I often find it fascinating as to the origin of phrases/idioms.
For example, “keep your powder dry” meaning to being ready to take action and coming from soldiers ensuring that their gun powder didn’t get wet in transport so it is ready for use.
Balls to the Wall, in a training context… I really can’t find anything or can’t even think of how this thing came to be…
Ideas?
Other idioms you scratch your head about and google is no help?
Well, balls to the wall is an aviation term that references the ball like top of the throttle. It’s pushed all the way to the wall to open the throttle all the way.
Although a backtomology also suggests it is similar to ‘going balls deep.’
[quote]Silyak wrote:
Well, balls to the wall is an aviation term that references the ball like top of the throttle. It’s pushed all the way to the wall to open the throttle all the way.
Although a backtomology also suggests it is similar to ‘going balls deep.’[/quote]
I always thought balls to the wall was referring to fucking someone standing up against a wall
I don’t know if I’m correct but I think of “wall” as the limit of ability or barrier that can’t be surpassed . So balls to the wall means limit of your ability which you have to dig deep down and man-up in order to reach.
[quote]Silyak wrote:
Although a backtomology also suggests it is similar to ‘going balls deep.’[/quote]
I thought “going balls deep” literally just meant going balls deep.
[quote]Silyak wrote:
Well, balls to the wall is an aviation term that references the ball like top of the throttle. It’s pushed all the way to the wall to open the throttle all the way.
Although a backtomology also suggests it is similar to ‘going balls deep.’[/quote]
yep, it means pushing the throttle all the way to the firewall.
I remember in middle school calling everything ?tight" or saying “that’s tight” was in.
I think it wasn’t until somewhere in my early twenties I thought that over again and realized where it came from.
I was a very innocent 13 year old boy.
Smack dab, as in smack dab in the middle. What is the margin of error before you are no longer “smack dab”?
[quote]Sutebun wrote:
I remember in middle school calling everything ?tight" or saying “that’s tight” was in.
I think it wasn’t until somewhere in my early twenties I thought that over again and realized where it came from.
I was a very innocent 13 year old boy.[/quote]
I always thought the slang tight came from the description of musicians playing together extremely well as tight. Someone who looks tight, or is wearing tight shoes, looks comfortable, clean, stylish. The term certainly grew to be attached to other things and even have a more general meaning as ‘good’ but that’s probably where it got going.
It could also be that gang members like to express how close their ties are as ‘tight,’ which was a good thing, and thus tight becomes known as ‘good’ in gangs, and grows from there.
Both seem far more likely to me than people taking tight in the meaning of a vagina and expanding from that.
[quote]red04 wrote:
I always thought the slang tight came from the description of musicians playing together extremely well as tight. Someone who looks tight, or is wearing tight shoes, looks comfortable, clean, stylish. The term certainly grew to be attached to other things and even have a more general meaning as ‘good’ but that’s probably where it got going.
It could also be that gang members like to express how close their ties are as ‘tight,’ which was a good thing, and thus tight becomes known as ‘good’ in gangs, and grows from there.
Both seem far more likely to me than people taking tight in the meaning of a vagina and expanding from that.[/quote]
No. It means tight pussy. Shut up.
[quote]Tyler23 wrote:
[quote]red04 wrote:
I always thought the slang tight came from the description of musicians playing together extremely well as tight. Someone who looks tight, or is wearing tight shoes, looks comfortable, clean, stylish. The term certainly grew to be attached to other things and even have a more general meaning as ‘good’ but that’s probably where it got going.
It could also be that gang members like to express how close their ties are as ‘tight,’ which was a good thing, and thus tight becomes known as ‘good’ in gangs, and grows from there.
Both seem far more likely to me than people taking tight in the meaning of a vagina and expanding from that.[/quote]
No. It means tight pussy. Shut up.[/quote]
This made me laugh.
[quote]dingo50 wrote:
Smack dab, as in smack dab in the middle. What is the margin of error before you are no longer “smack dab”?
[/quote]
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, smack-dab showed up in print in 1892: “He hit him smack dab in the mouth”.
From what I can see its really just a combination of the two words smack and dab. The word ‘smack’ meaning to use sudden force, ‘dab’ meaning sudden contact. So we are saying ‘connected with sudden force’.
So ‘smack dab’ does not imply position. That’s the duty of the ‘in the middle’ part of the expression.
I love a good turn of phrase or a shocking pun.
A friend recently told me her mother had an extensive collection of teddy bears, some of which were very valuable, and she had called ‘dibs’ on some of the bears for when her mum dies. I responded ‘a will and bears…I see trouble bruin’. I’m still laughing at that one.
But can anyone explain the origin of ‘to call dibs’.
A lot of American English idioms get translated to other languages with some mixed success. One that is very common in Israel is to “ride shotgun.”
Everyone knows it means to sit in the front passenger seat, but I never knew its origin until I saw a Wells Fargo Stagecoach display in a bank with a mannikin holding a shotgun sitting next to the driver.
One that native English speakers use in Hebrew is “on the other hand.” Well, it makes sense, but is not really an expression in Hebrew, and I get the urge to look at the persons other hand for whatever they are talking about. (Given the large overlap between Hebrew and English speakers, this has actually kind of gradually caught on.)
[quote]Jewbacca wrote:
A lot of American English idioms get translated to other languages with some mixed success. One that is very common in Israel is to “ride shotgun.”
Everyone knows it means to sit in the front passenger seat, but I never knew its origin until I saw a Wells Fargo Stagecoach display in a bank with a mannikin holding a shotgun sitting next to the driver.
One that native English speakers use in Hebrew is “on the other hand.” Well, it makes sense, but is not really an expression in Hebrew, and I get the urge to look at the persons other hand for whatever they are talking about. (Given the large overlap between Hebrew and English speakers, this has actually kind of gradually caught on.)[/quote]
Also one’s this non-native speaker does not understand the underlying origin of:
going “cold turkey” — I presume “turkey” is slang for a drug or perhaps a whiskey (e.g., “Wild Turkey”) but I would love to know.
guys “chewing the fat” Yes, I know it means talk things over. And I guess it comes from they had the good part of the meal and are still sitting there talking while eating the remainder, but that it a guess.
Also, “Bob’s your uncle” (for English English speakers). Apparently this has to do with giving directions in Scotland because they use it every time you ask directions. No clue what it means, but it tends to conclude the conversation.
[quote]MartyMonster wrote:
I love a good turn of phrase or a shocking pun.
A friend recently told me her mother had an extensive collection of teddy bears, some of which were very valuable, and she had called ‘dibs’ on some of the bears for when her mum dies. I responded ‘a will and bears…I see trouble bruin’. I’m still laughing at that one.
But can anyone explain the origin of ‘to call dibs’.[/quote]
It’s thought that “dibs” is a shortening of dibstones (jacks) but I can’t find anything in my books about how dibs then meant a claim on something. In the UK, it’s called bags, thought to be from putting your bag under your desk.
I love words and idioms, so I’m going to geek out here.
cold turkey: fairly recent, goes back to the early 1900s. Might be a derivation of “to talk turkey” or from the dish cold turkey, which would need little preparation.
chewing the fat: goes back to the 1400s when they “chewed the cud”. Can also be replaced with “rag”. Basically refers to working the jaws in complaint, gossip, or idle speech.
Source: 2107 Curious Word Origins, Sayings, and Expressions by Charles Earle Funk
Bob’s your uncle: Bob’s your uncle’ is often said to derive from the supposed nepotism of Lord Salisbury, who appointed a favourite nephew, Arthur Balfour, to several political posts in the 1880s. Balfour went on to become Prime Minister after his uncle, but his early political appointments were considered inappropriate as he had shown no prior interest in public work. It is unlikely that Arthur Balfour would ever have become a celebrated politician without the patronage of his influential uncle. Piers Brendon, in Eminent Edwardians, 1979, writes:
"In 1887, Balfour was unexpectedly promoted to the vital front line post of Chief Secretary for Ireland by his uncle Robert, Lord Salisbury."
The link here between an uncle Bob who was Prime Minister and a ‘Bob’s your uncle’ passport to a cushy life is easy to make.The fact that the word ‘nepotism’ derives from ‘nephew’ makes the link seem all the more neat. Such neatness is often the mark of a back-formation, that is, an explanation that is made up after the event.
Just as an aside, a variant of the phrase has been taken up by the Greek community in Australia. They use ‘Spiro is your uncle’ to denote nepotism there.
Source: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/bobs-your-uncle.html
[quote]Jewbacca wrote:
One that native English speakers use in Hebrew is “on the other hand.” Well, it makes sense, but is not really an expression in Hebrew, and I get the urge to look at the persons other hand for whatever they are talking about. [/quote]
lol
[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:
cold turkey: fairly recent, goes back to the early 1900s. Might be a derivation of “to talk turkey” or from the dish cold turkey, which would need little preparation.
[/quote]
OK, so what does that have to do with getting of drugs/drink?
Makes sense, but the way it is used in rural UK is like “You go to the pub, then left at the post office, then right at the pharmacy, then BOBS YOUR UNCLE!”
Then we were off looking for a f----g landmark called “Bob’s Your Uncle” that was apparently close to our destination.
[quote]Jewbacca wrote:
[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:
cold turkey: fairly recent, goes back to the early 1900s. Might be a derivation of “to talk turkey” or from the dish cold turkey, which would need little preparation.
[/quote]
OK, so what does that have to do with getting of drugs/drink?[/quote]
Nothing. “cold turkey” is used in the idiom “to quit cold turkey” which means suddenly, or with little preparation.
[quote]
Makes sense, but the way it is used in rural UK is like “You go to the pub, then left at the post office, then right at the pharmacy, then BOBS YOUR UNCLE!”
Then we were off looking for a f----g landmark called “Bob’s Your Uncle” that was apparently close to our destination.[/quote]
It means “…and then everything is fine, or the way it should be”. An American English equivalent would be something like, “…and there you go!”