Reader Opinions
Chris – (not give a damn) October 3, 2024
MWM is totally right; British origin not American.
Chris – (none of your lip) October 3, 2024
Not the same as none of your business; none of your lips means don’t be cheeky, don’t answer back. Don’t say anything that insults or arguments. The only example above that is even close is the first one.
Kurtiss – (wag the dog) October 2, 2024
They’re not tracing this back farther than 1997? It was used in reference to the 1992 election in the early/mid ’90s, and Joseph Wambaugh used it in Lines & Shadows in 1984. Anyone know anything earlier than those?
Anonymous – (a stitch in time saves nine) September 18, 2024
Where did nine come from?
Scath – (beyond the pale) September 14, 2024
Previous to 1922, Britain-run Dublin was called “The Pale,” and areas outside of Dublin were considered “beyond the Pale.” If you were an anglophile living in Dublin, to venture outside or beyond the Pale was considered dangerous since many Irish hated the British for their dominance over Gallic (Celtic) culture.
TLeaf – (good egg) August 28, 2024
There’s a direct equivalent in Chinese: 坏蛋 or 壞蛋, literally “bad egg”, which I doubt came from the same Hammett origin. Some other Chinese expressions involving eggs: foolish egg, mucky egg, or telling someone to scram: 滚蛋”scram-egg”. But I’m not aware of any Chinese reference to “good egg”.
Chris – (in dire straits or need) August 27, 2024
Surely the phrase comes from the navy, straits being the dangerous waters between lands, dire straits would be excessively dangerous.
Larry Adams – (break a leg) August 26, 2024
I once heard that it was coined after John Wilkes Booth broke his leg after killing President Lincoln while jumping from the box to the stage.
Rex – (knock on wood (touch wood)) August 12, 2024
I was told at a very young age that knock on wood met you would have good luck. My family and I were loggers in Alaska and Oregon and I was told that knock on wood was a logging term when you wanted or you needed some “Good Luck”.
Chris – (forty winks) August 10, 2024
I would suggest the original use of the phrase was ironic humour; Forty being a derivative of “fortifying” and wink which – unlike in the explanation above, was not closing “ones eyes” but closing “one eye”. You could have a fortifying sleep but not a wink; a wink being too short (micro seconds). Not having a wink of sleep means you could not even sleep for a second.
