lie, which is very sound advice in the first place. It also means that one ought not instigate trouble. In other words, people should leave situations or people alone else it might cause them trouble.

The Atlanta Constitution newspaper reported on a court case on August 6, 1909 that dealt with a Mr. Jerome who had menaced a Mr. Carvalho who had threatened Mr. Jerome. The article read in part:

“You’d better let sleeping dogs lie, Mr. Jerome,” exclaimed the witness, before the district attorney had said a word. As he spoke the expert’s eyes flashed and he pointed an agitated finger at Jerome.

In November of 1870, the New York Times ran an article entitled, “Russia and India: The Frontier of the Russian Empire.” The article asked whether England was on the verge of losing its Asiatic possessions.

Let us consider why Russia has gained enough to suppose she is sufficiently strong to infringe the wholesome rule to “let sleeping dogs lie” when applied to the English. The Crimean War showed her plainly that her people were barbarians, and that her strength lay in brute force.

The saying “let sleeping dogs lie” was a favourite of Sir Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister of Great Britain, who exercised considerable influence over King George I as well as King George II from 1721 through to 1742. He was quoted as saying this on more than one occasion regardless of whether it had to do with matters of the King’s Court, the American Revolution or any other situation where difficulties had arisen.

Geoffrey Chaucer used a similar phrase in his story, Troilus and Criseyde, published in 1374.

It is nought good a sleepyng hound to wake.

It’s recorded in French even earlier in the 14th century, as found in the Proverbia Vulgalia et Latina, where the saying is: “Ne reveillez pas le chien qui dort.” Translation: Do not wake the dog that sleeps.

As the phrase is referenced in the Proverbia Vulgalia et Latina, it is most likely that it comes from the Latin saying, “Quieta non movere” which means “Do not move settled things.”

That being said, the Book of Proverbs (26:17) says:

He that passes by, and meddles with strife belonging not to him, is like one that takes a dog by the ears.

In other words, the saying “let sleeping dogs lie” has its roots in the Christian Bible."

[shutterbug5269]

Another one I need explained.

"On the lam" for running from the law.

Anybody?

[Fjordmom]

"Opening up a can of worms"

I learned something new today...I understood the meaning, but didn't get the "can" part....but you fishermen know this one, right???

I chose this answer (among many) on phrases.org.uk:

": : I think it means rather more than simply "a tangled tale of complications that tend to wriggle when you look at them". This phrase refers to Zymurgy's First Law of Evolving Systems Dynamics: "Once you open a can of worms, the only way to recan them is to use a bigger can." In other words, if something is a "can of worms", once you interfere with it you can't just put it back again the way it was; you will have to deal with it, and it won't be easy. The phrase has something of the warning quality of "Let sleeping dogs lie" or "If it ain't broke, don't mend it". (VSD)"

Hope this doesn't apply to Castle S8 

[Fjordmom]

UGH, I just read the last phrase from a YEAR ago....unfortuntely it came true! 

Feeling a bit "on tenterhooks" as we are trying to sell my parents' home, have an offer, like the people, hope it comes to fruition as they will be next door neighbors....and then wondered where that phrase originated....soooooo, "class", here goes:

On tenterhooks

Meaning

In a state of uncomfortable suspense.

Origin

Tenterhooks aren't directly connected with tents, nor are they the hooks used by butchers, as the common misspelling 'tenderhooks' might suggest. A tenter is a wooden frame, often in the form of a line of fencing, used to hang woollen or linen cloth to prevent it from shrinking as it dries. The tenterhooks are, not surprisingly, the hooks on the tenter used to hold the cloth in place.

Tenters are no longer everyday objects but a hundred years ago, in wool weaving areas like the North of England, they were a common sight on the land around the many woollen mills, called 'tenter-fields'. It is easy to see how the figurative expression 'on tenterhooks', with its meaning of painful tension, derived from the 'tenting' or stretching of fabric. The expression was originally 'on the tenters'. The English West Country playright John Ford was the first to record that expression in the play Broken Heart, 1633:

Passion, O, be contained. My very heart strings Are on the Tenters.

Towards the end of the century the more accurate 'on the tenterhooks' began to replace the earlier phrase. This first example that I have found of it in print is in the 1690 edition of a periodical that was published annually between 1688 and 1693, The General History of Europe:

The mischief is, they will not meet again these two years, so that all business must hang upon the tenterhooks till then.

OK, class, lesson over.   Sally forth into the world with this new scintillating knowledge!!!!!  (Nope, I have not had a drop to drink....well, technically, that's not true...I've had 2 mugs of beer , but that's all!!!!!!)

Have a great night!

[tycho657]

not the sharpest tack in the room

Sent from my SM-N910V using proboards

[ProudTVJunkie]

Aug 28, 2015 2:13:37 GMT -5 shutterbug5269 said:

Another one I need explained.

"On the lam" for running from the law.

Anybody?

OK, shutterbug5269. I hope this answer falls under the heading of better late than never.
This is what the New York Times had to say about the origins of "on the lam."

On the lam means ''running away'' or ''being a fugitive from the law''; bureaucrats would say ''in escape status.'' The origin of the expression is in heated dispute among slang etymologists.

In The Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, J.E. Lighter defines the term as prison lingo for ''an act of running or flight, esp. a dash to escape from custody.'' In his 1886 ''30 Years a Detective,'' Allan Pinkerton, the first ''private eye,'' explains an operation of pickpockets: ''After he secures the wallet, he will utter the word 'lam!' This means to let the man go and to get out of the way as soon as possible.'' Lighter cites do a lam, make a lam and take a lam early in this century, finally emerging as the passive state of being on the lam.

Lighter speculates that it may be rooted in the dialect Scandinavian verb lam, as in the 1525 ''his wife sore lamming him,'' meaning ''to beat, pound or strike.'' Mark Twain used it twice: ''lamming the lady'' in 1855 and ''lam like all creation'' in 1865, both clearly meaning ''to beat.'' The suggested connection is that to avoid a feared lamming (related to slamming), one lams.

[ProudTVJunkie]

As I am currently waiting for an important e-mail, (which could come today or any time during the next two weeks!) this particularl saying has been on my mind.

A watched pot never boils…

A watched pot never boils means that time seems to move more slowly when one is anticipating something or waiting for something to occur. The origin of this phrase dates back to the mid-1700s. Benjamin Franklin alludes to this proverb in a report he made concerning mesmerism: ” ‘…a watched pot is slow to boil,’ as Poor Richard says.” Poor Richard is a character invented by Franklin for his annual, Poor Richard’s Almanack, published from 1732 to 1758. In fact, 'a watched pot never boils' is not found in any editions of Poor Richard’s Almanack.