Comments on: The Quick 10: The Origins of 10 Curious Phrases

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 02:46:16 +0000

“Under the weather” is a nautical term. Sailors sleep in the Fo’castle. The “weather deck” forms the roof of the fo’castle and overhangs the main deck to keep it dry. If a sailor was sick they hung his hammock under this overhang so nobody else would get sick. So “where’s the sick guy?” Ans- Under the weather[deck].

By: Scarlet Ibis

Scarlet Ibis — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 03:08:17 +0000

These are all wrong. Someone just randomly made them up.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 17:18:50 +0000

Oh, darrhel, you would make Biff Tannen weep.

By: Lloyd

Lloyd — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 11:26:10 +0000

My wife said to me, “yes I love you, warts and all.” She says it was an old phrase, I had my doubts, your thoughts?

By: Carsty

Carsty — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 22:36:19 +0000

I’ve always wondered where the phrase, “hold their own” came from. e.g. “He can really hold his own”… Is it referring to weight? His own WHAT?

By: Leslie

Leslie — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 00:07:16 +0000

raining cats and dogs came from the middle ages where poor homes were lower to the ground and made with mud and straw roofs. Animals like cats and mice, and yes sometimes the odd dog nestled in the straw to keep warm and to hide from the elements, but when it would rain, the straw would weaken and force the animals to fall through.

By: Frank Drakman

Frank Drakman — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 00:28:16 +0000

“Dumb as a bag of Logans”

…of course it’s a racial slur – and an ironic one at that. Since we (us crackers) took everything they had and gave them almost nothing in return.

…except the parts of the country we didn’t want anyway.

By: Logan

Logan — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 11:16:00 +0000

“Indian Giver” is not a racial slur, as it refers to the immigrants who promised land to the Native Americans, and then took it away.

By: Maureen from Trinidad

Maureen from Trinidad — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 02:07:00 +0000

hey, can u please explain ‘ready like freddy’ and it’s origin…thank u.

By: The Master

The Master — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 12:50:00 +0000

Re comment posted by ‘theYerg on 1-8-2009 at 4:00 pm’
My understanding after exhaustive research, is that because the letters ‘D’ and ‘S’ are adjacent to each other on a standard keyboard and in turn this sequence followed natural evolution of the English language… It follows that the word ‘wider’ was mistakenly entered into the then law books instead of the word ‘wiser’… Ergo ‘You werenâ€™t able to beat your wife with a switch ‘wiser’ than your thumb’…