To Chance Your Arm is to take an uncalculated risk, where the outcome is completely unknown. A blind bet, if you like. There are several suggestions for the origin of this saying, one being that military men, whose rank was displayed in the way of stripes on their sleeves, would take battlefield risks, which could …
Once in a Blue Moon and other fun phrase origins Read More »
The earliest reference to ‘colours’ as a means of identification can be traced back to the English navy, who adopted the term in 1706 to describe their flags of identity. Since then, we have regularly used expressions containing the term, such as to Nail One’s Colours to the Mast. a We will often hear this …
Albert Jack AUDIOBOOKS available for download here Money for Old Rope: The Big Book of Everything Buy Now Audio Books Other Platforms The Things That Your Teachers Didn’t Know, or Didn’t Want You to Know. When you find a person Three Sheets to the Wind they are roaring drunk and capable of …
A White Elephant is an expression used to describe something that has, or will, become a huge burden to those who possess it. It suggests the cost of possession could ruin a person financially. For this we travel to Thailand, in the days when it was known as Siam. According to the legend white elephants …
Red Herrings & White Elephants: The Origins of the Phrases We Use Everyday Amazon Paperback The biggest selling non-fiction book of the decade….. Mad hatter . . . pie in the sky . . . egg on your face. We use these phrases every day, yet how many of us know what they really mean …
The Origins of Nautical & Military Phrases – Kindle Edition Buy Now From the Author of the Internationally Bestselling Red Herrings & White Elephants, Pop Goes the Weasel, What Caesar did for My Salad, Shaggy Dogs, They Laughed at Galileo: Many times, during every single day, all of us will use what is known as …
When we look out of the window and it is Raining Cats and Dogs, don’t go out there. There are several suggestions for the origin of this phrase, one alluding to a famous occasion when it actually rained frogs. Apparently many were lifted into the air during a howling gale and then dropped to the …
