Put a sock in it

I wonder where certain phrases originate from often. Idioms, a natural way of speaking. We all repeat and talk the talk passed down to us from generation to generation. I often laugh aloud when I just blurt out something that seems appropriate when afterwards I wonder what the hell it even means. So I started looking things up obsessively and vowed to never utter idioms unless I know the meaning.

Some of it seems like a lot of "poppycock," meaning rubbish and derives from the old Germanic "Du Papperkak" which literally means "Soft Dung."

Of course a picture paints a thousand words, does it not?  And "A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand" only makes me think of a Seinfeld episode. But apparently many of these saying originate from the bible. (Matthew 12:25). 'And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand'.

I have used the phrase "cut to the chase" many times myself. I just like the sound of it and I do not need to look it up to know it means "get on with it." However where it really originated was with the movable type for the printing presses. The letters were arranged in a wooden frame called the phrase. On the box were metal 'coins' that tightened the frame and held the type in place. When a phrase was completed the term "to coin a phrase" came about. The completed phrases were put together in a larger frame called the chase. Once the phrases were finished it was time to cut to the chase. Which means that the type was ready to be printed.

My personal favorite is the word COPESETIC which originated in Chicago during Prohibition. One of the major hotels downtown was notorious as being a meeting point for various nefarious activities. Whiskey and gin were sold out of various rooms, prostitutes could be had for a pittance, gambling took place on the premises. The situation became so bad that even the corrupt Chicago political machine became embarrassed, so they finally posted a full-time policeman in the lobby to keep an eye on activities. This did have the desired effect as many former customers were wanted by the police and with this cop on duty, they did not dare to show their faces in the lobby. However, human nature being what it is, the desire for the goods and services was still present, so the underworld posted their own lookout to keep an eye on the policeman. During the wee hours of the morning, with little going on, the policeman would frequently rest his aching feet by sitting down and resting on a sofa (known as a settee at that time) which was positioned in a prominent position so that he could observe the going's and coming's of the hotel clientele. Frequently, he would drop off to sleep. In this case, persons arriving at the hotel would go up to the lookout to find out whether or not it was safe for them to enter the hotel. If the lookout replied, "The Cop is on the Settee," it meant that he was sound asleep and it was safe to enter the building. The phrase was used so much that it eventually was shortened to the version we know today as COPESETIC, ............say it real fast............THECOPISONTHESETTEE.

Who let the cat out of the bag you ask? The origins of this phrase come from when farmers would sell chickens at market. Most of the time they would just throw the chickens in a bag and sell them as however many was supposedly in there. But cats were cheaper than chickens so many times farmers would put a cat into the bag with the chickens and if someone suspected something they would open the bag. At that point the cat would jump out of the bag, thus giving away the secret.

Being half Italian and Irish I have been "three sheets to the wind" on many occasion, but where did this saying come from? Nantucket Island - which has several windmills, that the operators would adjust the number of sails dependent upon how strong the winds were. One rule that they had to follow was to always keep an even number of sails (either 2 or 4), opposite each other so that the windmill remained balanced. If they ever had 3 sheets, the windmill became unbalanced and extremely wobbly and unsteady.

I had a stupid boyfriend once who used to mix them up, for instance, "you can lead a horse to water but you cannot turn a blind eye."

Close but no cigar!!

I hope you enjoyed this information, and I end with one Idiom we all know well, "rule of thumb". The definition/origin of the term I learnt was from Great Britain where a husband was legally allowed to punish his wife by hitting her with a stick that measured no larger in diameter than his thumb. I hope this is wrong!!!