The origins of these idioms we use every day will surprise you
There are some surprising stories behind the phrases we are so used to hearing and saying every day... Are you ready to find out more?
#1 Bury the hatchet
In the past, warring parties would literally bury their weapons while negotiating or to declare peace. For example, when different Native American tribes wanted to join forces to fight against other tribes, they symbolically buried a stone hatchet under a cypress tree. Puritans and Native Americans also buried all their weapons during negotiations to signal the laying down of arms.
#2
In the 18th century, the most influential politicians wore the biggest wigs. Modern politicians don't tend to wear wigs, but are still called "big wigs" sometimes.
#3
In fact, the original phrase meant the opposite thing! The full phrase was "The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb”. It referred to the warriors who shed their blood together in the same field. These bonds were said to be stronger than biological ones.
#4
In the early 1700s, chickens born in springtime were more expensive than the ones who survived the winter. Sometimes, farmers tried to sell the "old" chickens as the spring ones, and the attentive buyers complained that the they were "no spring chicken". Only half a century ago someone started using this phrase metaphorically,
#5
Blue moon is real! It's an astronomical phenomenon. Blue moon is the second full moon in a month of the common calendar. It is really quite rare and appears once every 2.7 years.
#6
The skin of a person who's going through drug withdrawal sometimes gets covered with goosebumps, just like the skin of a plucked turkey. According to other sources, the term may derive from the cold feel of the addict's skin during withdrawal.
#7
Long time ago, people believed the left side of almost everything to be the "evil side". To stay away from the evil spirits, they would often push the left side of the bed to the corner to always get up on the right side.
#8
It was a popular street fraud of the 1700s - valuable pigs were replaced with less valuable cats and then sold in bags. When a cat jumped out of a bag, the fraud was exposed.
#9
When someone wanted to buy a horse in the 1900s, they would look at their teeth to determine the animal's age and see if it's really worth the money. The idiom "look a gift horse in the mouth" supposedly has the same origin.
#10
In ancient India, people would throw butter balls at the statues of gods to seek their favor and good fortune.
#11
Catherine de Medici, the Queen of France, had a network of listening tubes in the Louvre Palace. That's how she discovered political secrets and plots. The phrase is believed to have originated in those times.
Which of these phrases do you like the most? Did you know the history behind them? Is there anything you would like to add to the article?
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