Where Common Terms And Phrases Originated
Vložit
- čas přidán 22. 05. 2024
- Have you ever heard a word or phrase and wondered when people started saying it? And why?
Language is constantly changing, and many of the common terms and phrases we use in everyday conversation have much deeper meanings than we realize. Numerous statements still in use have evoked controversy and reassessment, while others continue to find new applications.
Be sure to subscribe to the Weird History Newsletter: www.ranker.com/newsletters/we...
#idioms #language #weirdhistory - Zábava
I enjoyed your video. I live in the UK. We call a bus, a "bus". The coach is used for larger fancy buses that people use for touring holidays or transporting VIPs. We would never say in the UK "I am going to take the coach to work", we would say I am "taking the bus".
Was going to point that out also, where do they get these "facts" of theirs? LOL
@@patrickbrett66 it makes me wonder about the rest of the information in the video????
I was hoping one of you Brits would chime in. Not many of us Yanks know there's a distinction, here a bus is a bus regardless of its use.
@@mescko Bus is from omnibus, a vehicle carrying many at once, in the uk used in towns and cities to transport locally, coach from Stagecoach that would transport people over large distances but a 'stage' at a time, between coach houses and inns. Coaches now refer to busses with comfy seats that travel long distances.
@@patrickbrett66 They make 'em up.
This video was the bee's knees... The cat's pajamas... A diamond In the rough.
You got that right, buster!
add cat's meow
the snakes hips!
" It was the wasp's nipples. Infact i would go so far as to call it the entire set of erogenous zones of every single invertabrate of the western hemisphere. "
Douglas Adams
The dog's bollocks!
As both a psychologist and a space enthusiast, I can assure you that those are not photos of *psychologist* HENRY Goddard, but of *aerospace pioneer* ROBERT Goddard!
The pictures of him posing *WITH A ROCKET BOOSTER* should have been a clue.
If that's how poorly Weird History is fact-checked, it has earned a VIP Pass into the "Do Not Recommend This Channel" Club.
I was going to comment on that point. I worked in the Clark University Archives where Dr. ROBERT H Goddard's papers are stored in Worcester, Massachusetts. I recognized him immediately.
Glad I wasn’t the only one who noticed that!
I grew up in the Pakachoag area of Auburn, Mass where Robert Goddard launched the first liquid fuel rocket. The site is now a golf course.
Hoity-Toity is derived from the French Haute Toit which means high roof. If you had a high roof it meant you had a big house and were wealthy. In French you would say toit haute, but the term was mangled by early pioneers.
I guess that makes the French "toity-hoity".
Wouldn't be the first time; Buccaneer, Hoosegow, "Dead Rabbits" were/are all mispronounced words mangled from their original languages :D But that's how American English rolls, so just have fun!! :D
Yeah, they could afford to be able to heat that entire huge flipping space. Always kind of curious how people manage to do that, especially with houses with a lot of and/or huge windows
I thought it meant posh.
haute couture
My mom was born in 1930, grew up poor and raised/grew most of what they ate. She had a ton of weird sayings that I've repeated over the years and no one else has ever heard them before. Here's my favorite: "You can even learn to hang if you hang long enough." She passed about 6 years ago but was the greatest lady I've ever known.
i think that's like "fake it til you make it."
My mom was born in 1932 and spent the Depression moving between Phoenix and Tulsa. She had some phrased and words I've heard nowhere else. A glove compartment was a "car pocket". A sleeping bag was a "bedroll". Ajax or Commet were "Dutch Cleanser". And if something required a lot of work then you needed some "Elbow Grease"
"Elbow grease" and "bedroll" are pretty common terms.
@@LorchVHS Oh really? Are youfamiliar with the terms "know-it-all" and "Arrogant Ass"?
@@patrickfreeman8257 lol
"Pulling all the stops" comes from the use of an organ. The organ stops traditionally pulled out to activate them. Now, a lot of organs just use buttons as the stops. The stops are basically the different instrument sounds the organ can make. By pulling all the stops, an organist is activating all the tones.
Fascinating!
Brought to you by Google search!
Took me a sec to realise we were discussing the musical instrument and not body parts haha
Daughter of a professional church organist here. You are correct. Furthermore, organs produce sound by running air through pipes. In a church that has a pipe organ (we specify "pipe organ" today because many organs are now electronic, so they don't have any pipes) - basically, the whole church is the instrument. The part that the organist plays is just the control center. So the "buttons" (they are actually more like levers) on an organ are called "stops" because when they are pushed in, they *stop* the air from flowing to the pipes connected to the stop, so those pipes stay quiet when the organist plays the keys and foot pedals. When you pull out the stop, the pipes attached to that stop will make noise. So when you "pull out all the stops," you are making it so that literally every pipe in the organ - and they are distributed all over the church - is making sound, all at once. It's really frakking loud!
Interesting!
In the 1960s we belonged to Jim Jones' church in Indiana. I spent Christmas twice at his home. So glad my family left the church when they did.
Being a Hoosier myself, you're the only other person or channel that has ever mentioned the People's Temple was formed in Indianapolis.
I'm really curious how those Christmases went and thankful your family left when they did as well.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this narrator is my absolute favorite. His voice and sarcastic inflection bring me such joy. If he’s narrating the video, I’m watching it, even if I’m not interested in the subject.🙌
And you repeat it because...you think nobody reads it, remembers it, cares?
Yea, where have I heard this guy before tho?
@@RockinDbop1 He sounds a lot like James Woods to me.
Me too! To me, he has a British sense of humor, without the accent.
Narrators do a great service. They can make or break a channel 💯
The irony with "drink the Kool-Aid" is that it was actually Flavor-Aid used at Jonestown.
Damn I was scouring the comments to see if anyone already said what I was thinking. I'm pretty surprised he didn't mention the Flavor-Aid in the video.
That's why I like to drink lemonade, tea, and root beer. Screw Kool-aid/Flavor-Aid!
@@alicerivierre It's not the Kool or Flavor Aid what kills ya... it's the cyanide. But lemonade and root beer are good choices. 😜
@@jamesdietz29 oh no, I knew it was spiked with cyanide, but Kool-Aid does have artificial flavors and chemicals in itself. I'm all natural.
@@alicerivierre Stay away from Hostess fruit pies then, says right on the package, "natural fruit filling - artificially flavored"... Yum!
I'm 72, and growing up the term "Basket case", was used for a motorcycle that was usually torn apart and its parts where all dumped in a "basket". Later, when I was older, old airplanes that were diassembled and probably missing parts, with a run out engine were deemed basket cases. Any mechanical contrivence that was advertised in the want ads as a "basket case" meant that it was all torn apart, missing pieces and was going to need parts and a Hell of a lot of work to get it running again, so it was unusally cheap.
Was this written by Abraham Simpson?
The term "saved by the bell" was in reference to graveyards tying bells to string that was placed into the casket just in case someone was buried prematurely. If someone had appeared dead and been buried but weren't dead, when they awakened, they would pull on the string which would ring the bell and if you're lucky enough that someone was nearby, they would dig you up. Another good one was the saying, "you don't have a pot to piss in" in reference to being extremely destitute. This term originated in the Middle Ages when peasants would sell their urine to tanneries who would use it to cure leather. They would literally pee in a pot and bring it to the tannery. Some peasants were so poor that they didn't have a pot to pee in to bring it to the tannery hence they don't have a pot to piss in. Incidentally, being so poor that you had to sell your urine to make money led to the term "piss poor".
The people at Jonestown didn't actually drink Kool-Aid brand, despite the popular implication of the phrase.
They drank a competitor's product, Flavor-Aid. "Kool-Aid" was used because that's what everyone calls those kind of drink mixes, like some people calling all soda the name brand "Coke".
Only hicks call all soda coke
The video said it was a fruit flavored drink.
The news reports at the time reported the brand name: Flavor-Aid.
But it morphed into coolade within years, and universally understood it meant the Jonestown mass suicide.
An intermediate form also appeared in print right then: "Jim Jones kool-aid," brand name not capitalized.
Same reason photocopies are typically called "Xerox copies"
@@653j521 With a dash of cyanide.
My mom came from W Virginia in an isolated mostly Scottish descendant area. She had many strange sayings but my favorite was when she was annoyed. She’d say “sh!t fire and save the matches!”
My Grandmother was from West Virginia and often used the term shit fire, Kilgore, my Grandfather's name
Shit "far" the way we say it in tennessee ! And something about "40 hells " !
My WVa mom also was an old country girl with Scots Irish ancestry. She could be right crude. I once overkneaded my biscuit dough and they came out really inedible. She said the the biscuits were "tough as bulls' 'balls!" It put me off of making bread!
My family always used that phrase
Shlt fire put it in a mustard jar seal it up and save matches
What I find fascinating about word and phrase origin videos is the simple fact that every video has an entirely different origin for the words/phrases
😂
I always thought the term basket case was given to someone who was sent to a mental institution where therapy included weaving baskets.
FUDGE .....Means yu all have reached a tipping point
No. A basket case is hopeless.
Yes, that's exactly it. Baskets were seen as both easy to make and soothing for the patients. I actually wish they were still offering this. It definitely would have beat aimless walking up and down the hall for a week.
yup, that's my understanding too, mentally ill & also intellectually disabled weaved baskets as a job
I had heard it related to the wicker coffins used to collect dead bodies on Skid Row.
I once dated someone who had English/American as a second language with no problems. Even after having lived a decade in the states they still struggled with idiom's. You never realize just how many are integrated into our daily speech until you actually count how many you hear or use in a day.
There is no apostrophe in the word idioms. I agree, we could not carry on a normal conversation without using and understanding these buggers. They become so ingrained that we begin to use them incorrectly, such as when someone says for Christsakes instead of for Christ's sake.
@@mauricemorning And of course the Brits have a panoply of their own idioms. The proprietor of a B & B at which I was staying laughed at me down the pub when he heard me use his language with my accent. Feeling cheeky I replied, "Accent? What accent?"
I feel you. My ex was an immigrant, and I found myself constantly having to explain what I was saying. Really opened my eyes. Actually, right there is another one. They are everywhere.
There's classes specifically on idioms in Australia, cause it's the only way to survive! Not speaking the same language if you don't know Aussie slang! Really common one that seems to catch them all out here btw is "bring a plate", when attending a barbie or other gathering at a friend/workmate's place. First time they encounter it, they all seem to bring an empty plate & confused look on their face lol. "bring a plate" actually means to bring a plate of food, ie the catering is being shared/everyone's bringing something.
@@mehere8038, I've been told to bring a dish or it's pot luck which are basically the same depending on where you live. I'm from the southern U.S. but I've lived up north and there are dialects in this country. If I said "a dogwood" most people up north wouldn't know I was talking about a tree. I started life out as an Army brat and people say I sound like I'm from the upper Midwest area of the country.🤷🏽♂️
As an over-the-road driver it was at times to talk to someone on the phone to get directions and when I walk in the door and start speaking I'd get wide eyes, double takes because they weren't expecting someone as dark as me to walk in.🤣
In our attic at our old house me and my brothers found a letter written in 1909. And the word corking was used several times in the letter. So we went to the library to try to find out what that slang word meant and one of the librarians who was an historian told us that it was their word for cool.
Lol
Makeup
Corking good to know
Still used where I live in Yorkshire. You might say, "that was a corking game" meaning very good or enjoyable.
I was taught in my college literature class that "peanut gallery" was much older, and likely referred to the audience of a Shakespeare (or similar) who couldn't afford proper chairs. They sat or stood on the dirt floor and ate peanuts, tossing the shells on the ground. Since they were poor, their opinion of the play didn't matter as much, lending to the negative connotation.
Agreed
@@devonbreebaker2345 Peanut Gallery was the studio audience for the Howdy Doody tv show.
Or “haven’t seen you in a coons age.” Something you say to someone you haven’t seen in a long time.
“Pea picking “ came from the Tennessee Ernie Ford Show
Yes, this is what I've read.
The term raining cats and dogs comes from early Irish or English origin ...with thatched roof homes, cats and dogs would climb up into the thatch to stay warm. When it would rain real heavily, it would make them slide out of the roof. So you know when it's raining really hard cuz you'll see cat and dogs going by your window
I really hope that's the actual explanation because that's hilarious
It’s not.
That is actually true and in western Kansas the mud adobe huts were one room. The dogs and cats actually fell through tge roof inside. Told to me by my great grandmother.
I’ve had an umbrella for about 15 years now. Round the edge it has alternating cats and dogs. I love it, so appropriate for a umbrella!
Sorry, the phrase is English and is actually much older than America. It had nothing to do with keeping cats and dogs (or any other livestock) on the roof. @@Royalsfanallthetime
10:47 An early use of "tumregel" (rule of thumb), in Swedish, is from a textbook about physics, written in 1897, by the Swedish school book author Tom Moll (one of the earliest authors of higher education schoolbooks in Swedish). His Rule of Thumb state that if you put your hand around an electric coil, so that the fingers point in the direction of the current that run through it, your thumb will point in the direction of the magnetic north, of the magnetic field generated by the coil.
Is there any earlier uses of this expression with a different meaning. As far as I know, this is the first documented use of the expression in Swedish.
Tom Moll had Dutch father, so the expression might have come to Swedish from Dutch. The language used by physics and engineers, in all of Europe and America, was German, and when Tom Moll himself was a student, lectures (in Sweden), and the school books used, was held/written in German, so his choice of expression might have come from German. I find it unlikely that the expression came into Swedish from English, as English was not much in use outside the British Empire (yet) and didn't (yet) have much influence on other European languages (the international language of international relations, law, and culinary arts was French, the international language of philosophy was Latin, the international languages used between sailors was Dutch, Spanish, Lingua Franca, or Mandarin et c.). There were a lot immigrants to USA, from Sweden, in the 1840-60's (when there was several years with bad crops), and some of those, would later return back to Sweden, and with them some English loan words and phrases; but English was only influencing lower class Swedish, and using an English expression in Swedish writing, was, in the 1890's (it would change in the 1920's, when Enlish would really become the bees knees), seen as quite vulgar, unless it was fiction and the intent was to mimic what an English speaker might have said, or what some vulgar Swede, might had said (e.g. in 1880-90's there was a Swedish subculture called "grilljannar", that mixed English into their Swedish slang).
It could also originate in using the width of your thumb as a ruler. The word for "inch" translates to "thumb" in both French (pouce), and Spanish (pulgada).
"Touché" from what I have heard, comes from fencing. When someone would admit someone had a "good point" from a touch; "touché"
I'm a fencer and can confirm this is true, although now we use electronic scoring systems.
My favorite one is "the whole 9 yards" In ww1 i think? maybe 2... the belt fed machine gun they used belt, was 9 yards long. so when a commander said "give them the whole 9 yards" it meant...fire until you're out of ammo. This usually destroyed the gun as it wasn't meant to be fired full auto that long and was usually in desperate situations so if you ever heard 'give'em the whole 9 yards' you knew you were in deep shit.
Colorful, but not attested. Explanations are as varied as nine cubic yards being the capacity of a cement mixer truck.
When they were retiring Maxims they fired 9 million rounds through one continuously. It was fine. So no, a belt wouldn't ruin one. The greatest taker of life ever made!
@@1pcfred Imagine that shift at work - how many million rounds is it now? Fark me . . . just 2 million?
@@moaningpheromones I think they fired the gun about 3 days straight to pass 9 million rounds through it. They really wanted to do something epic I suppose? I think I heard about it via Ian from Forgotten Weapons. Those old Maxim guns were built to fire all day every day. As long as you kept water in the jacket it'd keep running. I don't think even that trial wore it out. They just got tired of it eventually. Or maybe they ran out of ammo? By then they'd proven any point that needed to be proved.
The phrase was " *shot* the whole 9 yards" in WW2 aviation. If a dogfight or airfield/ship defense took more than a few minutes of actual combat, a pilot had shot (used up) ALL his mg ammo, and had to break off and RTB. Nobody got Told to "give anyone the whole 9 yards" (because trigger-discipline=combat effectiveness)....once you'd ~expended~ your 9 yards of ammo, you'd 'shot' it. Whenever you hear the phrase with 'shot' the whole 9 yards, that did come from military aviation.
The distinction mostly exists because, in the Navy, "putting out", or "going" the Whole Nine Yards refers to flooring it speed-wise in sailing vessels: Nine yards of canvas was 'full sail' ie Top Speed. "Give it the whole 9 yards" or "They went the whole 9 yards" is the Naval phrase, about canvas (like "3 sheets to the wind'). "They shot the whole 9 yards" refers to a dogfight/engagement that was intense enough that you's expended every last .50 cal round in your mg belt before you broke off in your fighter.
The USN ~and~ the AAF have the Whole Nine Yards, but it refers to canvas, and ammo, respectively. Nobody in a fighter ~ever~ had a reason to just hold down their mg trigger and empty a full ammo-load *at once* . You'd have been insta-grounded if you brought a fighter back after doing that, and there were 'gun-cameras' (to record kills etc) that would show *exactly* when, at what, and how long *every* machine gun burst was fired.
So there's that.......
I love these! Great video. How about some more, like-"over a barrel, the cat's meow, 2 shakes of a lamb's tail." There are sooooo many.
Jump the gun.
In the UK we don't call buses coaches, we call them buses, a term for vehicles used for everyday travel, commuting. We also use the term coach for a similar vehicle but usually used for longer distance travel and they are usually more comfortable and have a toilet or washroom on board.
I was thinking about this just the other day because I work in childcare and I was thinking that so so much of our daily speech is made up of sayings and phrases that younger generations might not understand because their meaning is more nuanced than taking the words as their literal meaning 😂 I’d love to see more videos with Etymology in 😊
"Catch you on the flip side," "broken record," "What's the 411?," and "going postal." Also, the concept of a payphone (sorry Maroon 5) and phone book, "cc" being carbon copy, hanging up phones, and dialing numbers. A lot of old TV and movie tropes where someone has to travel some place to learn some piece of information or talk to someone where a smartphone would have solved the plot in five seconds.
I have that same thought. However, I just feel old.
Hung out to dry, hang tight, what's your beef?
It’s funny you say that. I was watching the Shining & the scene where Jack Nicholson’s character bashes thru the door with an ax & say “Here’s Johnny”! I realized young people won’t know who he’s referring to.
I am amused at the sheer number of eggcorns we're seeing from people who learned phrases from speech and not from print. like drivers who have the "right away"
I love learning about origins of words and phrases! I'd love to see more of these type of videos.
The term "Chow Down" (to eat) came out of World War II from US soldiers. Due to the rumour they perpetuated of the Chinese eating dog meat, and a Chow being a Chinese breed of dog.
When it comes to drink, "One For the Road" (one last drink before leaving) came from a colloquialism from the Middle Ages, as condemned prisoners were allowed to make a stop for one final drink on their way to their execution.
It’s definitely trippy
Know where 'Honeymoom' comes from?
While not videos, but radio/podcast on NPR was a long running show on word/phrase origins in English, "A Way with Words" but Im not sure if its still on air or not, Ill have to look! It had many regional terms too, and some more recent yet already vanished terms like "Jinsy" from the 1950s. Also online are several good original slang dictionaries written in their time, copyright free!
In the Henry Goddard segment, the pictures that are used appear to be of Robert Goddard, a pioneer in the development of liquid-fueled rockets.
Definitely ROBERT GODDARD. The men have a similar appearance but the photos are of Robert Goddard. In one photo he’s standing by a damn rocket.
Yes and you don't have to be a ROCKET SCIENTIST to figure that one out!
To "run amok" is still part of the Malay/Indonesian vernacular. It is an intransitive verb pronounced mengamuk. It basically means to go crazy or lash out irrationally.
That seems to be one of the meanings it still holds. That's what I was more or less taught that it meant.
The History Channel had a show on probably a decade ago called "America's Slang". I loved that show. "Mind your Ps and Qs" came from keep tabs on how many pints and quarts of beer you sold.
You have to beware of anything presented as history on The History Channel. It's been known to get things wrong a lot.
Very interesting!
At the very edge of when the History channel had good stuff😭 What are they doing on tv anymore? It's not reality....
MIGHT be from that. It is debatable like most of the origin stories.
I love it!
The left-hand rule of thumb is used to determine the direction an electric motor turns. The first finger of the first finger of the left hand represents the direction of a magnetic flux, the second the direction of the current, and the thumb represents the direction of thrust. The right-hand rule of thumb represents the direction of flux and current if the shaft is turned in the direction of the thumb.
In New Guinea, the natives helped Aussies on the Kokoda Trail. They were lovingly called "Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels"😊😊
yup, nice little twist on the suggestion they were either bears or not lovable. The Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels were..... well angels :))
Kokoda Track*
@@Rob-fc9wg Kokoda Trail, that's what it's called 😏
@@jennklein1917
No.
Being a Paddy myself, the story is, as immigrants, the Irish spoke English. This gave them some favor in the US largely controlled by Anglo Saxon Protestants (yes, there was ton of anti-Irish propaganda at the time as well). They wanted the people that they had to direct to be easier for them to talk to. The Irish often became police officers due to this, hence the cliche of the police officer with the thick Irish brogue. Then, we did get drunk and disorderly at times, and people would say, “Here comes the Paddy’s to round up the Paddy’s in the Paddy Wagon.” So, it really meant the officers, and the people arrested in the back…
Do Irish ppl really speaking English oooor they just make up words and insist they speak in English? ( i think it is the latter )
Tha name Patrick is an English version of Padrigh hence the the name of an Irishman named that so like one in five men were named that so they called it the Paddy wagon.
I once saw a History Channel documentary about police cars in which the narrator said that the term "Paddy Wagon" had nothing to do with the Irish, that it was a variation on "padded wagon," which referred to police wagons that were padded on the inside to prevent prisoners from being injured as a result of overcrowding inside the vehicle.
The explanation of the expression "hoity-toity" is a little vague. The video traces the term to the writings of an English author who used it to mock people involved in dance parties, but it doesn't say exactly where or how this author came up with the phrase. Was it from a foreign language, or a combination of other words, or did he just make it up himself, which would indicate that "hoity-toity" didn't mean anything at all, that it was just a nonsense term?
@@cyankirkpatrick5194
You need to write proper grammar, because I'm not sure what you just said.
Thank you, and I not sure of the correct spelling of the name of Irish version of Patrick, an Italian who just berated me by saying I didn't know what I was saying. He's never heard of of the Irish name of Patrick, just a padded wagon 🤦🏻♀️😂🤣🙄🤷♀️
Here in the UK, coaches are used by private firms & less commonly used. However, for public transport, we still call them buses. Coaches are losing popularity due to buses, trains, planes, cars & taxis. Coaches are now mainly used by schools or sports teams to go to events.
“Rule of thumb” meaning the practical and or learned method of doing something, comes from England when millers of grain had to decide how finely to grind the grain. They would take a small pinch of the ground flour and rub it between their thumb and index finger. After years of experience doing this, a miller could tell how fine the flour was relating to the type of bread it was going to be used for. This is where the actual phrase came from. In some historical, traditional mills in England today, millers still test how fine the flour is with this exact technique.
You’re missing an essential element of the phrase “thrown under a bus.“ It doesn’t merely mean vulnerable, it means to have been sacrificed or betrayed by someone who is usually acting in pure self interest by sacrificing you instead of him/her.
Fun fact from my sociology Professor: The drink consumed at Jonestown was not actually kool-aid, but flavor-aid!
Sadly people don't know this
kool-aid
Hope you do a part two! My favorite word not covered here is "hobnob". As in "I'm going to hobnob with my friend about the upcoming party."
Haven't heard about that one yet. If I were to take a quick guess, it might have roots in the word "Hob". Which was a mythical and mischievous faerie.
Also "nob" possibly related to the nails in the bottom of boots. So.. going around with mischief on the menu?
@@NefariousKoel It's British. It's also still used in Australia and New Zealand.
I've always like the origin of calling a person in charge or of importance a "big wig".
@@PhantomFilmAustralia - Oh, I've heard the term "hobnob" here in the US. Although it's a bit antiquated now. Never heard the explanation of where it came from and how it evolved though.
I know "wig" is an old term for the wealthy who were able to afford wearing powdered wigs centuries ago. So "big wig" is understandable. And "split a wig". I think they later used the term "mug" for the wealthy around the 19th century too. Hence "mugger" being the term for someone who robs "mugs".
@@NefariousKoel Never heard "split a wig" before, though it sounds similar to a popular Australian colloquialism for a woman going for a pee, in that she's gone to "split the whisker."
You Aussies have so many euphemisms for going to the toilet, I'm amazed. Can't a girl (a Sheila, yes?) Just go Lee in peace? Australia: home of the world's weirdest animals and most endearing slang. Love!
My understand of: BASKET CASE was from the Great War: originally a soldier who had lost ALL four limbs and was unable to move independently. PADDY WAGON, "In newspapers and other sources from the 1800s, “paddy wagon” typically refers to a wheelbarrow. Merriam-Webster says that “paddy wagon,” meaning police vehicle, came into use in 1909. By then, the Irish had become a significant part of law enforcement."
The one that comes to my mind that is used a lot now is the term "Gaslighting". It is from the play Gaslight or the American version called Angel Street. Lying to make a person doubt their own mind.
In the UK, a coach and a bus (fully, an "omnibus") are two different types of transport - or at least how they're used. Single (as you showed) and double decker busses are general public transport. Coaches are usually single-decker (but on important routes, there are some doubles) which go on longer distance trips, usually intercity. Busses are local, either to & from the town centre or in the larger cities, from one part of it to another, or from smaller towns and through the local villages to the local market town.
Regarding the Kool Aid quote - apparently they actually used Flavor Aid (IIRC. I've only heard it, never seen it.) It's rather unfair on Kool Aid.
Thanks! This muddle irritated me so much in the video I doubted everything else in it.
Yeah I’m the US, Coach usually refers to a bus type vehicle but with more amenities such as a bathroom and more comfortable seats, like the intercity/interstate transports.
@@Luci-rv1hlIt's pretty much the same in Australia. A bus is local public transport which picks up and sets down passengers at bus stops (what else). A coach is a long distance transport with more comfortable seating, a toilet (usually with an "out of order" sign 😆), limited stops and booked seats. I recall the same terms from my early childhood in the UK. Bus is the more generic term and can be applied to either type of transport. Some "coach captains" get quite put out if you refer to them as mere "bus drivers".
@@allenjenkins7947 some “bus drivers” get put out if you call them “assholes” so yeah pretty much the same.
@@Luci-rv1hl Most of them aren't arseholes though. In this country it is customary to say "thank you" to the bus driver as you alight. Always be courteous to the frontline workers who provide you with a service. If I'm going to call someone an arsehole, it will be the company manager, the State transport minister, or both.
There are actually a surprising number of phrases/words/slang we still use today that were invented during WW1
That's the furphy but lets not go over the top about it...
That leaves me shell shocked.
I'm Irish, we call a paddy wagon a Black Maria. Basket case was coined because soldiers suffering from Shell Shock, from World War I, had to earn a living. They could weave baskets in the sanatorium and earn their keep. It later became synonymous with mental health issues.
Ah where abouts in Ireland are ya I’m from Waterford and never heard that one before
We definitely do not call a paddy wagon a black maria in Ireland. I believe they used to in UK
@@mazzystreamz I am a Dub from the Northside. We definitely called it a Black Maria where I lived. My great-grandparents and their children lived in the slums and tenements in Dublin city centre before they were housed in the new housing estates on the Northside in the 1930's.
When 70% of explanations end in “we don’t really know”. Quality content.
Good video. By the way, the photo on 2:03 is of Dr. Robert H. Goddard, father of American Rocketry, not Henry H. Goddard.
I was going to say... You beat me to it.
Yeah, close, but no cigar. 😆
@@jimblake3574 Are you saying that this video doesn't quite "cut the mustard"? 😆
Fun video!
I remember someone posted a polite argument about something another person had said about a video.
It was politely written but began with:
*You unripened beetroot!*
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Haven't had the opportunity to use that one yet. Kinda sounds like an insult Monty Python would use ...
"Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries", you unripened beetroot! 🧐
Thanks for the video! 🌟
We have a friend who was born in eastern Europe, lived in the US for several years as a child, and has been back in Europe for many decades. She speaks unaccented (by our standards) English, but uses many idioms that were common in the '40s and '50s but now longer used. It can be quite amusing.
Amok is an Inuit term for when someone experiencing Arctic Psychosis went on a rampage due to lack of sunlight and vitamin deficiency, who also then barely remembered or believed they weren't responsible for their actions they had done whenever they ran amok. Usually they were welcomed right back in the tribe, since other also saw them as not responsible for whatever happened when amok
A+ video!
You simply must make more videos about the origin of slang, it will be as big as TIMELINE!
Happy to be part of the Weird History Peanut Gallery!! 🥜
Thanks for always bringing us some sunshine! 🌞
Me too! I'm nuts!
"One generation's slang becomes the next generation's vocabulary."
Far out!
@@kathleenferguson3296 even our written language, from Heiroglyphics to Emojis ✌ ✡️☮️
yup, "selfie" describes that well, that's Aussie slang, follows the same rules as most Aussie slang does (shorten & then add an o or e to the end), but most of the English speaking world have just embraced it & don't even know it's origins now
Rule of thumb is related to milling. As grain is ground, the miller captures some of the grind and checks its coarseness. Based on the feel between his thumb and and finger, the grind is adjusted. Another milling term is daily grind. In the very old days of using a grinding stone, grains were ground daily with a quirn or a grinder stone and a slab of rock or other method such as a stone and wooden pole. Hence, the daily grind.
Also keep your “nose to the grindstone” from when millers checked the stones used for grinding weren’t overheating by putting their nose to it to check for burning smells
another Great Video..............Any News on Timelines Return?
Bus is for local travel, coach is for long distance. Great video as always though. Thank you. 😊👍
And, you don't coach a restaurant table, or get hired as a basketball bus.
Thrown under the bus goes WAY further back than the 1980s! I heard it in the 60s in Brooklyn, as a kid!
Rule of thumb.
I always thought that one had to do with the ancient Roman days, when the crowd indicated their pleasure or displeasure with a thumb sticking up or one turned down.
I've heard a few that seem to be distinctly Southern. I'm basing this on the fact that I never heard these phrases until I moved to a Southern state.
'That just tickled me to a peanut' was said to me by a sweet elderly lady describing her extreme pleasure and joy over a birthday gift she had received.
'He's gonna have a hissy with a crocheted tail' was said to me by a co-worker describing the extreme displeasure her supervisor was going to show if she got back late from her lunch break.
Love your word origin videos!
I'd be interested to hear your take on these 'Southern' phrases, and my theory on 'Rule of thumb'.
Thanx muchly for sharing!
I remember when my Grandmother told me what the phrase “don’t throw the baby out with the bath water “ meant . Literally the water would be so dirty after the family finished their Saturday bath in the same heated water that the water was so murky the baby could be lost in it.😝
Also, the reason it was the baby was because most families bathed according to family "status" -- so, dad first, then mom, then the oldest kid down to the youngest. Poor baby definitely could have been lost in that murk if he was part of a large family!
poor little nasty babies.
My parents knew a family that had eight children. Mom told me that the mother got to bathe first. Then the kids. I think it was the little ones first. then the last to bathe was daddy who was a plumber.
@@ducatisti Just the opposite as I said in my comment.
@@julienielsen3746 Interesting! My grandmother told me that her family did it with adults first. I wonder if the order was different in each family or if it was a regional thing?
My favourite idiom is a Welsh one for when it's raining heavily that translates to "it's raining old women with sticks"
So it's not raining cats and dogs? Lol
There's another meaning "not worth a sheep's fart" too
I cracked a smile when "Drink the Kool-Aid" came up as I'm at this moment sitting here at my computer, sipping from a mug with Jim Jones on it and the words "Drink Up"
In the UK, we have always called buses buses. It's a contraction of "omnibus". A coach on the other hand usually refers to a long distance people carrying motor vehicle or the passenger car on on train.
I wish you guys would do a video about the history and evolution of prosthetic limbs.
I always wondered about the word "moxy", as in the old films where they say, "You got moxy kid." It's apparently outdated enough to where the spellchecker doesn't recognize the word "moxy." One story I heard is that it orignated from Moxy soda, but it seems more likely that the word came before the soda.
"Moxie" with an "ie".
That may be why the spellcheck doesn't recognize it.
@@BggProductions lol. Beat me to the reply on this!
@@BggProductions Yep, I realized that when I did a search after posting this. I also learned that while the soda had much to do with the word's usage in the late 19th and early 20th century, the word may very likely come from Native American language used in New England in which the word meant "dark water." Much like the popular soda was dark.
@@markadams7046 interesting, I didn't know that, thanks.
Moxies is a restaurant
My understanding of the term "Rule of Thumb" was in the division of coin amongst pirate crews. Many were uneducated and the stacks of coins were a thumb length so each man got his fair share.
For several decades I've heard the term basket case in reference to a project that is disassembled and must be transported "in a basket". Like when someone finds an antique car in a barn that was disassembled but never put back together, the car is sold as a "basket case" project.
Heavens to betsy! is my favorite. No idea where it came from.
Ohhhh more word/phrase origin videos please! Loved this one!
Fascinating. Many thanks for this video. Cheers
Here's a few. 'Crazy as a peach orchard bore'. Apparently pigs would eat peaches that fell from the tree and there is a chemical in the peach pit that drives them wild. 'Nutty as a pecan porridge'. 'Lower than a snakes belly in a wagon rut.' 'Shaking like a caterpillar crawling through a chicken coop.' 'Nervous as a duck in a desert.'. 'Cold as a well diggers boots in Alaska'. 'And enough already, I'm outta' here like a wild goose in winter.....
"Making the Red rooster scream" is an old way of saying in Denmark that you're starting a fire.
We DO use "bus" in the UK, a coach is something a school would hire to go on a trip, or you would use to go longer distances (between cities) and a bus would be something you would use to get around the town or city you are in.
In Australia a bus is something you go to the shopping centre in.
A coach is something you sit in for 12 hrs from Melbourne to Sydney.
Very interesting. Thank you. Loved it.
I can assure you as a bus driver in England, we call buses buses. A coach is a larger type of bus that normally goes between towns and cities. But a bus stays local to its town or city
Thanks mate, you really showed us yanks a thing or two.
Correct a bus is a bus I think from the word Omnibus coaches are what we went away for the day in when we were kids.
Right, so coach comes from France I believe, it’s a reference to the superiority of the build quality and would be used by the wealthy to travel. A bus was something that came about much later that was more accessible to lower classes, omnibus was how they was first known.
Oohh right up my alley !
I love linguistics ❤️🤘
The Dr. Goddard pictured in the video is not Henry Goddard. It’s American rocket scientist Robert Goddard. That’s why he’s standing next to a rocket in one of the photos.
On behalf of the late great Robert H. Goddard: Thank You. Maby a bit more research of origins of the word "Moron" would have helped🙂
I thought it was odd that he was standing next to a rocket, and I know who R Goddard is but didn't make the connection at the time!
This was great to hear. An old phrase that meshes today though not mentioned is "Working for Peanuts"
Also There's "He kicked the bucket", which I know means the person has died but it would be interesting where that came from.
Animals being slaughtered were sometimes suspended by their legs from a wooden structure called a bucket which they would kick as they were slaughtered.
Prior to finding out this, I assumed it meant kicking a bucket you were standing on while hanging yourself. I think my version is much darker.
They sold the farm! They went to meet their Maker. They are smiling down on us!
@@janetstonerook4552
I thought it was 'they brought the farm'? Is it the same?
kicked the bucket comes from the boxing ring to offer defeat.
"Popped his clogs"?
Love this upload and I've subscribed to your site. However, I felt compelled to address the comment you made in the section for "thrown under the bus". In the UK we absolutely DO NOT CALL BUSES COACHES!! NO, NO, NO WE DO NOT. Buses are actually called Clapham Omnibuses and are always called "bus" or "buses" in the UK. A coach is a different thing entirely. A coach is a single decker vehicle similar to a bus but usually hired by a large group to travel somewhere or you would get a coach maybe from one city to another. The other difference is they are not "public transport" with a set out route and set "bus stops" where you catch or disembark a bus. Coaches don't have these stops generally and tend to go from one place directly to another without a set route and lots of stops for passengers to get on and off. Hope this helps explain the difference. Mainly, buses are called buses in the UK 100%. THANKS .😊
All those phrases were very confusing when I was first learning English in USA. Also was very weird to try translating these phrases to others of my native language.. and trying to explain it
My sister in law in from the DR & only learned English at 18. My brother would say he never realized how much slang we use until she would ask him what we were saying
@@samanthab1923 So true! My son took German in highschool, and his instructor had been in the business world before teaching with friends in Germany. One was an English teacher over there, and they started a program with the kids traveling to spend two weeks with each other in there countries. I entertained our German student often during the day, and he was always asking what I was saying, because unfortunately I am an old Iowa farm boy retaining much of my old rural Iowa vocabulary. I told him to call "time out" like in sports, and I would elaborate. I had so much fun with Sebastian on the days he went with me to show him the Midwestern USA!
@@ronfullerton3162 "You goofed" ------ "their countries". Regards.
Yall phrases are weird too
Made your head hurt, didn't it?
Yes! More of this content on figures of speech. Like where "a cup of Joe" came from
I heard in NYC, coffee with cream & sugar is a "regular." A milkshake is a "Frappe."
Much coffee is grown on the island of Java--part of Indonesia. 'Joe' being an abbreviation of Java. I think this was from a TV documentary on coffee.
@@robandrews4815 thank you for the info! I meant this more as an example for future videos :)
@@robandrews4815 It's odd that anyone would abbreviate a word as short and easy to pronounce as "Java". How lazy was the first person who did that? 😆
This video is entertaining, whether you're a "fat cat" or a "Joe Lunchbox". 😂
The idiom that gets misquoted *ALOT* that sets me on edge is where people write "Hear, Hear!" The *ACTUAL* phrase is "Hear *HERE* "
I heard the saying came from "Hear him (her?)! Hear him!" meaning the person wants you to listen to what someone is saying, because he/she agrees with what the speaker is saying. From there it became shortened to just "Hear, hear."
@@peterwalker5677 The phrase is only meant that "I agree with what was just said", or more colloquially the person using the phrase is basically saying, "What he/she said". Instead of saying the exact same thing twice.
The Rule of Thumb references an artist, a painter working on focal points in a landscape, measuring with their thumb. By using their thumb (like sights on a rifle) to guage the size - proportions from a distance, they can then apply those proportions to the canvas.
I always thought it was called a "Paddy Wagon" because it was the vehicle used to haul away all the drunken Irishman.
The term 'drunken Irishman' is redundant.
Padriac, became Patrick, and then became Paddy.
The origin of phrase "The Rule Of Thumb" is an old milling term going back to the Middle Ages. It referenced the way a flower miller would check the coarseness of the grind of the flour by rubbing a bit of it between their finger and thumb!
It isn't that old. And it is an English language phrase in origin from the 17th century. It refers to the thumb being a unit of measurement.
@@yougosquishnow No it is that old!
The width of a man’s thumb is an inch. Well, that’s not precise, but it suffices in some situations.
The other important thing to consider is that, in earlier times, “rule” referred to a measuring device- what we call a ruler nowadays.
In this phrase, it’s erroneous to interpret “rule” as a law. It’s really the other meaning: ruler for measuring.
“Rule of thumb” means an imprecise or rough measurement. It means not having a ruler -- using your thumbs instead.
There have been millers in my family for centuries, we have records dating back to teh late middle ages, it originated from milling.
@@mikesmicroshop4385 Just because your ancestors did something in no way gives you special knowledge. You'll have to come up with a better reason than that to be convincing, such as they wrote about the rule of thumb in their many records that you have read.
Basket case is still in used it’s usually used for complete vehicles that are being sold in bits or in baskets.
1. The suffix -gate to describe a scandal.
2. Stole my thunder.
3. Break a leg. I believe this comes from an old Romanian (gypsy?) word Brekalek or something close to that, meaning good luck. I would love to have some actual historical or etymological evidence for this.
I remember in middle school when my friend (Mexican) was talking to our other friend (black) and told our other friend “get your cotton pickin hands off that.” And then stopped and realized what that phrase meant when he looked horrified. I remember her saying she never realized that cotton pickin was an actual word and thought it was non sense gibberish because it’s not typically fully pronounced and we are not from the south so we actually fully pronounce our words instead of typically cutting them off short.
Yep
You can be from the south and actually fully pronounce your words. To articulate has nothing to do with geography. Just another stereotype. Haha
That’s like we always referred the sleeveless men’s undershirts as Guinea tees or wife beaters
That phrase was used a lot in Bugs Bunny cartoons years ago
Lots of people picked cotton
Great content! Watched every second! Edit: Your english speaking skills are therapeutic to say the least.
I too love this narrator. I still use most of these that he brought up in this video.
I think the basket case segment was slightly incorrect. Inavalids weren't carried about in literal baskets. But in England, at least, wheelchairs known officially as Invalid Chairs (for both aged, injured & otherwise immobile persons) were often colloquially called Basketchairs as they were made of light wickerwork.
Yes we call them busses. A coach is a private hire bus or a more comfortable bus for long journeys
"Well I'll be a monkey's uncle".
That's gotta have a good origin story.
A Darwin joke?
Scar on lion king says that to Simba in lion king!!
I think it comes from a famous court case from the 1930's where world famous Lawyer William Jennings Bryan argued against Darwins theory being taught in School, It was called the "Scopes Monkey Trial". Scopes was I think a school teacher in Tennessee. It was called that because when you boil it down they were saying that teaching Evolution says that Humans were descended from Monkeys. So a lot of newspaper headlines and magazine articles coined the phrase about "If that is true, then I'll be a monkeys uncle!"
Rule of thumb is a type of measurement standard required depending on the situation. For instance, if you need 23 millimeters exactly, you need an official ruler. But if you need two things the same length, you can use your thumb to measure. You won't have an exact number, but you can still use the wrinkles on your hand to make two measurements that are the same. So, sometimes all you need is the thumb. "Rules of thumb" can be about anything, but have a similar generalism.
Rule of thumb literally means ruling by thumb. As in measuring. Most old construction was wildly inconsistent because standard units weren't. Like a cubit was the length from elbow to middle finger tip, a span was between pinkie tip and thumb tip when spread. On average most humans from one region had vaguely similar proportions but outliers always existed. That's why rule of thumb means an imprecise, basically ad hoc rule, because it's just a convenient measure.
Idiot is my favorite. To me it describes bad drivers who act like they own the road, drive fast during bad weather basically being reckless because of it.
Thanks for this! ☘ #WeirdHistory #Idioms #Language
Love your videos but have to point out that the photo you used for Dr. Henry H. Goddard is actually a photo of Dr. ROBERT Goddard whom some consider the father of modern rocketry.
You can't really trust the 'facts' in these videos can you?
There are also many phrases still in use that young kids and new English speakers don’t get and have to to learn. If the shoe fits, wear it, people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, Etc.
I grew up as a very shy kid in school. During that time and beyond into the modern day, I have *never* heard the phrase "cat got your tongue" in regard to a shy person, whether that shy person was myself or some other shy person. In actuality, the phrase is used when an event or situation renders a person unable to verbalize a response to or during the given event/situation.
I wonder if it has anything to do with your age? I'm 63 and as a young girl this was said to me often, either by family or known adults like teachers, etc.
@@terriwetz6077 perhaps it could be. My school aged time was throughout the 80s into early 90s, and although I was often questioned why I was so quiet/shy, not once can I recall anyone asking me if a cat had my tongue. I've only ever heard the expression said to someone who was, basically, shocked/surprised by something that had just occurred to or around them.
Growing up in the 1960s as a quiet kid, this phrase was used with obnoxious regularity, and sometimes included a pinch on the cheek from the family member uttering it.
@@ducatisti My mother who grew up a lot earlier than that just hated hearing that phrase, as if to cajole a shy person into speech.
@@653j521 It was also used to entice someone guilty of an infraction to "fess up" or admit what they did.
If thrown under the bus came from baseball and taking busses to away games, it could be in reference to putting someone in the luggage compartment under the bus. If someone sucks, you can throw them down there and not have to deal with them for the rest of the drive.
My understanding of the term basket case is that it refers to a person who has been totally and fatally dismembered such as someone who has been run over by a train, a soldier directly hit by an artillery shell and yes, someone who has been thrown under a bus. You need a basket to collect the remains for burial.
"Rule of thumb": Yes, it has to do with measuring and a "rule" (thing to measure with--i.e., "ruler"). Take your thumb and bend it to 90°. The length (on the outside) from the tip to the knuckle is, on average, one inch. "Rule of thumb" means "good enough for most situations". Historically, for most common situations, you could use your thumb to measure (close enough to) an inch.
I really like the term "On the square". I think we should bring it back.