The Previously Discussed Origins of Things

A  -  B  -  C  -  D  -  E  -  F  -  G  -  H 
I  -  J  -  K   -  L  -  M  -  N  -  O  -  P - Q
R  -  S  -  T  -  U  -  V  -  W  -  X  -  Y  -  Z

I Wouldn't Touch It With A Ten-Foot Pole
Actually, the original expression is "Not to be handled with tongs."  In 1639, John Clarke included that line in Paroemiologia Anglo-Latino when he was expressing something that shouldn't be touched.  The use of a ten-foot pole came about as a figure of speech sometime in 1758.  There's also a variation using a barge pole instead of a ten-foot pole.  That one came about sometime around 1877.

Idiot
Dates back to 1378. It comes from the Old French word idiote, which was an uneducated or ignorant person. Idiote gets its roots from the Greek word idiötës, which was an ordinary person without any professional skills or knowledge.

If Worse Comes To Worst
This expression comes from the 1597 novel The Discovery of the Knights of the Poste, by Edward Sharpham.  "If worst come to the worst, it is but the hiering of a hackney to ryde to London."  The first "worst" may have been changed to "worse" by someone thinking of the grammatical progression: bad, worse, worst.

Ignoramus
It's Latin for "we do not know why."  By the 17th century the term referred almost exclusively to "ignorant, arrogant attorneys," thanks in large part to a 1615 play in which the main character was a stupid lawyer named Ignoramus.

In One Ear And Out The Other
This phrase comes from Geoffrey Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, a series of five books released sometime around 1374.  In it, Chaucer had this thought about boring remarks: "Oon ere it herde, at tothir out it wente."

Indian Giver
According to the 1907 book, Handbook of American Indians, in the colonial days of the United States, an "Indian gift" referred "to the alleged custom among Indians of expecting an equivalent for a gist or otherwise its return."  The Handbook went on to label an "Indian giver" as a "repentant giver."  Incidentally, this book was issued by the Smithsonian Institution.

Indiana
Named by English-speaking settlers because the territory was filled with Indians.

It Dawned On Me
Harriet Beecher Stowe introduced this phrase in 1852's Uncle Tom's Cabin.  "Dawn" negatively refers to the arrival of light in a person's mind, as if they'd previously been in darkness.  The full line was, "The idea that they had either feelings or rights had never dawned upon her."

Jailbird
In Old England, criminals used to be placed in cages hanging three feet off the ground. People would call the captured men (and women) jailbirds.

January
Named for the Roman god Janus, a two-faced god who opened the gates of heaven to let the morning out, and closed them at dusk.  Janus was worshiped as the god of all doors, gates and other entrances.  Consequently, the opening month of the year was named after him.

Jeep
It's military slang for the vehicle's name, "general purpose vehicle," or G.P.V.

Jiggle
Refers to the dance, the jig.

The Jolly Roger
The pirate flag’s nickname, Jolly Roger, is rumored to originated from the word roger, which means “a rogue.”

Juggernaut
The Hindi word Jagganath is the title of Krishna, one of the incarnations of Vishnu. It comes from Sanskrit Jaganatha, a compound or jagat (world) and nathas (lord). It's applied top a large wagon on which an image of the god is carriedduring a precession.  It used to be said that worshippers of Krishna threw themselves under the wheels of the wagon in an access of religious ecstasy. And so juggernaut came to be used metaphorically in English for an "irresistible crushing force."

Just Under The Wire
The expression for barely making it on time comes from the racetracks.  Since only the top three (in those days, sometimes four) horses earned a payout, the third (or fourth) finisher was said to make it just under the wire - or finish line - before the next competitor.

Keep The Ball Rolling
Of British origin, this saying date back to the 18th century and alludes to the game of bandy. Bandy is similar to hockey, but uses a small ball instead of a puck, even when the game is played on ice. The problem is the game tends to be boring when the ball stops moving, so organizers of games reminded teams to keep the ball rolling at all times.

Keeping Up With The Joneses
"Keeping Up With the Joneses" was the name of a comic strip that ran across the United States from 1913 to 1931.  Arthur Momand based it on his experiences as a newly married young man making $125 week and living in New York.  He originally wanted to name the strip "Keeping Up With the Smiths," but changed it to the Joneses because it seemed "more euphonious."

Ketchup
Like so many other things we use today, ketchup was believed to have invented by the Chinese, who called the condiment "ke-tsiap."  The Dutch, who were heavy importers of the item in the 18th century, spelled it "ketjap."  It evolved into the spelling we used today.

Kike
I asked a rabbi who gave me the following answer. He says he's pretty sure this is where it came from: "Keikl" (pronounced KY-kle) is yiddish word meaning "circle." Jewish immigrants would sign their papers at Ellis Island with a Keikl or a Keikleh (a "little circle"), since they were unwilling to make an "X." Once they started working as storekeepers or peddlers, they continued to use keikls instead of X's to sign account books and other documents. So Jews became known to Ellis Island immigration inspectors, and others throughout the country as "keikl men" or "kikes."

Know the Ropes
Generations ago, ships' masters knew that someone fresh from land was little help at first.  A full-rigged vessel had a seemingly insoluble tangle of ropes with which to set sail and it took time and help to learn how to handle them.  It took a lot of experience in all types of weather to know how to handle the ropes.  The expression expanded from there to any experienced person in any area of activity.

Know thy Enemy
This is a classic line from The Art of War by Sun Tzu Wu. The full sentence is, "Know thy enemy and know thy self and you will win a hundred battles.”

Kool-Aid
Edwin Perkins, president of an early 1900's company called Onor-Maid, was marketing a product called called Fruit Smack, a fruit-flavored soft drink syrup.  Fruit Smack was a popular alternative for those who couldn't afford a new drink called Coca Cola.  But since the syrup was sold in bottles, the price was relatively expensive.  Perkins noticed how successful the new gelatin product, Jell-O, was becoming, and decided to convert his syrup into a powdered form and sell it that way.  He then renamed the product Kool-Aid, modeled loosely after the company's name.

Laid Back
The design of a common motorcycle is such that the rider seems almost to be reclining, a position very unlike the stiff and upright position of car drivers.  Consequently, their laid-back posture came to symbolize a relaxed and easygoing manner about doing things.

Laser
It's a simple abbreviation for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

Lasso
The cowboy's rope comes from the Spanish word "lazo," which means to snare.

lb. (pound)
The abbreviation comes from the Latin word "libra," which means pound.  This is the same Latin word that gives the British their symbol for pound (£).

Lickety-Split
It originated in the United States during the mid 19th century. It actually comes from a group of sayings that meant the same thing: hellity-split, lickety-click, lickety-cut, lickety-liner, lickety-smash, lickety-switch, and lickety-wallop. In the end, only lickety-split lasted beyond the end of the 19th century.

Limelight
Thomas Drummond, in 1825, invented a system of lighting using the brilliant luminosity of lime when incandescent.  The light became known as the Drummond Light.  Theater owners quickly recognized the value of the bright light and adopted it for theatrical use.  They called it the "limelight."

Live Dangerously
It's part of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust .  "Live dangerously and you live right!"

Living High On The Hog
Originating sometime during the 1940s, this expression is a play on the way a hog eats...with a great deal of self-indulgence. Unfortunately, nobody knows for sure how the phrase came into being, or why the word "high" was thrown in there.

Lock, Stock and Barrel
Dating back to the American Revolutionary War, this refers to the three essential components of a gun (the lock was the firing mechanism).

Lynching
Two centuries ago, Captain William Lynch cut a wide swath through parts of Virginia. As magistrate of a kangaroo court, he heard brief testimony and then sentenced several Pennsylvania County ruffians to hang.  Lynch might have been forgotten, had his exploits not come to the attention of a literary giant. Writing in Southern Literary Messenger, Edgar Allan Poe described the Virginia cleanup of crime as a "lynching.".

Mascot
French composer Edmond Audran was an unknown until he produced a hit production in 1880, La Mascotte.  The opera, titled after a provincial word for a witch, followed a central character who had such good luck that theatergoers knew it had to come from supernatural sources.  As the show expanded throughout Europe, the title of the opera came to label any object or person bringing good fortune.

Mayday
Mayday is taken from the French word m'aider. The distress call is actually venez m'aider...come help me.

Mayonnaise
Though it can't be verified for sure, it is generally accepted that the name of the dressing commemorates the capture of Mahon, the principal port of Minorca in the Balearics.  Mahon fell in 1756, and the sauce may well have been invented by the Marshal of France's - Duc de Richelieu - chef at the time of the victory.

Mind Your Ps & Qs
This expression comes from an old British bartender's call. When arguments or fights would break out, the barkeeps would call for everyone in the bar to mind their pints and quarts (of ale). Hence, mind your own business.

Minister
In Middle English the word meant "lowly person."  It was originally adopted as a term of humility for men of the church.

Missouri
Derived from the Algonquin Indian word for "muddy water."

Molotov Cocktail
Contrary to popular belief, cocktail was not willingly named after someone.  Rather, the Finnish named it after Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov, then-premier of the Soviet Union.  The people of Finland were seeking freedom from the communist regime, and their freedom fighters - who faced soldiers armed with heavy equipment and weapons - tossed gasoline bombs in desperation.  The Finnish derisively named the bombs after Molotov, the leader of the USSR.

Monkey Dish
It comes from the little hat that a hurdy gurdy man's monkey wore. When the monkey's hat was taken off its head and tipped over to accept change, it resembles the little dish known in restaurants as a monkey dish.

Moron
This word was actually voted into the English language.  It dates back to 1910, when a convention was held for the American Association for the Study of the Feeble Minded.  While trying to come up with a a name for the people they were studying, one of the delegates suggested the word moron.  Moron was a dim-witted, central character in a famous play (at the time) by the playwright Moliere.

Music Hath Charms To Soothe The Savage Breast
The saying comes from William Congreve's The Mourning Bride: A Tragedy, which dates back to 1697. It's also the source of the line, "Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned."

The Naked Truth
This expression originated from the following old fable: "Truth and Falsehood went swimming.  Falsehood stole the clothes that Truth had left on the river bank, but Truth refused to wear Falsehood's clothes and went naked."

Needless to Say
Actually, it started out as "Nedelesse to speake" in 1530.  The modern version comes from the journal Kaleidoscope in 1826: " The Squire was hard hit by this nonchalance, and it is needless to add, acted upon Sheridan's suggestion.

Nicotine
Jean Nicot was a French ambassador to Portugal.  Around 1560, while serving in Lisbon, he obtained tobacco seeds from sailors who had traveled to the New World.  When scientists began to realize that tobacco included a potent substance, they called it nicotine in honor of Jean Nicot, the man who first brought it to France.

Nip In The Bud
At least as early as the 14th century, gardeners knew that many plants produce an excessive number of blossoms.  So it became customary to pinch off the majority in order that those which were left might produce large fruit.  This practice improved the quality of the garden produce, but it was devastating to individual buds.  It became proverbial that when a bud was nipped off, no fruit would be produced at that point.

No Spring Chicken
Man has been raising chickens since sometime around the dawn of civilization.  Until recent generations, there were no incubators and few warm hen houses.  That meant chicks couldn't be raised during winter.  Growers eventually found that chicks born in the spring brought a premium in the summer marketplaces.  Sometimes thy tried to deceive customers by offering old birds as though they belonged to the spring crop.  Wise buyers would protest that the older birds were "no spring chickens."

Noon
From the Latin word "nonus," which means nine, it originally referred to the ninth hour of the day counting from sunrise, which, on the year-average, is 6:00 am.  This put nonus at 3:00 pm, or halfway between midday and sunset.

Nothing To Write Home About
Would you believe this casual saying dates back almost 2,000 years ago?  Pliny the Younger, also known as Caius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, was a Roman senator in the mid first century A.D. who is one of the few people from Antiquity who historians can prove existed.  Pliny is known for a large number of letters he had written that managed to survive the years (they still exist today).  This passage is the root of today's phrase: "There is nothing to write about, you say.  Well then, write and let me know just this - that there is nothing to write about."  The current version dates to the 19th century. 

Now Or Never
The phrase meaning the last chance dates back at least to the 14th century.  The earliest known reference appears in Geoffrey Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde.

Off The Deep End
This expression is fairly new, dating back to the early 1900s.  In many recreational buildings with inddor swimming pools, there were no lines showing the depth of the water.  Swimmers familiar with the pool knew which end was deep and which was shallow, while newcomers hadn't a clue.  It was these new swimmers - who took on more than they could handle without being careful - that inspired the expression.

Ohio
The state's name is Iriquois for "great," "fine," or "good river".

On a Roll
This phrase takes its name from the gambling tables - more specifically the craps tables.  Every crapshooter earns for the time when each roll of the dice will produce another in a long string of wins.  Consequently, anyone enjoying a great streak of luck is thought of as being on a roll.

On The Nose
Directors of early radio programs found that they often had to communicate with people in front of live microphones. In order to give directions without making sounds, a special sign language was developed. When a program was running precisely on schedule, the person watching the time put a finger alongside his or her nose.

Ozone
Originates from the Greek word ozo, which means "I smell."  Ozone is the most reactive form of oxygen, and is an unstable, pale bluish gas with a penetrating odor.  Christian Friedrich Schönbein, a German chemist, coined the word in 1840.

Pap Smear
The use of cervical tissue smear samples in detecting uterine cancer was pioneered by George Nicholas Papanicolaou.

Pee or Peeing
According to The Macquarie Dictionary and Cassell's Dictionary of Slang, pee was originally a euphemistic pronunciation of the first letter of the word "piss." It started being used sometime during the 20th century.

Penis
The word is Latin for "tail."

Pirate
Originates from the Greek word for attacker.

Play The Field
This common dating expression is another product of gambling.  Horse racing attracts all kinds of gamblers, from the confidant ones who bet only on one horse to the more cautious ones who spread their bets around to cover most of the horse.  The gamblers who bet on multiple horses are looking to reduce their risk and hope that in the end their winnings will be more than their losses.  The people at the windows call this playing the field.

Pooh-Bah
In 1885, William S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan offered what many consider their greatest comedy opera, The Mikado.  The setting of the piece required generous use of expressions that would sound as though they came from the Far East.  Gilbert coined "Pooh-Bah, Lord-High-Everything Else" as the special title of one of his characters.

Poop
It's from the Middle English word "powpen," which meant to break wind. It dates back to between 1735-1745.

Pop Goes The Weasel
A small-time English music hall singer, who made his living as a tailor, came up with this song (or whatever you call it) in the 1800s. A "weasel" is a tailor's flatiron. When  the tailor lost all of his money he pawned the iron. Pawning things had a term of its own at the time, "popping." Hence, pop goes the weasel.

Pound (Money)
The term pound originated in Anglo-Saxon Britain during the 8th century when the basic monetary unit, called a "sterling," was made equivalent to 1/240 of a pound of silver. Eventually, 240 sterlings became known as a "pound of sterling." The pound was convertible into silver until 1717, when the British government substituted gold in the amount cited above.

Pound Cake
This dessert got its name from the pound of butter it contained.

Prima Donna
It literally means "first lady."  For centuries it was used as a title of respect for the leading female of an opera company.  She was granted special privileges and perks, which usually made her vain and demanding.  Some 200 years ago, people started using it in a derogatory way, and it's stood that way ever since.

Prostitute
It comes directly from a Latin word meaning "exposed to sight for the sale."

P.U.
Here are the two explanations I heard the most:

1) It's a shortened term for puteo, which is Latin for "to stink, be redolent, or smell bad." I actually called a professor of Latin at the University of Florida to verify this one.

2) It's actually spelled "pew," but is often pronounced as "pee-yew". It's root is the Indo-European word "pu," meaning to rot or decay. A lot of other languages use this root word and have the same general meaning.

Queer
It's the Low German word for oblique, or off center.  The word can be traced back to 1508, but it's homosexual connotation was first used in 1922.

Question
It comes from the Latin verb quaerere, which means seek or ask.  The past participle of the word, quaestus, formed the basis of a noun, quaestio.  Quaestio evolved into the English word question.

Quick On The Draw
While the word "draw" had been in use for some time in the American Old West, this expression didn't come about until 1903 when Cyrus T. Brady used it in his book, The Bishop.  "He had the reputation...of being the quickest man on the draw...in the Territory."

Quiet As A Mouse
Today's version of the expression is a short form of "quiet as a mouse in cheese," which came from The Pleasant History of Two Angry Women of Abington by Henry Porter.  The line from the 1599 story went like this, "Mum, mouse in cheese, cat is neare."  George Eliot produced today's version in his 1859 book, Adam Bede: "She looks as quiet as a mouse."