One of the most beautiful things about language is our playful use of it, turning it into puzzles and riddles that are probably confusing and mystifying to outsiders and even to native speakers at times. Idioms - or fixed expressions whose figurative meanings often differ from their literal meanings - are an example of this. Below, I unravel some of the most commonly used idioms in UK and U.S. English.
Cut to the chase (UK and US): To get to the point without wasting time This saying probably originated in the 1920s in the movie industry, referring to the chase scene in a film. Early silent movies often climaxed in an exciting chase scene, so studio executives would use the phrase 'cut to the chase' to mean 'skip the boring dialog and get to the good part'. To have a chip on one's shoulder (UK and US): To hold a grudge; to blame other people for something bad that has happened to you and continue to be angry about it so that it affects your behaviour In 17th century England, shipwrights who worked in the Royal Navy Dockyards were entitled to a certain amount of leftover timber or 'chips', which they would carry home on their shoulders at the end of the day. By 1756, shipwrights were abusing the privilege and taking home more timber than they were allowed, thereby costing taxpayers. So the Navy Board introduced a new rule to limit the amount of timber a shipwright could take home. What's more, from then on in the men were ordered to carry their offcuts of timber under their arms, rather than on their shoulders, since this made it harder to carry a large amount of timber. Almost a hundred years later, in 1830, the first recorded use of 'chip on his shoulder' in the U.S. appeared in the Long Island Telegraph. An article in this paper explained that when a young boy was angry about something and determined to fight, he would place a 'chip' or small piece of wood on his shoulder as a sort of advertisement, daring others to knock it off. If someone accepted his challenge and knocked the chip off his shoulder, it meant that they were ready to fight. Slowpoke (US) and slow coach (UK): A person who acts or moves slowly Both terms mean the same thing, so why does the UK say 'coach' while the U.S. uses 'poke'? From the outside, the UK version is easier to pick apart. A coach is another word for a bus, so the term 'slow coach' is clearly the figurative use of a literal slow-moving vehicle. There are a couple of possible origins of 'slowpoke'. Firstly, it could come from the verb, 'to poke', which means 'to move slowly or dawdle'. Another explanation which appears in the Oxford English Dictionary is that 'poke' derives from 'apooke', a Virginia Algonquian term for tobacco that literally means 'thing for smoking'. In this case, perhaps the figurative 'slowpoke' refers to a literally slow-burning plant. When I first moved to the UK, I harboured a sort of conspiratorial belief that Brits just liked to replace p's with c's sometimes - in this instance above, as well as saying 'hokey cokey' instead of 'hokey pokey'. But I'm pretty sure this is just a coincidence. At the drop of a hat (US and UK): Immediately; without delay In 19th century America, the start of a fight or race was often signalled by someone dropping their hat or sweeping it downward while holding it in one hand. These days, the phrase can be used to describe any action that begins quickly. To give someone the cold shoulder (UK and US) - To deliberately ignore someone in an unfriendly way This one probably refers to a human shoulder - specifically, the cold, backward glance you might give someone over your shoulder while turning your back toward them in disgust or contempt. However, some sources say that 'cold shoulder' actually refers to a cold, inferior cut of meat that you might give to an unwanted guest in order to signal that they have outstayed their welcome. But this is likely to be pseudo-etymology** (see bottom of article) Take with a grain of salt (US) / pinch of salt (UK): To view something with skepticism; to not take something seriously This saying probably derives from Naturalis Historia, an encyclopedic work written by Roman author Pliny the Elder around 77AD, in which he listed 'a grain of salt' as part of a recipe for an antidote to poison. It suggests that the more grievous consequences of poisoning could be avoided by ingesting this antidote - thus the threat could be taken less seriously. Other sources say that the grain of salt was not to relieve the effects of poisoning, but to make swallowing poison more bearable. According to this theory, Roman General Pompey believed he could make himself immune to poison by swallowing small doses of it, and he would add a pinch of salt as a chaser of sorts (like a tequila shot!) ** Pseudo-etymology In doing this research, I came across a very interesting phenomenon called 'pseudo-etymology' or false etymology: a popularly held but false belief about the origins of specific words, often originating in 'common-sense' assumptions. These are sort of like urban legends that tend to imbue words and phrases with a more colorful history than they really have. I suppose we're veering off the idiom track a little, but I find it fascinating nonetheless.
So next time someone tells you that 'shit' stands for 'Ship High In Transit', or that 'news' is an acronym for 'North East West South', try and take it with a grain of salt.
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What could be more whimsical and imagination-stirring than a cloud? These transient puffs of air laced with water particles take on mysterious shapes we naturally recognize as children. In recent months alone I've watched in awe as clouds morphed into giraffes, turtles, Coke bottles and top hats. With their infinite changeability and frustratingly untouchable height, it's no wonder clouds have been imbued with mythological and folkloric qualities by many cultures, for hundreds of years. We'll start in Ancient Greece. According to myth, clouds were not clouds at all but a group of young nymphs called Nephelai, the daughters of two titans, Oceanus and Tethys. These cloud spirits, depicted as beautiful and transparent, spent their days collecting water from the rivers in cloudy pitchers, then floating up to the heavens. When these pitchers were full, they poured water down from the sky, nourishing the earth and feeding the streams of their brothers, the Potamoi (river gods). Nephelai were thought to sail through the sky in billowing white robes, much like the way that clouds drift across the heavens. An ancient Hindu tradition said that elephants brought the rain, and that clouds themselves were the celestial relatives of the white elephants that roamed the earth. An elephant's body was thought to be representative of a cloud, and they would use their trunks to shower the earth with rain. Native Americans also created myths and folklore around clouds. According to the Skidi Pawnee tribe, who lived in Nebraska, clouds were the clothing of the gods of heaven. A god spreading its arms would cause the clouds to stretch across the entire sky. And the early Navajo people believed that clouds were formed when a great white swan flapped its wings. Even today, cloud myths endure. The Pueblo of Southwest America worship the Cloud People, supernatural beings from the Underworld who bring rain and moisture to the earth. These Cloud People are the spirits of the deceased who lived a good life, thereby taking on the form of clouds in the afterlife. By properly honoring the dead, the Pueblo - an agricultural people - believe that the Cloud People will grant them rain, thereby nourishing their land. Since we're into etymology (and when I see 'we', I mean 'me') - 'cloud' comes from the old English 'clud' or 'clod,' meaning a hill or a mass of rock. In the beginning of the 13th century, the word came to be used to refer to clouds in the sky. And in other news, the official scientific definition of a cloud is 'a visible accumulation of water droplets or solid ice crystals that floats in the Earth's troposphere'. There's no doubt about it - there's just something about clouds that is utterly magical. And it's not just you and I that have that feeling - it's a universal phenomenon throughout history. In fact, a Cloud Appreciation Society formed in 2005 now has more than 35,000 members worldwide. The society quite romantically calls clouds 'Nature's poetry' in its manifesto. Now, time to get your head out of the clouds. ;-)
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