OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLE — ENGLISH PHRASES WITH INTERESTING ORIGINS
1. Wolf in sheep’s clothing
[Meaning: A wicked person who poses as an innocent one.]
The idiom originates from the Holy Bible (Matthew 7:15) – ‘Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.’
2. Bite the bullet
[Meaning: To do a difficult task, braving the pains.]
In the past, when anaesthesia was not common, doctors asked patients wounded in battle to bite on a bullet to cope with the pain of surgery.
3. Above board
[ Meaning: An action that is fair and legitimate.]
Placing hands under the ‘board’ or table is a cardsharp’s common trick. If a player keeps his hands visible above the board, he can be accepted as one who plays fair.
4. Armed to the teeth
[Meaning: Fully prepared for a confrontation.]
Medieval warriors were often so laden with weapons that sometimes they would have to carry one in their teeth.
5. Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
[Meaning: Inadvertently throwing away a valuable thing along with the unnecessary ones.]
In medieval Europe, not only did people bathe infrequently (often once a year), they also bathed in the same water without changing it! The adult males would take bath first, then the females, leaving the children and babies to go last. By the time the babies got in, the water was dark with filth. The poor mothers had to take extra care that their babies were not thrown out with the bathwater.
6. Give a cold shoulder
[Meaning: Make someone feel unwelcome.]
In old times, an unwelcome visitor would have been given the cheapest and most common type of food: cold shoulder of mutton.
7. Develop cold feet
[Meaning: To show reluctance.]
A soldier who had cold or frozen feet — a common affliction until the late 19th century — couldn’t rush into battle, and so proceeded painfully and slowly.
8. Caught red-handed
[Meaning: To be caught in the act of doing something wrong.]
This supposedly originates from an old English law that ordered any person to be punished for butchering an animal that wasn’t his own. The only way the person could be convicted is if he was caught with the animal’s blood still on his hands.
9. Turn a blind eye
[Meaning: To deliberately ignore situations, facts, or reality.]
The British Naval hero, Admiral Horatio Nelson, had one blind eye. Once when his over-defensive superiors signalled for him to desist from attacking the enemy fleet, he held up a telescope to his blind eye and said, “I do not see any signal.” He attacked following his own judgement and was victorious.
10. Bury the hatchet
[Meaning: To cease hostilities and make peace.]
This one is of American origin, dating back to early 17th century, when Puritan settlers in North America were in occasional conflict with the Native Americans. When negotiating peace, the Native Americans would bury all their hatchets, knives, clubs, and tomahawks as demonstration of peaceful intent.
1. Wolf in sheep’s clothing
[Meaning: A wicked person who poses as an innocent one.]
The idiom originates from the Holy Bible (Matthew 7:15) – ‘Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.’
2. Bite the bullet
[Meaning: To do a difficult task, braving the pains.]
In the past, when anaesthesia was not common, doctors asked patients wounded in battle to bite on a bullet to cope with the pain of surgery.
3. Above board
[ Meaning: An action that is fair and legitimate.]
Placing hands under the ‘board’ or table is a cardsharp’s common trick. If a player keeps his hands visible above the board, he can be accepted as one who plays fair.
4. Armed to the teeth
[Meaning: Fully prepared for a confrontation.]
Medieval warriors were often so laden with weapons that sometimes they would have to carry one in their teeth.
5. Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
[Meaning: Inadvertently throwing away a valuable thing along with the unnecessary ones.]
In medieval Europe, not only did people bathe infrequently (often once a year), they also bathed in the same water without changing it! The adult males would take bath first, then the females, leaving the children and babies to go last. By the time the babies got in, the water was dark with filth. The poor mothers had to take extra care that their babies were not thrown out with the bathwater.
6. Give a cold shoulder
[Meaning: Make someone feel unwelcome.]
In old times, an unwelcome visitor would have been given the cheapest and most common type of food: cold shoulder of mutton.
7. Develop cold feet
[Meaning: To show reluctance.]
A soldier who had cold or frozen feet — a common affliction until the late 19th century — couldn’t rush into battle, and so proceeded painfully and slowly.
8. Caught red-handed
[Meaning: To be caught in the act of doing something wrong.]
This supposedly originates from an old English law that ordered any person to be punished for butchering an animal that wasn’t his own. The only way the person could be convicted is if he was caught with the animal’s blood still on his hands.
9. Turn a blind eye
[Meaning: To deliberately ignore situations, facts, or reality.]
The British Naval hero, Admiral Horatio Nelson, had one blind eye. Once when his over-defensive superiors signalled for him to desist from attacking the enemy fleet, he held up a telescope to his blind eye and said, “I do not see any signal.” He attacked following his own judgement and was victorious.
10. Bury the hatchet
[Meaning: To cease hostilities and make peace.]
This one is of American origin, dating back to early 17th century, when Puritan settlers in North America were in occasional conflict with the Native Americans. When negotiating peace, the Native Americans would bury all their hatchets, knives, clubs, and tomahawks as demonstration of peaceful intent.
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