A bigger bang for your buckMeaningMore for your money.

Origin

Generals and political leaders have argued over the costs of the military since Adam was a lad. Their conversations have probably not changed much:

General: "Caesar/My Liege/Mr President, we need more triremes/cannons/nuclear weapons."Emperor/King/President: "The people need more olives/bread/iPads. Can't you manage with what you've got?"

Dwight D. Eisenhower faced something of a dilemma in 1953. He was a military man to his socks and was inclined to augment defence in the face of the perceived 'reds under the bed' threat, but he was also a Republican US president and, as such, politically wedded to cutting state spending. His solution was simple - increase the armed forces but decrease their budget. In ordinary circumstances that circle would be difficult to square. The solution that the US Joint Chiefs of Staff came up with, which they titled the 'New Look', was a policy of using nuclear weapons in any conflict bigger than what they called 'a brush-fire war'. That allowed them to radically reduce the numbers of servicemen and replace them with the comparatively inexpensive atomic bombs.

All of the above was described in a story in The Winona Republican Herald on 21st December 1953. The story also reports Admiral Arthur Radford as describing the policy as the 'bigger bang for your buck' theory. This was an adaptation of Pepsi-Cola's 'More Bounce to the Ounce' slogan, which was introduced in 1950.

Most sources credit US Defense Secretary Charles Wilson as the source of the expression 'a bigger bang for your buck'. These invariably point to him having used the phrase in 1954. Wilson could be the person who coined the phrase but 1954 is clearly too late and, until a pre-December 1953 source is found, the phrase has to be logged as 'coined by Anonymous'.

The current form of the phrase, in which has lost its nuclear connotations, is 'more bang for your buck'.

Just in passing, I ought to mention that a theory that this phrase originated as a reference to prostitution is suggested by some. There's no truth whatever in that notion.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bushMeaning

It's better to have a lesser but certain advantage than the possibility of a greater one that may come to nothing.

Origin

This proverb refers back to mediaeval falconry where a bird in the hand (the falcon) was a valuable asset and certainly worth more than two in the bush (the prey).

The first citation of the expression in print in its currently used form is found in John Ray's A Hand-book of Proverbs, 1670, in which he lists it as:

A [also 'one'] bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

By how long the phrase predates Ray's publishing isn't clear, as variants of it were known for centuries before 1670. The earliest English version of the proverb is from the Bible and was translated into English in Wycliffe's version in 1382, although Latin texts have it from the 13th century:

Ecclesiastes IX - A living dog is better than a dead lion.

Alternatives that explicitly mention birds in hand come later. The earliest of those is in Hugh Rhodes' The Boke of Nurture or Schoole of Good Maners, circa 1530:

"A byrd in hand - is worth ten flye at large."

John Heywood, the 16th century collector of proverbs, recorded another version in his ambitiously titled A dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the prouerbes in the Englishe tongue, 1546:

"Better one byrde in hande than ten in the wood."

The expression fits well into the catalogue of English proverbs, which are often warnings, especially warnings about hubris or risk taking. Some of the better known examples that warn against getting carried away by that exciting new prospect are: 'All that glitters is not gold', 'Fools rush in where angels fear to tread', 'Look before you leap', 'Marry in haste, repent at leisure', 'The best-laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agley'.

The Bird in Hand was adopted as a pub name in England in the Middle Ages and many of this name still survive.

English migrants to America took the expression with them and 'bird in hand' must have been known there by 1734 as this was the year in which a small town in Pennsylvania was founded with that name.

Other languages and cultures have their own version of this proverb, notably the Czech 'Lepsi vrabec v hrsti nez holub na strese' (A sparrow in the fist is better than a pigeon on the roof).

A chain is only as strong as its weakest linkMeaning

The proverb has a literal meaning, although the 'weakest link' referred to is figurative and usually applies to a person or technical feature rather than the link of an actual chain.

Origin

We are most likely these days to come across the phrase 'the weakest link' in reference to the popular TV quiz show of that name, which originated in the UK, hosted by Anne Robinson, and was later syndicated for use in many other countries. The show, which relies on the demonstration of the abysmal lack of general knowledge by many of the participating contestants, is an example of the many 'humiliation television' shows of the early 21st century and is a sad spectacle.

It is clearly a literal fact that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. The conversion of that notion into a figurative phrase was established in the language by the 18th century. Thomas Reid's Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man, 1786, included this line:

"In every chain of reasoning, the evidence of the last conclusion can be no greater than that of the weakest link of the chain, whatever may be the strength of the rest."

A diamond in the roughMeaning

Someone who is basically good hearted but lacking social graces and respect for the law.

Origin

The phrase is clearly a metaphor for the original unpolished state of diamond gemstones, especially those that have the potential to become high quality jewels. It is more commonly expressed in the form 'rough diamond'. The first recorded use in print is in John Fletcher's A Wife for a Month, 1624:

"She is very honest, and will be as hard to cut as a rough diamond."

The term is often now used to describe people on the edge of the criminal fraternity who, while they may not commit serious crimes themselves, probably know people who do.

The English comic actor, the late Sid James, typified the type both on and off stage and was typecast in such roles; for example, he played Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond in the Ealing comedy Carry On Up The Khyber. That was quite appropriate for this phrase as it turns out - Sid James worked in a diamond mine in South Africa before becoming an actor.

A fish out of waterMeaning

Someone who is in a situation they are unsuited to.

Origin

This metaphor is quite old. Chaucer used a version of it in The Canterbury Tales: Prologue:

...a monk, when he is cloisterless;Is like to a fish that is waterless

The earliest reference that I can find to the present day wording of the phrase is in Samuel Purchas's Pilgrimage, 1613:

"The Arabians out of the desarts are as Fishes out of the Water."

A foot in the doorMeaning

An introduction or way in to something, made in order that progress may be made later.

Origin

The early uses of the term 'putting a foot in the door' are straightforward literal ones. It may just describe someone who steps over the threshold of a property, or someone putting a foot in the door in order to prevent it from closing and so continue a conversation. An early example of the latter comes in the American poet and playwright George Boker's work Plays and poems, 1856:

"And he sang to his gittern of love and of war With one foot in his stirrup and one in her door."

We now use 'foot in the door' in a figurative sense, with a similar meaning to 'the thin end of the wedge'. It was the technique of jamming a foot in the door to prevent it closing, used by door-to-door salesmen and political canvassers, that gave us this figurative use of the term. All the early examples are from the USA, such as in this report of an application for civic funding in The Oakland Tribune, August 1914:

"All I'm asking is that you authorize the park department to go ahead.""Yes, but you are trying to commit us to an expenditure of $48,400 or more," said Baccus.`

"No. I'm merely asking that the first step be taken," answered Mayor Mott."You've got a mighty clever way of getting your foot in the door, and then we can't get it closed until the whole proposition is carried", said Turner.

A fool's paradiseMeaning

A state of happiness based on false hope.

Origin

This is an early phrase, first recorded in the Paston Letters, 1462:

"I wold not be in a folis paradyce."

Shakespeare later used it in Romeo and Juliet, 1592.

Nurse:Now, afore God, I am so vexed, that every part aboutme quivers. Scurvy knave! Pray you, sir, a word:and as I told you, my young lady bade me inquire youout; what she bade me say, I will keep to myself:but first let me tell ye, if ye should lead her intoa fool's paradise, as they say, it were a very grosskind of behavior, as they say: for the gentlewomanis young; and, therefore, if you should deal doublewith her, truly it were an ill thing to be offeredto any gentlewoman, and very weak dealing.

À la modeMeaning

Fashionable. Also, in the USA, a dessert served with ice cream.

Origin

This, of course, has a French origin and is one of the earliest French phrases to have been adopted into English. It is referred to in John Selden's Laws of England, 1649:

"Commanders that are never a-la-mode but when all in Iron and Steel."

The term was anglicized as a noun - alamode, which was a form of glossy black silk. This is listed in a 1676 edition of The London Gazette:

"Several Pieces of wrought Silk, as Taffaties, Sarcenets, Alamodes, and Lutes."

Americans are familiar with this phrase as meaning 'with ice cream'. There are various stories concerning how this came about but, as they aren't reliably documented, I'll not repeat them here. Suffice it to say that, however the phrase was coined in that context, it had happened by 1903 when it appears in an edition of Everybody's Magazine:

"Tea and buns, apple pie à la mode and chocolate were the most serious menus."

As thick as thievesMeaning

Close friends with; sharing confidences.

Origin

We might expect 'as thick as thieves' to be a variant of the other commonly used 'thick' simile 'as thick as two short planks'. The fact that the former expression originated as 'as thick as two thieves' gives more weight to that expectation. As you may have guessed from that lead in, the two phrases are entirely unconnected. The short planks are thick in the 'stupid' sense of the word, whereas thieves aren't especially stupid but are conspiratorial and that's the meaning of ' thick' in 'as thick as thieves'.

'Thick' was first used to mean 'closely allied with' in the 18th century, as in this example from Richard Twining's memoir Selected Papers of the Twining Family, 1781:

Mr. Pacchicrotti was at Spa. He and I were quite 'thick.' We rode together frequently. He drank tea with me.

Like all 'as X as Y' similes, 'as thick as thieves' depends on Y (thieves) being thought of as archetypally X (thick). The thieves had some competition. Earlier versions were 'as thick as'... 'inkle weavers', 'peas in a shell' and 'three in a bed', all of which were examples of things that were especially intimate (inkle-weavers sat at looms that were close together). These variants have now pretty much disappeared, leaving the way clear for 'as thick as thieves'.

The association of thieves with conspiratorial and secretive language was well established in England in the 18th century. Many of those on the fringes of society, for example poachers, homosexuals, street hawkers and thieves, used secret words and phrases to converse furtively amongst themselves. Backslang was one example of this, the best known survival of backslang being 'yob' for 'boy'. Several lexicographers had published dictionaries used by those on the wrong side of the law, notably the New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew, 1698. The 'canting crew' were the various vagabonds and coney-catchers (conmen) that inhabited the streets of British cities. The dictionary explained how to decipher the language of "the tribes of gypsies, beggars, thieves, cheats etc.", so that people could "secure their money and preserve their lives".

Given that thieves were established as being 'thick' by the late 17th century it is surprising that 'as thick as thieves' didn't emerge until a century or so later. The records of the Old Bailey, which list transcripts of cases held there since 1674 and which might be just the place to find this phrase, don't list it until 1874. The first example that I can find of it in print is from the English newspaper The Morning Chronicle, in a letter dated March 1827, published in February 1828:

Bill Morris and me are as thick as two thieves.

So there you have it; proverbially at least, planks are stupid but thieves (unless you include bankers) aren't.

Barking madMeaning

Insane; intensely mad.

Origin

There are a couple of stories which link 'barking mad' with the east London suburb of Barking. One is that the phrase owes its origin to a mediaeval asylum for the insane which was part of Barking Abbey. The second story isn't a suggested origin, just a neat 1980s joke at the expense of Margaret Thatcher. She was known by those who disliked her as 'Daggers' Thatcher - not from a reputation for stabbing colleagues in the back, but because she was said to be 'three stops past Barking' [Dagenham is three stations beyond Barking on the London Underground].

The problem with the asylum tale is the date - it is far too early. 'Barking mad' isn't mediaeval and began to appear in the language only around the beginning of the 20th century.

The first record of it that I can find in print is from the USA. The 11th November 1927 edition of the Oklahoma newspaper The Ada Evening News reported on the frenetic and, if contemporary photographs are to be believed, borderline insane sport of Auto-polo:

"At 2:30 this afternoon at Park field a half dozen barking mad auto polo cars will be whirled into action."

That usage suggests a readership already familiar with the phrase, and the playing of polo in cars, while having a strong claim to epitomise madness, isn't the likely source.

A much more prosaic derivation, that the phrase refers to mad and possibly rabid dogs, is a more probable source. There are many examples of 'barking like a mad dog' in print; for example, this from records of the trial for murder of a Walter Tricker, in 1867:

Mrs Hitchins, at the Inquest, says 'It was not ordinary barking. They [the dogs] were barking like tearing mad.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholderMeaning

Literal meaning - the perception of beauty is subjective.

Origin

This saying first appeared in the 3rd century BC in Greek. It didn't appear in its current form in print until the 19th century, but in the meantime there were various written forms that expressed much the same thought. In 1588, the English dramatist John Lyly, in his Euphues and his England, wrote:

"...as neere is Fancie to Beautie, as the pricke to the Rose, as the stalke to the rynde, as the earth to the roote."

Shakespeare expressed a similar sentiment in Love's Labours Lost, 1588:

Good Lord Boyet, my beauty, though but mean,Needs not the painted flourish of your praise:Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye,Not utter'd by base sale of chapmen's tongues

Benjamin Franklin, in Poor Richard's Almanack, 1741, wrote:

Beauty, like supreme dominionIs but supported by opinion

David Hume's Essays, Moral and Political, 1742, include:

"Beauty in things exists merely in the mind which contemplates them."

The person who is widely credited with coining the saying in its current form is Margaret Wolfe Hungerford (née Hamilton), who wrote many books, often under the pseudonym of 'The Duchess'. In Molly Bawn, 1878, there's the line "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder", which is the earliest citation that I can find in print.

A bolt from the blueMeaning

A complete surprise, like a bolt of lightning from a clear blue sky.

Origin

This has the feel of a Shakespearian or Biblical expression but, as a phrase in English, it isn't as old as it sounds. There are several forms of it: 'out of the blue', 'a bolt out of the blue', etc. The earliest citation is Thomas Carlyle, in The French Revolution, 1837:

"Arrestment, sudden really as a bolt out of the Blue, has hit strange victims."

English versions of this expression probably derive as translations of the work of the Roman lyric poet Quintus Horatius Flaccus, better known as Horace. A translation from the Latin of Horace's Ode 34 begins:

My prayers were scant, my offerings few,While witless wisdom fool'd my mind;But now I trim my sails anew,And trace the course I left behind.For lo! the Sire of heaven on high,By whose fierce bolts the clouds are riven,To-day through an unclouded sky

Thomas Carlyle was, like many educated men of his era, a classical scholar and would have been well acquainted with Horace's Odes.

Butter wouldn't melt in his mouthMeaning

Prim and proper, with a cool demeanor

Origin

The allusion in this expression is to people who maintain such a cool demeanor that they don't even have the warmth to melt butter. This is an old phrase - here's a citation from 1530, in Jehan Palsgrave's Lesclarcissement de la langue françoyse:

"He maketh as thoughe butter wolde nat melte in his mouthe."

The phrase is usually used in a derogatory and critical sense and, in the past at least, was most often applied to women. Occasionally, it was used to denote a quiet meekness and sweetness of temper rather than emotional coldness; for example, this description of Mr Pecksniff in Charles Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit:

"It would be no description of Mr Pecksniff's gentleness of manner to adopt the common parlance, and say that he looked at this moment as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. He rather looked as if any quantity of butter might have been made out of him, by churning the milk of human kindness, as it spouted upwards from his heart."

Chick flickMeaning

A film with characterization and storylines that appeal especially to women.

Origin

The use of 'chick flick' to describe the films with appeal to women began in the early 1990s. For a few years prior to that 'chick flicks' were the sexually exploitative films, like those made by directors like Russ Meyers, which were designed to appeal to male sexual fantasy.

The Bergen County Record, October 1988 included this comment:

"Films like Russ Meyers' 'Beyond the Valley of the Dolls' (1970) and 'Twilight People' (1972) ... Corman's 'Black Mama, White Mama' (1972), another chick-flick set in a slammer in the Phillipines. [sic]"

The transition in the commonly understood meaning of the term came with a spate of films that had particular appeal to women. Foremost amongst these was the 1991 film 'Thelma & Louise', starring Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis. This had the promotional tagline 'Somebody said get a life... so they did'. The film, which had a women writer, was extremely successful and lead to film studios becoming aware of a potential new audience.

Prior to settling on 'chick flick' as the standard term for this genre of film, several alternatives were used. Firstly, 'chick film':

'Sassy', August 1991 "Now even the most unlikely movies go to the violent place, like the chick film Thelma and Louise."

Then 'chick's flick':

Washington Times, December 1993 "What with 'Sleepless in Seattle' updating the concept of the chick's flick in the national consciousness..."

By 1995, 'chick flick' was well established. In December that year The Syracuse Herald Journal ran a review piece in which they invited a group of young women to review two recent films by Demi Moore. That included comments on the film Now and Then, starring Demi Moore and Melanie Griffith, reviewed by Katie Racculia:

"For guys, it's just another mind numbing 'chick flick.' But for us, the members of the fine female sex, 'Now and Then' is a funny, touching story where we can see a bit of ourselves and our friends in the characters."

Man's best friendMeaning

An animal that performs valuable service to humans, often with reference to dogs.

Origin

A dog is a man's best friend? Well, if the animal's popularity is anything to go by, perhaps that's true; according to the American Kennel Club, there are more pet dogs in the USA than there are people in Britain. However, the affection in which dogs are held by many these days is a fairly recent development. How we used to think about dogs can be judged by looking at how they have been portrayed in language over the centuries.

The first linguistic oddity to do with dogs concerns where the word 'dog' came from. The name was preceded by the perfectly good Anglo-Saxon word 'hound', which was also used in other European languages. 'Dog', in common with several other animal names ending in 'g', like frog, hog, pig and stag, seems to have been coined around the 13th century for reasons that no one is at all sure about.

Prior to the 18th century, dogs were kept for hunting and defence and not as pets. The only deviation from that rule was that of the derided 'lap-dog', which John Evelyn recorded in his Diary, circa 1684, as a dog fit only for ladies:

Those Lap-dogs had so in delicijs [delight] by the Ladies - are a pigmie sort of Spaniels.

Lap-dogs apart, the phrases used to refer to dogs in the 16th and 17th centuries indicate their image as being vicious and disease-ridden:

Hair of the dog that bit you, first used in 1546 as a reference to rabiesCast someone to the dogs, 1556 Dog in the manger , 1564If you lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas, 1573The dogs of war, 1601Go to the dogs, 1619Also, phrases that indicate the treatment of dogs show that they were considered to be of little worth:

Lead a dog's life (1528) Not fit for a dog (1625)As sick as a dog (1705)

The unfortunate mutts were considered so beyond the pale that dog hangings, as punishment for chasing sheep or whatever else dogs did naturally, were commonplace. The phrase 'give a dog a bad name', 1705, was originally 'give a dog a bad name and hang him'.

The language relating to canines took a turn for the better later in the 18th century. The first example in print of the term 'dog-basket' dates from 1768. The need for a name for a piece of furniture provided specifically for the comfort of dogs shows a clear turning point in attitudes towards them. This shift in outlook continued steadily and in 1823 we first find 'dog biscuits', followed in 1852 by 'dog show'. By the mid 20th century we find clear linguistic evidence that a dog was to be considered almost on a par with humanity - 'dog-sitter' (1942).

The greatest claim to fame of Warrensburg, Missouri is that it is where the phrase 'a dog is a man's best friend' originated. In 1870, a farmer shot a neighbour's dog and, in the subsequent court case where the owner sued for damages, the lawyer George Graham Vest gave a tear-jerking speech that became known as the Eulogy to a Dog:

"Gentlemen of the jury, a man's dog stands by him in prosperity and poverty, in health and sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow, and the snow drives fiercely, if only he can be near his master's side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer; he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounter with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens." - And so on...

A statue of Old Drum, as the deceased beast was called, stands outside the town's courtroom. Sadly for the Warrensburg Tourist Board Senator Vest didn't originate the phrase, but he may have read it in a US newspaper, as it appeared in print fifty years earlier in The New-York Literary Journal, Volume 4, 1821:

The faithful dog - why should I strive To speak his merits, while they live In every breast, and man's best friend Does often at his heels attend.

The ends of the earthMeaning

The furthest reaches of the land.

Origin

The phrase 'the ends of the earth' derives from the Bible, Zechariah 9:10 (King James Version):

And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.

Caxton used the expreession in his 1483 translation of J. de Voragine's Golden Legende:

And all the endes of the erthe shal worshipe the Nacions shal come to the fro ferre and bryngyng yeftes shal worshype in the our lord.

In that passage, and in other religious usages, the phrase was used to indicate the furthest reach of man's dominion, as opposed to the heavens. It wasn't widely used untilk the 19th century, when it began to be used as we use it today, i.e. to mean 'a very long way away'.

Face the musicMeaning

Accept the unpleasant consequences of one's actions.

Origin

The phrase 'face the music' has an agreeable imagery. We feel that we can picture who was facing what and what music was playing at the time. Regrettably, the documentary records don't point to any clear source for the phrase and we are, as so often, at the mercy of plausible speculation. There was, of course, a definitive and unique origin for the expression 'face the music' and whoever coined it was quite certain of the circumstances and the music being referred to. Let's hope at least that one of the following suggestions is the correct one, even though there is no clear evidence to prove it.

A commonly repeated assertion is that 'face the music' originated from the tradition of disgraced officers being 'drummed out' of their regiment. A second popular theory is that it was actors who 'faced the music', i.e. faced the orchestra pit, when they went on stage. A third theory, less likely but quite interesting none the less, was recounted with some confidence by a member of the choir at a choral concert I attended recently in Sheffield. It relates to the old UK practice of West Gallery singing. This was singing, literally from the west galleries of English churches, by the common peasantry who weren't allowed to sit in the higher status parts of the church. The theory was that the nobility were obliged to listen to the vernacular songs of the parishioners, often with lyrics that were critical of the ways of the gentry.

It may help to pinpoint the origin to know that the phrase appears to be mid 19th American in origin. The earliest citation I can find for the phrase is from The New Hampshire Statesman & State Journal, August 1834:

"Will the editor of the Courier explain this black affair. We want no equivocation - 'face the music' this time."

ALmost all other early citations are American. Sadly, none of them give the slightest clue as to the source, or reason for, the music being faced.

Grinning like a Cheshire catMeaning

Grinning broadly.

Origin

The origin of this is uncertain. Of course, we know the phrase because of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, (published 1865) and John Tenniel's illustrations in it:

'Please would you tell me,' said Alice, a little timidly, for she was not quite sure whether it was good manners for her to speak first, 'why your cat grins like that?'

'It's a Cheshire cat,' said the Duchess, 'and that's why. Pig!'

She said the last word with such sudden violence that Alice quite jumped; but she saw in another moment that it was addressed to the baby, and not to her, so she took courage, and went on again:

'I didn't know that Cheshire cats always grinned; in fact, I didn't know that cats COULD grin.'

'They all can,' said the Duchess; 'and most of 'em do.'

We do know that Lewis Carroll (The Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) didn't coin the phrase himself, as there are citations of it that pre-date his stories. John Wolcot, the poet and satirist, who wrote under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, included it in his Works, published variously between 1770 and 1819 - "Lo! like a Cheshire cat our court will grin".

William Makepeace Thackeray also used the description well before Dodgson, in The Newcomes; memoirs of a most respectable family, 1854–55:

Mr. Newcome says to Mr. Pendennis in his droll, humorous way, "That woman grins like a Cheshire cat."

There's no convincing explanation of why Cheshire cats were imagined to grin. It seems likely that no one really believed that they actually did. We can take the next line in Thackeray's piece - "Who was the naturalist who first discovered that peculiarity of the cats in Cheshire?", to be sarcastic.

The numerous folk-etymology derivations that explain how Lewis Carroll came up with the idea have to be spurious, as we know he didn't. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has a long troupe of fantastical animals. It's very likely that Dodgson had heard of Cheshire cats being said to grin and adapted the idea into his story.

Hard cases make bad lawMeaning

'Hard', i.e. exceptional, legal cases aren't suitable as the source of generalised laws.

Origin

In British slang a 'hard case' is a hardened criminal; a tough pugilist. It is quite reasonable to think that such characters wouldn't be the ideal choice to draft legislation. Fortunately, they aren't connected with this saying. 'Hard cases make bad law' isn't so much a universal proverb as a legal adage. It came to light in a comment made by Judge Robert Rolf in the case of Winterbottom v Wright in 1842:

This is one of those unfortunate cases...in which, it is, no doubt, a hardship upon the plaintiff to be without a remedy but by that consideration we ought not to be influenced. Hard cases, it has frequently been observed, are apt to introduce bad law.

The case required a judgment on whether third parties are able to sue for injury. The unusual nature of the case caused the judge to realise that, in the true sense of the expression, exceptions prove the rule and that, unfair as it might have appeared in some circumstances, the law was better drafted under the influence of the average case rather than the exceptional one.

The point was made explicitly in 1903 by V. S. Lean, in Collectanea:

Hard cases make bad law. i.e. lead to legislation for exceptions.

If music be the food of love, play onMeaning

Orsino is asking for more music because he is frustrated in his courtship of Countess Olivia. He muses that an excess of music might cure his obsession with love, in the way that eating too much remove's one's appetite for food.

Music plays an important part in Shakespeare's plays and is often used to carry the plot. It's reasonable to surmise that he did believe it the be 'the food of love'.

Origin

From Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, 1602:

DUKE ORSINO:If music be the food of love, play on;Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,The appetite may sicken, and so die.That strain again! it had a dying fall:

O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound,That breathes upon a bank of violets,Stealing and giving odour! Enough; no more:'Tis not so sweet now as it was before.O spirit of love! how quick and fresh art thou,That, notwithstanding thy capacityReceiveth as the sea, nought enters there,Of what validity and pitch soe'er,But falls into abatement and low price,Even in a minute: so full of shapes is fancyThat it alone is high fantastical.

Jump on the bandwagonMeaning

Join a growing movement in support of someone or something, often in an opportunist way, when that movement is seen to have become successful.

Origin

The word bandwagon was coined in the USA in the mid 19th century, simply as the name for the wagon that carried a circus band. Phineas T. Barnum, the great showman and circus owner, used the term in 1855 in his unambiguously named autobiography The Life of P.T. Barnum, Written by Himself, 1855:

"At Vicksburg we sold all our land conveyances excepting four horses and the 'band wagon'."

Barnum didn't coin 'jump on the bandwagon', which came later, but he did have a hand in some other additions to the language. He was nothing if not a publicist and, even though there is no definitive evidence of his inventing any new word or phrase, he certainly can be said to have made several of them popular. Firstly, there are a couple of celebrated quotations:

"There's a sucker born every minute." and "You may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can't fool all of the people all the time."

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations lists those under their Barnum entry, along with the dictionary compiler's favourite weasel words - "attributed to". There is considerable doubt that he said either of the above. Barnum's acquaintances have claimed that the first would have been somewhat out of character for him, and Abraham Lincoln is often confidently cited as the author of the second. Actually, the 'some of the people' dictum isn't found in print until 1887 (some years after Lincoln's death and when Barnum was in his dotage), when it appears in print in several American newspapers, again guarded by vagaries like "Lincoln once said".

Two other terms that we certainly can thank Barnum for popularising are 'Jumbo' and 'Siamese twins'. Jumbo was a little-used slang term in Barnum's day and was recorded in John Badcock's Slang. A dictionary of the turf, 1823:

"Jumbo, a clumsy or unwieldly fellow."

The word was coined as the the name of a giant elephant that was housed at London Zoo. Jumbo was sold to Barnum in 1882 and exhibited in his shows. It is via Barnum's marketing zeal that the word became widely used as epitomising hugeness. The creature itself didn't have much luck. It died in 1885 after being struck by a train. Its heart was cut out and the torso was stuffed and mounted and continued to tour with Barnum's circus. It was destroyed in a fire in 1975 and now languishes as 14 ounces of ash in a peanut butter jar.

Barnum's other contribution to the language is the term 'Siamese twins', which he applied to the 'joined at the hip' brothers Chang and Eng Bunker.

Back to the bandwagon. Circus workers were skilled at attracting the public with the razzmatazz of a parade through town, complete with highly decorated bandwagons. In the late 19th century, politicians picked up on this form of attracting a crowd and began using bandwagons when campaigning for office.

The transition from the literal 'jumping on a bandwagon', in order to show one's alliance to a politician, to the figurative use we know now was complete by the 1890s. Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt made a clear-cut reference to the practice in his Letters, 1899 (published 1951):

"When I once became sure of one majority they tumbled over each other to get aboard the band wagon."

Keep your chin upMeaning

Remain cheerful in a difficult situation.

Origin

This sounds like one of those rousing maxims that were drilled into the young of Victorian England - like keep a stiff upper lip. Perhaps surprisingly, the phrase is American. The first use of it that I can find is from the Pennsylvania newspaper The Evening Democrat, October 1900, under the heading Epigrams Upon the Health-giving Qualities of Mirth:

"Keep your chin up. Don't take your troubles to bed with you - hang them on a chair with your trousers or drop them in a glass of water with your teeth." - [they were easily amused in Pennsylvania in 1900].

Less is moreMeaning

The notion that simplicity and clarity lead to good design.

Origin

This is a 19th century proverbial phrase. It is first found in print in Andrea del Sarto, 1855, a poem by Robert Browning:

Who strive - you don't know how the others striveTo paint a little thing like that you smearedCarelessly passing with your robes afloat,-Yet do much less, so much less, Someone says,(I know his name, no matter) - so much less!Well, less is more, Lucrezia.

The phrase is often associated with the architect and furniture designer Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe (1886-1969), one of the founders of modern architecture and a proponent of simplicity of style.

Mum's the wordMeaning

Keep quiet - say nothing.

Origin

'Mum's the word' has become a popular name for baby product shops and nursery services, but the 'mum' in this phrase isn't mother. Nor has 'mum' anything to do with Egyptian mummies, despite their prolonged taciturn disposition. That 'mummy' derives from 'mum' being the name of the bitumen used for embalming.

The 'mum' of 'mum's the word' is 'mmm' - the humming sound made with a closed mouth, indicating an unwillingness or inability to speak. The word is of long standing in the language and first appeared in print in William Langland's Middle English narrative poem Piers Plowman, circa 1376:

Thou mightest beter meten the myst on Malverne hullesThen geten a mom of heore mouth til moneye weore schewed!

That loosely translates as 'You may as well try to measure the mist on the Malvern Hills as to try and get her to speak without first offering payment'.

As old as Piers Plowman, and as central to English folklore, is the tradition of mumming. Sadly, no complete texts of the mediaeval mummers' plays have been preserved. There was never a definitive version in any case, as the acting, dancing, drinking and alms collecting that made up mumming varied from one parish to another. We can't be sure what mediaeval mumming plays were like, but a raucous mixture of pantomime, morris dancing and carol singing, played out by a group of bizarre characters in stylised fancy dress, is what has come down to us by oral tradition.

What we do know is that 'mumming', or 'miming' as it was sometimes called, derives from the word 'mum'. Early versions of mumming involved a parade of characters entering houses to dance or play games in silence, i.e. 'miming'. More recently, the tradition has evolved to almost always include the character of a quack doctor, who revives the hero (usually Saint George) after his death in a fight with the Turkish Knight (boo, hiss).

Although they mummed for all they were worth, the players didn't use the phrase 'mum's the word'; that usage came later, in the 17th century. The earliest version of the phrase was 'mum is counsel', that is, 'you are advised to say nothing'. That form of the phrase was used in John Palsgrave's 1540 translation of the Latin text The Comedye of Acolastus:

I dare not to do so moche as put my hande to my mouthe, and saye mum, is counseyle.

Of course, we can't examine a Tudor phrase without Shakespeare getting in on the act, and he used 'mum' in Henry VI, Part 2, 1592:

"Seal up your lips and give no words but mum."

'Mum's the word' later became the standard way of advising a person to keep quiet and the first citation of it in print that I have found is in A Walk Around London and Westminster - The Works of Mr. Thomas Brown, 1720:

But Mum's the Word - for who would speak their Mind among Tarrs and Commissioners.

My cup of teaMeaning

Something or someone that one finds pleasing.

Origin

An English website about the English language can't of course be complete without some consideration of tea. Tea has been around for a long time, and so has the British slang term for it - 'char'. In fact, it was known in the west by that version of the Mandarin ch'a before it was called 'tea'. The Dutch adventurer Jan Huygen van Linschoten was one of the first to recount its use as a drink, in Discours of voyages into ye Easte & West Indies, 1598:

The aforesaid warme water is made with the powder of a certaine hearbe called Chaa.

'My cup of tea' is just one of the many tea-related phrases that are still in common use in the UK, such as 'Not for all the tea in China', 'I could murder a cup of tea', 'More tea vicar?', 'Tea and sympathy', 'Rosie Lee', 'Storm in a teacup' and so on.

In the early 20th century, a 'cup of tea' was such a synonym for acceptability that it became the name given to a favoured friend, especially one with a boisterous, life-enhancing nature. William de Morgan, the Edwardian artist and novelist, used the phrase in the novel Somehow Good, 1908, and went on to explain its meaning:

"He may be a bit hot-tempered and impulsive... otherwise, it's simply impossible to help liking him." To which Sally replied, borrowing an expression from Ann the housemaid, that Fenwick was a cup of tea. It was metaphorical and descriptive of invigoration.People or things with which one felt an affinity began to be called 'my cup of tea' in the 1930s. Nancy Mitford appears to be the first to record that term in print, in the comic novel Christmas Pudding, 1932:

I'm not at all sure I wouldn't rather marry Aunt Loudie. She's even more my cup of tea in many ways.

In keeping with the high regard for tea, most of the early references to 'a cup of tea' as a description of an acquaintance are positive ones, i.e. 'nice', 'good', 'strong' etc. The expression is more often used in the 'not my cup of tea' form these days. This negative usage began in WWII. An early example of it is found in Hal Boyle's Leaves From a War Correspondent's Notebook column, which described English life and manners for an American audience. The column provided the American counterpart to Alister Cooke's Letter from America and was syndicated in various US papers. In 1944, he wrote:

[In England] You don't say someone gives you a pain in the neck. You just remark "He's not my cup of tea."

The change from the earlier positive 'my cup of tea' phrase, to the dismissive 'not my cup of tea' doesn't reflect the national taste for the drink itself. Tea remains our cup of tea here in the UK. According to the United Kingdom Tea Council (of course, there had to be one) 60 million of us down 160 million cups of the stuff each day.

Okey-dokeyMeaning

Okay. There are some late 20th century alternative meanings, limited to the USA, e.g. 'absurd or ridiculous' and 'to swindle or deceive'.

Origin

This little phrase is a variant of okay. It is 20th century American and first appears in print in a 1932 edition of American Speech.

There are several alternative spellings - okay-doke, okey-doke, okee-doke, etc. In addition to these is the comic version that has brought the phrase back to popular attention in recent years - The Simpson's Ned Flanders' 'okely-dokely'.

All of them are just a perky reduplicated variants of okay, utilizing that favourite device of two-word phrases - rhyming. As a reduplication it is properly spelled with a hyphen, although it is often given without.

Like okay, 'okey-doke' is used to indicate that all is well, e.g. 'everything is okay here', but may be used when responding positively to a request. That is exemplified in this piece from Colin MacInnes' book City of Spades, 1957:

"One Guinness stout, right, I thank you, okey-doke, here it is."

A picture is worth a thousand wordsMeaning

A picture tells a story just as well as a large amount of descriptive text.

Origin

This phrase emerged in the USA in the early part of the 20th century. Its introduction is widely attributed to Frederick R. Barnard, who published a piece commending the effectiveness of graphics in advertising with the title "One look is worth a thousand words", in Printer's Ink, December 1921. Barnard claimed the phrase's source to be oriental by adding "so said a famous Japanese philosopher, and he was right".

Printer's Ink printed another form of the phrase in March 1927, this time suggesting a Chinese origin:

"Chinese proverb. One picture is worth ten thousand words."

The arbitrary escalation from 'one thousand' to 'ten thousand' and the switching from Japan to China as the source leads us to smell a rat with this derivation. In fact, Barnard didn't introduce

the phrase - his only contribution was the incorrect suggestion that the country of origin was Japan or China. This has led to another popular belief about the phrase, i.e. that it was coined by Confucius. It might fit the Chinese-sounding 'Confucius he say' style, but the Chinese derivation was pure invention.

Many things had been thought to be 'worth ten thousand words' well before pictures got in on the act; for example:

"One timely deed is worth ten thousand words" - The Works of Mr. James Thomson, 1802.

"That tear, good girl, is worth, ten thousand words" - The Trust: A Comedy, in Five Acts, 1808.

"One fact well understood by observation, and well guided development, is worth a thousand times more than a thousand words" - The American Journal of Education, 1858.

The idea that a picture can convey what might take many words to express was voiced by a character in Ivan S. Turgenev's novel Fathers and Sons, 1862:

"The drawing shows me at one glance what might be spread over ten pages in a book."

A similar idea was seen very widely in the USA from the early 20th century, in adverts for Doan's Backache Kidney Pills, which included a picture of a man holding his back and the text "Every picture tells a story".

Neither of the above led directly to 'a picture is worth a thousand words'. Who it was that married 'worth ten thousand words' with 'picture' isn't known, but we do know that the phrase is American in origin. It began to be used quite frequently in the US press from around the 1920s onward. The earliest example I can find is from the text of an instructional talk given by the newspaper editor Arthur Brisbane to the Syracuse Advertising Men's Club, in March 1911:

"Use a picture. It's worth a thousand words."

This little essay clocks in at 471 words. Perhaps I should have drawn half a picture instead?

Queer StreetMeaning

An imaginary street where people in difficulty live.

Origin

This slang term was recorded in 1811 in an updated version of Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, titled Lexicon Balatronicum: A Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit, and Pickpocket Eloquence:

QUEER STREET. Wrong. Improper. Contrary to one's wish. It is queer street, a cant phrase, to signify that it is wrong or different to our wish.

The phrase is often associated with debtors, although not exclusively so. Queer Street may have been imaginary but it where it was imagined to be was certainly London. By 1821 the term had found its way into Pierce Egan's Real life in London:

"Limping Billy was also evidently in queer-street."

Of course, the phrase was coined long before the 1920s when 'queer' was first used as a synonym for 'homosexual'.

Ring down the curtainMeaning

Bring something to an end.

Origin

The original and literal meaning of this phrase was 'to lower or close the stage curtain at the end of a theatrical performance'. Could this phrase just be a corruption of 'bring down the curtain'? It seems not. This term derives from the practice of ringing a bell to signal the time to close the curtains. The similarity between 'ring' and 'bring' is just coincidence. Curtains were also 'rung up' and this practice remains well-known to theatre-goers as 'the bell' which is rung to signal that a play is soon to begin or resume after an interval.

The earliest citation I can find for the phrase is from the celebrated English actor David Garrick, in his 1772 farce A Peep Behind the Curtain:

"Pray be so good as to ring down the curtain, that we may rehearse in form."

The figurative use, which just refers to the end of something, began use in the early 20th century; for example, this piece from Sheila Kaye-Smith's biography John Galsworthy:

"Thus the curtain rings down on Irene Forsyte, crushed under the heel of prosperity."

Sacred cowMeaning

Something too highly regarded to be open to criticism or curtailment.

Origin

This term is an allusion to the Hindu reverence for cows. The first use in English that I have found of the term 'sacred cow' as a description of the recipient of that long-standing Hindu veneration is in an American newspaper from the 1850s. This is a reprint of a letter that was sent by Wady Jahed, an Indian emigre, living in Janesville, Wisconsin, to The Calcutta Times. Mr Jahed sent the letter on the'17th day of the 6th Moon' and The Janesville Free Press printed it in January 1854:

To the most eminent Kaali Ramon, High Brahmin, at Benares, India.

The religion of the Hindoo is now well established here, but I find many things to correct. For instance the grain which they bring as an offering to the goddess Bhavani, which they pronounce brewery, they work up into a liquor which they drink in honor of the gods, instead of feeding it to the sacred bulls and cows; they also eat the flesh of animals, and do other vile things.

Kiss the sacred cow for me, and may Doorgha bless you at all times.From your Slave,WADY JAHED.

It seems he was right to question the lack of knowledge of sacred cows in the USA at the time. Several other US newspapers refer to them in the late 19th century and variously describe them as coming from India, Tibet and 'Muhammedan lands'.

The figurative use of the term 'sacred cow', to refer to a project or process that is immune from tampering, is American in origin and also dates from the late 19th century. A piece in The New York Herald, in March 1890, uses a simile that comes close to that metaphorical use:

"While the great ditch may be regarded as one of the commercial diversities of the commonwealth, to worship it as a sort of sacred cow is not necessarily a work of true statesmanship."

In September 1909 The Galveston Daily News went a little further and referred to a project that was a 'sacred cow', rather than merely being like one:

"They understand Mr. Bryan's position to be one of antagonism to the contention that raw material is a 'sacred cow,' immune from tariff reform, ever to be upon the dutiable list and in consequence enjoying the blessings of incidental protection."

Speak of the DevilMeaning

A reference to someone who appears unexpectedly while being talked about.

Origin

This phrase is used to acknowledge the coincidence of someone arriving at a scene just at the time that they are being talked about. Clearly, nothing sinister is implied by this and it is just a jokey way of referring to the person's appearance. In fact, many people using the phrase might not be aware that, prior to the 20th century, the term wasn't meant lightheartedly at all. The full form goes like this - "speak of the Devil and he will appear". The phrase originated in England, where it was, and still is, more often given as 'talk of the Devil'.

The phrase is old and appears in various Latin and Old English texts from the 16th century. The Italian writer Giovanni Torriano has the first recorded version in contemporary English, in Piazza Universale, 1666:

"The English say, Talk of the Devil, and he's presently at your elbow."

Also, in 'Cataplus, a mock Poem', 1672 - re-printed in Hazlitt's Proverbs

"Talk of the Devil, and see his horns."

These both imply that the term was widely known by the mid-17th century. It enshrined the superstitious belief that it was dangerous to mention the Devil by name. This prohibition was strong, like the prohibition on speaking the name of God. The numerous synonyms for the Devil - Old Nick, Prince of Darkness, the Horned One etc. are no doubt a consequence of this.

People may not have believed that the mention of the Devil would cause him to actually appear. Shakespeare, for example, uses the term quite often. In The Comedy or Errors:

"Marry, he must have a long spoon that must eat with the devil."

Nevertheless, an open reference to the Devil or the occult was considered, at the very least, unlucky and best avoided. This belief was reinforced by the clergy. Richard Chenevix Trench, Dean of Westminster, 1856-63, wrote:

"'Talk of the devil and he is bound to appear' contains a very needful warning against curiosity about evil."

The original phrase began to lose its power during the 19th century. By then it began to appear as a homily warning against eavesdropping, as here from the Stevens Point Journal, Wisconsin, February 1892:

"No good of himself does a listener hear,

Speak of the devil he's sure to appear"

The migration away from anything sinister, or even serious, continued when the phrase was taken up as an Ozzy Osbourne album title. The record company did hold with literary tradition though, by issuing it as 'Talk of the Devil' in the UK.

Up to snuffMeaning

Initially, the phrase meant 'sharp and in the know'; more recently, 'up to the required standard'.

Origin

'Up to snuff' originated in the early 19th century. In 1811, the English playwright John Poole wrote Hamlet Travestie, a parody of Shakespeare, in the style of Doctor Johnson and George Steevens, which included the expression.

"He knows well enough The game we're after: Zooks, he's up to snuff." &

"He is up to snuff, i.e. he is the knowing one."

A slightly later citation of the phrase, in Grose's Dictionary, 1823, lists it as 'up to snuff and a pinch above it', and defines the term as 'flash'. This clearly shows the derivation to be from 'snuff', the powdered tobacco that had become fashionable to inhale in the late 17th century. The phrase derives from the stimulating effect of taking snuff. The association of the phrase with sharpness of mind was enhanced by the fashionability and high cost of snuff and by the elaborate decorative boxes that it was kept in.

The later meaning of 'up to standard', in the same sense as 'up to scratch' (see also: 'start from scratch') began to be used around the turn of the 20th century.

Wear the trousersMeaning

Be in charge.

Origin

To be 'wearing the trousers' is to be the dominant member of a household. In the days that this phrase was coined that person was normally expected to be the husband and father. The only reason to employ the phrase at all was to relate it to a woman, with the implication that the normal order had been overturned and that a woman was dominant over her husband.

The phrase was known in the USA from the late 19th century. It probably originated there as printed reference to it elsewhere don't appear until well into the 20th century. The Manitoba Daily Free Press used the term in November 1880, in an article about the domestic life of White Indians and their squaws - who we would now call Native Americans:

"The squaws are very beautiful and are as fond of ornaments as Indian women usually are. The women are called ladies and they sometimes wear the trousers or boss the white Indians, their husbands."

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drinkMeaning

People, like horses, will only do what they have a mind to do.

Origin

Proverbs give richness to language and, to some extent, define a culture. 'You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink' might be thought to encapsulate the English-speaking people's mindset better than any other saying, as it appears to be the oldest English proverb that is still in regular use today. It was recorded as early as 1175 in Old English Homilies:

Hwa is thet mei thet hors wettrien the him self nule drinken [who can give water to the horse that will not drink of its own accord?]

There are other pretenders to the throne of the oldest English proverb; for example:

A friend in need is a friend indeed.(mid 11th century in English; 5th century BC in Greek)

When the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.(late 9th century in English; Bible, Luke Chapter 6)

Whilst the above were spoken in English earlier than 'lead a horse to water...', they derive from either a Greek or Biblical source and so can't claim to be the 'full English'. Either that or, like the 11th century proverb 'full cup, steady hand', they haven't stood the test of time.

The proverb 'lead a horse to water' has been in continuous use since the 12th century. John Heywood listed it in the influential glossary A Dialogue Conteinyng the Nomber in Effect of all the Prouerbes in the Englishe Tongue:

"A man maie well bring a horse to the water, But he can not make him drinke without he will."

It also appeared in literature over the centuries in a variety of forms; for example, in the play Narcissus, which was published in 1602, of unknown authorship, subtitled as A Twelfe Night merriment, played by youths of the parish at the College of Saint John the Baptist in Oxford:

Your parents have done what they coode, They can but bringe horse to the water brinke, But horse may choose whether that horse will drinke.

It wasn't until the 20th century that 'lead a horse to water...' got a substantial rewrite, when Dorothy Parker reworked it from its proverbial form into the epigram 'you can lead a horticulture, but you can't make her think'.