Reader Opinions
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.
Anonymous – (hit the road) August 10, 2024
I think this misses some context in that the phrase “hit the road” is only used for a long journey by car, typically intercity travel. You don’t hit the road to go under an hour home, you hit the road to go from Chicago to NYC.
“Might as well stay for supper, I don’t want to hit the road on an empty stomach.”, “We hit the road at 5AM so we’d be clear out of the city before rush hour”, or “If I don’t hit the road by 3, I’ll miss check in at our hotel that ends at 8.”
Jeffrey A Carlton – (when pigs fly) August 7, 2024
Who knows, if Kamala becomes president in 2024 then you’ll know for sure that pigs can fly (although maybe I should say if Biden gets ends up taking back his nomination and getting re-elected – both will be moments to look up and expect to see that pig flying overhead.)
