Comments on: Commonly Used Idioms and How They Came to be

By: John

John — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 13:32:10 +0000

also..
*wearing your heart on your sleeve*
In times where knights and kings would have their lances for dangerous games.
The knight would sew the name of his sweetheart onto his gauntlet. Quite often after an accident they would either lose their hands or gauntlets(not sure).But to wear your heart on your sleeve would say that it’s easily lost

By: John

John — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 13:27:29 +0000

the origin of ” on the wagon” as i hear is..
In olden days when wagon and cart and hanging of criminals were still common place..
The driver would often pass by the “ale house” for an ale.
On days when he would drive the criminals to the gallows,
he wasn’t allowed to drink because he was working.
He was ” on the wagon “.

By: Darlene McFarlane

Darlene McFarlane — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 13:00:36 +0000

sihana, I found this online. Hope it answers your question.

Darlene

Half Assed

We’ve all heard the phrase that something was done “half-ass,” but few people stop to wonder what such a ridiculous expression could possibly mean. The term “half-ass” evolved from “half-adz.” An adz is an axelike tool with a curved blade used for shaping wood. If you were wealthy and paid top-dollar for a new fireplace, the mantle would be shaped using an adz in the front as well as the back side, which isn’t visible. However, if you weren’t wealthy and wanted to save money, you could have only the front visible portion of the mantle shaped, this cheaper job being a “half-adz” job.

By: sihana

sihana — Thu, 27 May 2010 21:25:16 +0000

Is “half assed” the correct spelling and what is its origin?

By: Avery

Avery — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 20:45:44 +0000

This site is great ,
it really came in handy
I did idioms for a speach
and this site gave me ideas and helped

By: Stephanie Skirts

Stephanie Skirts — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 05:53:11 +0000

this website is great bur it doesn’t have a lot of idioms. Any way still cool

By: Katya

Katya — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:54:15 +0000

Hello! I need your help for my scientific work! Could you help me, please ,to find out the historical origin of the following idioms with the word ’swing’ :

swing into high gear;
be in full swing;
get into the swing of things;
go with a swing;
it swings and rounabouts;
swing the balance;
swing with someone or something;
swing to something

Thank you! I hope that you will help me! It`s the matter of importance! BE SO KIND!!!!!! PLEASE!!!))))))))

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 08 May 2009 14:31:11 +0000

Unfortunately, the etymology “Freeze the balls off a brass monkey” presented here is bogus. The noun phrase “brass monkey” has never been used in the manner described above, but has bee used in other colorful expressions, of which this is one. Show us a single example of a wooden “monkey” or “brass monkey” as described above and I’ll eat crow.

By: aces

aces — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 18:47:55 +0000

oh ya, to #13. “The whole nine yards” I believe, originated from the old WW2 fighter planes, equiped with nine yards of belt fed into their machine guns. This dates back to the early 60’s.

By: aces

aces — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 18:30:39 +0000

I think that “dead ringer” is a little bit older than you think. I’m sure that you’ve heard stories of when people were buried alive due to lack of medical awareness. Diseases that would give the idea that the victim was dead. When relocating a graves they discovered scratch marks on the insides of the coffins. They then would also bury a pipe from the coffin to the surface. It would house a rope tied to a hanging bell above ground. If they had a live one, it was called a “dead ringer”. This also gave birth to the “graveyard shift”. During daylight there were priests, workers, and others at the church, where most graveyards were. But at night someone had to listen for the ringers.