The Intriguing World of Idioms

I’ve been feeling under the weather for the last couple of weeks. When I thought about starting this month’s blog post with that sentence, I started wondering where that particular idiom came from. I’m certainly not standing outdoors in the snow and cold to be literally under the weather. (In fact, there’s no way in hell I’d be standing outside currently, the wind chill at the Watertown airport was 48℉ below zero this morning. Your eyeballs freeze open in that kind of weather.)

So, curious minds want to know, right? Well…at least my curious mind did, so I did some research. I learned the term “under the weather” comes from a nautical reference where sick sailors were sent below deck to get out of bad weather, so they were literally under the weather. While the healthy sailors manned the ship, their sick crew mates went under deck to get away from the weather.

This knowledge led me down a rabbit hole of exploring other idioms and their origins. Yes, I know that the whole rabbit-holing thing is a risk for those of us with a growth mindset. Just because I’m cognizant of that, doesn’t mean I avoid it. Nope. I shrug my shoulders and dive in with reckless abandon. And because I did go down the idiom rabbit hole, I can now share some of my favorites with you.

“Let the cat out of the bag” - This one goes back to the 1700s where people selling pigs would sometimes slip a cat in the bag with the pig(s) to make it heavier, tricking the buyer into believing they were getting more/bigger pig(s) than they actually were. If the cat got out of the bag, the seller’s fraudulent trickery would be revealed. 

“Wet blanket” originated from the fact that water-soaked blankets were used to smother fires, a practice going back to the 1600s. So when a crowd had gathered for a celebratory fire, someone putting a wet blanket on said fire would end the fun for those celebrating.

“Armed to the teeth” is believed to refer to 17th century pirates who wanted to make sure they were prepared to fight. Those pirates would have a gun in each hand, a third gun in their pocket while holding a knife in their teeth. Hence, they were armed to the teeth.

“Cut corners” or “cutting corners” indicates a person using a shortcut leading to negative results. This one is quite literal in its origin and comes from carriage drivers trying to hurry when turning from one street to another, cutting the corner too short and hitting the curb resulting in potential damage or at least a bumpy ride.

There are many more idioms with interesting origins that I’d encourage you to check out. Why? Because that type of curiosity provides innocent fun and that’s something we all need right now, something that can temporarily remove us from the chaotic world we’re currently living in. A good diversion that allows us to understand sayings that have been passed on for generations, used by our ancestors and still being used today.

With that, it’s a wrap on the January blog. Remember to love each other and be kind. You never know what someone else is going through.