Sayings and Meanings

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January 18th, 2018
Back Sayings and Meanings

Next time you meet with your friends at the lodge hall, barber shop or supermarket, you can share these sayings and meanings behind their creation with them.

'I gave them the whole nine yards' originated during World War 2. American fighter planes were armed with belts of bullets used to shoot during dogfights and on strafing runs. The belts measured 27 feet and were folded into the wing compartments to feed their machine guns. After returning from a mission and having fired all their bullets at various targets, a gunner would say, 'I gave them the whole nine yards.'

What about the saying, 'God willing and the Creek don't rise?' This referred to the Creek Indians, not a body of water. It was written by a politician named Benjamin Hawkins in the 1800s. Hawkins was a diplomat who worked with the Indian tribes. The President of the United States requested him to return to Washington D.C. and Hawkins would write to him, 'God willing and the Creek don't rise' to interfere with his journey.

In the days of our first President George Washington, cameras did not exist. Images were formed by paintings or sculptures. Some paintings of Washington showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back. Others showed both legs and arms. There was a reason for this. Artists charged their fees based not on how many people were to be painted but by how many limbs appeared. The more arms and legs, which are limbs, would cost the buyer more money. That is where the saying, 'It will cost you an arm and a leg' came from.

It may sound incredible, but in the 1700s and 1800s, people took baths only twice a year (in May and October). Women kept their hair covered and men shaved their heads because of lice and bugs and wore wigs. The wealthy afforded good wigs made from wool. They couldn't wash them so they would carve out a loaf of bread, place the wig in the shell, and bake it until the heat puffed up the wig. That was where the term 'big wig' came from. People today often say, 'Here comes the Big Wig' because the person is powerful or important.

Personal hygiene in the 1700s left a lot to be desired. Because of the lack of care, by adulthood many men and women developed acne scars. The women would spread bees' wax over their facial skin to make their complexions smooth. During a conversation if a woman stared at another female's face, she was often told, 'Mind your own bees' wax. And if a woman smiled, the wax would often crack, causing people to come up with the saying, 'Crack a smile.' And if you sat too close to a fire, the wax would melt. That is where the expression 'losing face' originated.

One of the favorite forms of early entertainment was playing cards. A tax was levied when buying cards, but it was only applicable to the ace of spades. To avoid paying the tax, people would purchase only 51 cards. Since most games require 52 cards, their friends thought they were dumb since they were not 'playing with a full deck.'

Early elected politicians needed feedback from the voters to determine which way to lean on issues. Since there were no telephones or other forms of instant communication, they sent their assistants to local taverns or other public meeting places to 'go sip some ale and listen to people's conversations and political interests.' The assistant were told, 'You go sip here' or 'You go sip there' and that is how the word gossip came into being. Along the same line, people drank from pint and quart-sized containers at taverns and pubs. A bar maid's job was to keep the drinks flowing. She had to pay close attention to who was drinking from pints and who was sipping from quarts and that is how the phrase 'Minding your 'P's and 'Q's' came from.

During the era of the early sailing ships, many vessels carried iron cannons that fired round cannon balls. It was necessary to keep the balls near the cannon, but the sailors had to figure out how to stop them from rolling about the deck. Someone came up with a square-based pyramid with a single ball on top resting on four which rested on nine which rested on 16. This allowed a supply of 30 cannon balls to be stacked in a small area next to the cannon. Another problem existed: how do you stop the bottom layer from rolling away from the others. The solution was a metal plate nicknamed 'Monkey' with 16 round indentations. But if the plate was made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. To solve the rusting problem, they made brass Monkeys since brass contracts much faster than iron when chilled. When the temperature fell, the brass indentations would shrink, allowing the iron cannon balls to come off the monkey. That was why the phrase 'Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey' was invented.

“To avoid paying the tax, people would purchase only 51 cards.”

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