The Curious Origins of Popular Sayings
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- Опубліковано 21 жов 2021
- We use expressions and idioms in everyday conversation. But have you ever wondered where they come from? For example, why shouldn’t we cry over spilt milk? And who’s going around killing two birds with one stone, or putting cats into bags?
In English in particular, many of our most popular sayings have these interesting and obscure origins. Some of which are pretty dark: did you know that the phrase “saved by the bell” may have arisen from fears of being buried alive?
In this video, we'll explore the strange origins of these popular sayings:
- Don’t cry over spilt milk
- An apple a day keeps the doctor away
- Kill Two birds with one stone
- The feather/straw that broke the horse's/camel’s back
- An eye for an eye
- Speak of the Devil
- Saved by the bell
- Bite the Bullet
But there are so many more out there, so write down below some sayings that you would like to see explored. Thank you all for 400k subscribers!
H.
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Watch some of my other videos:
Survival Guide to the Biblical Apocalypse:
• Survival Guide to the ...
The Dark Side of Nursery Rhymes:
• The Dark Side of Nurse...
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Music:
Intro - Epic of Gilgamesh in Sumerian by Peter Pringle
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUcTs...
Fox Tale Waltz Part 1 Instrumental by Kevin MacLeod
Link: incompetech.filmmusic.io/song...
License: filmmusic.io/standard-license
Bass Vibes by Kevin MacLeod
Link: incompetech.filmmusic.io/song...
License: creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
The Ulgonsah Witches: Will it End by CO.AG
ua-cam.com/channels/cav.html...
Elf Meditation Preview by Kevin MacLeod
Link: incompetech.filmmusic.io/song...
License: creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
Guzheng City by Kevin MacLeod
Link: incompetech.filmmusic.io/song...
License: filmmusic.io/standard-license
Western Streets by Kevin MacLeod
Link: incompetech.filmmusic.io/song...
License: filmmusic.io/standard-license
Outro - Peaceful Ambient Music by CO.AG
ua-cam.com/channels/cav.html...
License: creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
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Further Reading:
Proverbial Phrases - Wiki:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
A list of 680 English Proverbs:
www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/p...
Idiom Dictionary:
writingexplained.org/idiom-di...
"Dictionary of idioms and their Origins" by Linda & Roger Flavell
PETA's animal friendly sayings:
www.peta.org/teachkind/lesson...
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#sayings #origins
The very last idiom being represented by "it ain't over till the fat lady sings" at the end of the video was a nice touch.
I thought It would be "If It must end Better end on a high note"
Hey she wasn't that fat! Shaming her body lol
Lol what a fake out! I was so ready for him to say it!
He couldn't outright say it, but I saw what he was doing there.
yes! This one is so interesting and very rare to me, because l've only ever heard it in songs like "Dinner Guest", "Free At Last" and "Snap Out Of It"
The theatrical good-luck term "Break A Leg" actually has nothing to do with your lower limbs.
A 'leg', in old theatrical parlance, was the handle of the wheel and pulley system that was used to raise and lower the set pieces (such as painted backdrops etc) onto the stage, which in this case was referring to the curtain separating the actor from the audience.
At the end of the show, the curtain would come down, but if the audience continued to applaud, the curtain would rise again and the actors would take another bow. This would carry on until the applause died down enough to not justify another bow. So, the saying actually referred to wishing the actor(s) had such a good show that it would cause so many raisings and lowerings of the curtain that you would 'break a leg' on the pulley system.
I always thought it was because when you break your leg you get put into a cast, you know?
Do you have a source for this? Very interesting
@@thebigcapitalism9826 Only that I'm in 'the business' and I was told by several lifelong time-served actors.
@@peenyyt4921 Okay, go to your room and think about your life. You're being PUNished.
I thought it was originally ‘break an egg’ as part of a remedy to clear opera singers throats before a performance
I have a german friend that was talking with me about some girl the other day, and due to the language barrier he didn’t actually know the saying, but when that girl came across the room he yelled “oh look here comes satan” and I blasted out laughing
💀
would immediately win my heart
translation fails are hilarious asf at times😂
"It ain't over till the fat lady sings" comes from a Wagner opera (from which parts of Lord of the Rings was inspired from, mainly, the One Ring) called Der Ring Des Nibelungen. Ride of the Valkyries is also from this opera, fun fact. Anyways, the opera was long, like, very long, like, split into 4 sections performed over 4 days long. It's total time is about 17 hours. The ending featured a woman singing, usually a larger woman, since the score called for high yet loud notes to be sung, and only a select few were capable of singing it. So with an opera this long, split up into several days, each day with around 4 hours of listening, with days off in between, you can see how it was easy to get confused about where in the operas plot you left off and which part is coming next. A lot of comments at the time mention people basically asking how do you know when it ends? And well, it ends when the fat lady sings. This notion remained even in popular culture, theres a bugs bunny episode that features music from the opera and people dressed as valkyries, and they are of course, fat. Tom and Jerry also had an episode with an opera singer who sung music from this opera and she was fat. And so on and so on. Now you know, It aint over till the fat lady sings, Ride of the Valkyries, and Lord of the Rings all come from the same source.
Funnily enough, the phrase "Kill two birds with one stone" eventually made its way back into the Chinese language.
It reads "One stone Two birds" (一石二鸟).
The phrase is also used in Japanese, as well.
I never thought I'd see Accented Cinema here but this is a welcome surprise :D
Ey! You're here.
funnily enough with a lil imagination the chinese characters kinda looks like a massive stone hitting two birds LMAO
Asterowave cuz Chinese is written w imagery
Gotta love that Wasei kango
As a minor point about "bite the bullet" It probably wasn't about the modern jacketed things with the self contained brass case as shown in the pictures. Those were just barely in use during the Civil War. But literally just the bullet. Which at the time would have been made of almost pure lead. Which is soft enough to mark with your fingernail. So it's something you can clench your teeth on very hard without damaging them. Theoretically.
Yes.
Yep.. came here to say the same. You beat me to it.
It's still weird to offer biting it instead of a leather belt that any soldier had in multitude.
and thats how you get poisoned by lead
Bite the bullet refers to the revolutionary war when they would bite open the bullet cartridges to load their guns with they had nothing to cut it with
"More than one way to skin a cat" refers to Catfish. Catfish was often shorted to just cat like the phrase "just catching cats". Also, catfish have to be skinned because they don't have scales and of course there is more than one way to do this.
That's what my dad told me when I was a kid! 😊
I heard the same thing
Does nobody bother looking these things up at all?
From Wiktionary:
"Origin unknown. Other proverbs with the same meaning referencing the killing of animals are also attested, some as early as the 17th century; see, for example, “there are more ways to kill a dog than hanging” (1678),[1] “there is more than one way to kill a cat” (1833),[2] and “more ways of killing a cat than choking her with cream” (1855).[3][4]"
From Grammarist:
"The phrase still exists, but has taken on some local flavor in certain areas. For example, though the US Southern states the phrase is often used to describe the skinning of a catfish, a flavorful dish when fried up with various seasonings. In this version, the word “cat” is a simplification of “catfish”. "
Please check for sources before spreading information as if it were fact! Accidentally spreading misinformation helps noone.
@@jakobpbengtsson3608 you literally just confirmed my comment... the first half was dealing with killing not skinning and the second half confirmed my comment so not disinformation by your own declaration.
@@mouse9884 No, I literally didn't. The first half dealt with the phrase "More than one way to skin a cat". That's the topic at hand. Read it properly - it says OTHER proverbs with the same meaning exist, THOSE proverbs use "killing". The point is that phrases that refer to flogging, harming and killing pets is an existing theme.
The second half says that this same expression has taken on a different meaning - catfish instead of cat - in a local setting. Key being "taken on". As in, it didn't originally have this meaning, but in a local area the meaning has been used in a different way at a later point in time.
So saying that the phrase "actually" refers to catfish is misinformation - it has come to do that in some places, well after the phrase already existed without catfish being involved.
I left information on where the sources are so people can look it up for themselves. They''re there to help the context, it's not intended to be a complete set of information that somehow covers all bases.
5:05 even other animal rights activists largely consider PETA to be a laughingstock. I had a boss who used to work for the ASPCA and he said that no one takes them seriously.
i know that their list of alternative sayings was met with nearly the same response on the internet.
PETA is known for euthanizing animals regardless of how healthy or loved they were by their owners specifically because they think owning animals as property is wrong.
@@GuardianTactician what a bunch of hypocrites.
@@GuardianTactician its worse they are know to go into neighborhoods take any "stray" animals they find and euthanize then
One time they killed a dog that a family owned when they visited their trailer park
They euthanized the dog in the same day the family didint even have time to see what had happened
my theory is that peta is really a psyop carried out by the meat industry to turn people away from veganism
The more fanatic the activist, the less you should take them at their word. No matter how righteous the cause, fanaticism can turn any activist group into monsters.
Could you please explain the origins of the ancient proverb:
"This shit bussin' bussin'"
Bussin
bussin
I don't ride the bus
respectfully of course.
People with their flying car must be hella confused with
“Based” “Cringe” “Poggers” “Sussy”
"Don't take advice from a high school guidance counselor unless you want to be a high school guidance counselor."
I always thought "why are you giving advice with your job" and I do well enough on my own these days. So this expression rings true.
Daaaaammmnnnn!
basically, trust in yourself 👌🏾
That goes double for marriage counselors.
I've heard that if you google google, it brakes the internet, in the same vain would telling a job adviser that you want to be a job adviser make them explode ?
" I want to work with animals "
" well there's a job at the abattoir "
In Danish, we have another version of "Speak of the Devil", that turns it into something postive. We say "Når man taler om solen", translating to "When you speak of the sun", and it means that when you talk about the sun, it will show itself through the clouds. So in a way, a bit less of an angelic version than what appeared as a positive in this video.
Loved all the proverbs, and their origins btw!
Norwegian has both versions
In Hebrew we say "speak of the donkey" or alternatively "I should have talked about a million dollars" when someone you just talked about enters the room
To me, the “conflicting” proverbs are a way of saying sometimes you need to answer a fool in his folly and other times it’s not worth it and you’ll just end up suffering for it. Wisdom is knowing when to use each method.
I always assumed the “no use crying over spilled milk” expression came from farming.
If you milk a cow, sometimes the pail could get knocked over and all the milk gets spilled into the dirt. It can’t exactly be recovered after that.
That makes perfect sense. And it would be so frustrating, after all that work
And you still have the cow, so it isnt THAT bad
I can totally see someone crying after spilling milk especially in the past when the world was brutal and you really needed anything you could get your hands on
Its people who say stuff like the last guy that makes me wonder, is it really worth asking them what they mean? Idk not here
Where there's a barn there's barn cats so it's not wasted after all.
The “Grab a rose by its thorns” saying kinda sounds badass.
I'm surprised, those were all super solid alternatives, and they kept the same feel
@Safwaan They also kill animals that wont be adopted.
@Safwaan yeah, yeah, everyone hates PETA. That's why I'm impressed by how good their alternate sayings are
@@nikkialkema1032 most shelters do this actually
“Grab a bull by it’s horns”
F*** you peta I killed the bull
Many of these sayings have Portuguese equivalents. For instance, "saved by the bell" is "salvo pelo gongo", which is the bell specifically used in boxing. We also don't kill birds with a stone, but two rabbits with a staff ("dois coelhos com uma cajadada só"). We also say that if you speak of the devil, his tail appears ("falou no diabo, aparece o rabo"). And Latino cats usually have seven lives, not nine.
Thats interesting
Same in Spanish. "Lo salvó la campana" refers to boxing. The equivalent to killing birds, if I remember correctly, is killing pigeons... something like hitting two pigeons with one shot.
The other day I explained to someone that "pulling out all the stops" refers to acoustic organs where stops were used to change the sound, and by pulling out all of them, you'd get the loudest sound, and those things are loud.
I love the phrase "Blood is thicker than water," because it means the exact opposite of what people think it does. "The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb." Or: "The bonds we create in life are stronger than the bonds of birth." However, I don't know where it came from and I think it would be fun to explore the original phrase.
I don’t think you’re correct about that Zack. “Blood is thicker than water” or some variant of that has been attested to for hundreds of years. The quote you’re referring to doesn’t really have any references going further back than the 90s
@@johncalabria1607
John Calabria, library of Alexandria of metaphors and anecdotes 🤦♂️
@@grimace4257 All I did was a google search, it’s not that hard, you could try it yourself if you’d like
IMO this theory won't hold up even if it's true. It's like pairing words 'berry' and 'nut' together, and wondering why people don't understand that nut here refers to the metal fastener things. Same with it, people will never see words 'blood' and 'water' in opposition and think 'Ah, yes, the blood is of course the covenant, and not blood we share with family, and the water is surely the fluid in me mum's vagina, yes, I will also explain it this way to my 4-yo child'.
@@alexeysaranchev6118 that's because a lot of people are uneducated and only take things at face value.
Swedish has a semiliar "Speak of the devil" saying. A rough translation would be "Talking about the troll"
It has sort of the same origin, that just talking about the trolls in the forest made them visit you.
My favorite though is "Now you've taken a shit in the blue cupboard"
Basically meaning you've gone to far or made an absolute fool of yourself. The origin probably coming from the fact that the cupboard where you stored all your fancy plates and porcelain were often painted with Prussian blue, which has been linked with high class and exclusivity for a long time as it was often very expensive to get hold of it. Though in the early 1800s, it started to be mass produced, so a lot of the lower class could finally get hold of it. But it was still seen prestigious. even after being available to the masses for cheap.
As for "bite the bullet", weren't most bullets made out of pure lead at the time? Lead being a quite soft metal, easily deforming just by biting on it.
In French the expression translates to speak if the wolf and you will see his tail.
We also have the - when talking about the devil he’s standing in the hallway (när man talar om fan står han i farstun).
I have arrived! The troll! Oh wait wrong troll. Bye.
In Spanish we have “speaking of the king of Rome”
@@EclecticDD Oh, we have that too in Czech. But now we just say ,,We about the wolf" which makes as much lexical sense in Czech but I guess it just shortened over time.
I've never really thought of "crying over spilled milk" to mean "what's done is done". I generally use it to mean "no worries over menial losses". As in, milk is so cheap and abundant that to cry over it would be the real waste, not that it cannot be recovered afterwards. Am I wrong here?
I've never taken it to mean that nor gotten that impression from anyone else.
If you squint your eyes (or brain), both explanation mean basically the same
I once watched a tv program about traditional boat-building that mentioned the origins of the phrase "Hell to pay".
"Putting pay", meaning to stop or curtail a motion, as in "Lockdown has _put pay_ to a lot of people's Christmas plans" or "Simon's new girlfriend has certainly _put pay_ to those rumours about him", according to the show, comes from the practice of using tar or pitch to seal the gaps between the planks of wood in the boat's hull, therefore making it watertight. The most difficult part of which was the very lowest bit of the craft, referred by shipwrights as "the devil" therefore a difficult but necessary task would be "The Devil to pay", and later "Hell to pay".
I'm no fan of PETA, but "Feeding a fed horse" actually sounds really good. Fits well with "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink"
At they put some kind of thought into that one
Except it still doesn’t really convey the same meaning
Feeding a fed horse sounds like torture. They don't eat when they're full. Only a few species do. If you're feeding a fed horse, you're forcing it to eat.
feeding a fed horse is force feeding and therefore still abuse. peta is a mental asylum in disguise.
I have an addendum to the one
"You can lead a horse to water
But you can't make them drink"
But you can,
Hold their head under water until the bubbles stop
(I'll expect a call from peta) 😏😁
I love proverbs and popular sayings. We have many in my native language (Portuguese) and we use them in a regular basis. There are about a hundred ways to say "to die": To button up the suit, To make his mother cry, to slap his tail at the fence, to suit up in wood, to grin his teeth out, to win the card game, to go from this one to one better, to eat the grass from the roots, to bang at the gates, to go home earlier, to cross the river, to blow a whistle, and lots more 😂
I really like "to suit up in wood". I can picture a hard ass cowboy saying something like it.
Don't forget to hit the boots (bater as botas).
obs: Initially would translate as knock the boots but looking for similar expression in english I found that it is a euphemism for sex in some places LOL
Let's see...
Pushing up daisies, bought the farm, meet your maker, kick the bucket, give up the ghost, taking a dirt nap, taking the room temperature challenge...
That's all I got for now
Be put to bed with a shovel, bite the dust, shuffle off the mortal coil, and my personal favourite - kark it. I really like eat the grass by the roots though, I'm going to use that one!
@@joeroscoe3708 'Taking the room temperature challenge' 😂 Haha! What's the meaning of the 'bought the farm' expression?🤔 Never heard that one before. Do tell!
(Edited for clarity.)
Here in Italy "two birds with one stone" was already more "friendly". We have "due piccioni con una fava" (two pidgeons with one bean) the bean was used to lure them in the traps.
I don't think it's physically possible to kill two birds with one stone. The Dutch saying is two kill two flies with one squat/hit. Now, that is feasible.
@@robhendrikx2198 i think so too, anyway Is cool to see same concept portrayed in different scenarios from different countries
In Spanish I've always heard "dos pájaros de un tiro" (two birds with a single shot). Very grim lol
@@robhendrikx2198 you could theoretically if the birds are flying over water throw the rock hard enough to smash one bird into another (likely killing the first one in the process) the concussive force of the bird and shortly after sinking into the water may lead to the other drowning killing both birds.
In swedish, the saying "Killing two birds with one stone" is "Två flugor på en smäll", or "Two flies with one hit". A lot more relatable I think :P
I always heard "Cat's out of the bag" referred to a Cat o' nine tails, not an actual cat. The idea that punishment is to be dolled out. A line has been crossed and as a result, and so out comes the whip, and it won't go back in until a whipping's been had. "One suggestion is that the phrase refers to the whip-like "cat o'nine tails", an instrument of punishment once used on Royal Navy vessels. The instrument was purportedly stored in a red sack, and a sailor who revealed the transgressions of another would be "letting the cat out of the bag"." (Wikipedia.)
I heard it was from medieval times where a merchant would attempt to rip you off by selling a cat in a bag instead of a piglet.
'Letting the cat out of the bag' exposes the secret.
Though, I dont know why one couldn't hear the bag meowing instead of squealing.
@@foodank_atr817 It's basically the same thing that brought us "buying a pig in a poke", a phrase that is utterly unambiguous as to its origin, and attests to the practice.
Also: Not enough space to swing a cat.
And more from the navy:
Have someone over a barrel. (tied to a cannon's barrel to be whipped)
Give some a broadside.
The cat o nine tails was also referred to as "The Captain's daughter".
That is the origin. The idea was not to do or say anything that could get you a flogging, thereby keeping the cat in the bag. The whole buying a pig and getting a cat instead theory seems to be something made up by people who have never studied the age of fighting sail.
I find it pretty interesting that the Hispanic version of "speak of the devil" is Hablando del rey de Roma (Speak of the king of Rome)
Which reminds me of one of the past videos and how it was discussed that the whole Mark of the Beast, Satan and the devil ruling the world before it's completely destroyed was a code to refer to the Emperor of Rome leading people away from God and into sin... Kinda neat connection there
Nowadays, it **could** either refer to the Mayor of Rome or the Pope himself
Uhmm..Nero.....uhmm
wow finaly thank you, i was already a long time for a conection between spain and rome/vatican/pope... im from the dutch and in our atom we (the dutch, i do not) sing that we came from german blood but we honor the king of spain...thanks to words and how they be used flag's color and some "hidden" story's from our past i see how the bounderies of the countries in europe are no bounderies att all and going further into the world.. i now that rome is in this time the leading @$#! but was untill now not able to put them on top i finished by spain but i new they are number 2 in line (in this contrast) and how funny for you maybe to here that this frase is making my circle round. for me it is not. for me it is logic, by everything i already have discovert (in my opinion) (not facts from our books). spain= satan's pain (into this world). if you like i can tell more, just ask but be respectfull...manu tr outthere
tr=trolls
The complete phrase is "Hablando del rey de Roma... el diablo se asoma." Speaking of the king of Rome, here comes the Devil. So it's the same really
The first possible explanation for "saved by the bell" (people who were buried alive ringing a bell) actually could have been the origin of two other phrases. The first one is "graveyard shift", because when those bells were popular someone always had to work overnight in the graveyard just to listen for them ringing (must have been hell on windy nights!). The second phrase/term is "dead ringer", used to describe someone who looks exactly like someone else you know. The idea being that someone died and was buried, and then when they ring the bell and are dug up, the person in the box is essentially a "new" person who looks identical (because the old person was supposedly dead).
Not sure if these are accurate, but just wanted to add to the discussion!
My old therapist preferred saying "Get two birds stoned at once" lol.
my favorite phrase is “Hochelaga uploaded:”
Gives me chills every time i see it.
Hochelaga hochgeladen 😂
The Eye for an Eye in the Bible actually refers to taking no more than an eye for an eye; it's possible that it actually replaces the commonly abused expression with a measure of justice relative to revenge.
That's what it meant in the code if hammurabi too (that predates that particular book/religion).
@@tracewallace23 How many times do we need to be told that before we finally learn it...
In other words, let the punishment fit the crime.
The Old Testament says "an eye for an eye" However Jesus improved on this. He said, "You have learned that they were told, "Eye for eye; tooth for tooth." But what I tell you is this: Do not set yourself against the man who wrongs you. If someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn and offer him your left. If a man wants to sue you for your shirt, let him have your coat as well. If a man in authority makes you go one kilometer, go with him two. Give when you are asked to give: and do not turn your back on a man who wants to borrow." In other words, Jesus was advising us to avoid a confrontational, quarrelsome way of life and instead try to cooperate generously with others. These ideas may not be totally practical. We need to adapt them a bit but they are way better than living in a world of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth - where everyone is soon blind and toothless. (Matthew chapter 5 verse 38)
I came here to say this as well. Like "The Prince" by Machiavelli, people take "an eye for an eye" as a plea for vengeance or a RIGHT to vengeance, but it is a plea for fairness. You dont get to take someone's head because they took your goat. The Prince gets bad press, but at the time, the advice given to rulers was a plea for conscientious moderation and restraint when you have unchecked power.
You misquoted the proverb "Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself" as being Proverb 17:22, when in reality it's Proverb 26:4. I assume you did this because that would mean your first proverb "contradiction" find is false because those two sentences are suppose to be read one after another. Context is important.
Well you assume wrong lmao. It is still a contradiction even if you read them back to back. He did it because the first one (5:59) he quoted was from Proverbs 17:22. Just a simple video editing mistake.
@@12stormy13 I shouldn't assume malice on his part. But they're still not contradictory statements. Proverbs 26:4 warns against arguing with a fool on his own terms, or you will stoop to his level and become as foolish as he is. Whereas Proverbs 26:5 follows wirh telling us that there are times when a fool has to be addressed so that his foolishness will not go unchallenged.
@@UnworthySera yes this is exactly what those 2 verses are talking about. someone has to call out this mistake.. whether you're a
'rIghTeoUs Christian' or a
'c0ol athEist edGeLord'.. truth is they don't contradict.
This is a dilemma, not a contradiction, how do you deal with a fool? In most cases you can't. If you do not know what a dilemma is I would suggest that you read the short story "the lady or the tiger ".
Contradiction or not, it doesn't really matter. The bible is full to the rim with contradictions with or without this particular example.
The old "speak of the devil" one sounds more like a self fulfilling "talk about bad shit and it'll come in a burning bag for you" kinda deal, i like that.
A apple a day keeps the doctor away, depending on how hard you throw it
LoL, and how green the apple is😎👍
I launch mine with a potato cannon. Hits ‘em right in the dome piece and they go down like a sack of bricks.
Doesn't the "Spilled milk" one come from that fable about the girl who was carrying a bucket of milk and daydreaming about selling it to buy eggs in order to hatch a chicken, in order to lay more eggs, and so on and so forth until she'd have a rich and successful farm of her own, but being so distracted by her dreams that she drops the bucket and spills the milk?
The general lesson of the fable is closer to "don't count your chicks until they hatch", but "don't cry over spilled milk" is a second lesson: this is a setback, and you can't undo it, but you can keep working towards your dream farm.
I believe I read a fairy tale boom collection with that story, but since I’m from Asia we’re usually exposed to those depicted in movies
wow, two morals in one fable! if only we had an idiom to describe a situation in which two things were accomplished by the same action...
@@Ian07_ 😌😏
Nice King Crimson pfp
Crimson
I've always been fascinated with the sayings we all use but don't often question
“To hell in a hand basket” is one I’ve always wondered about. Definitely like content like this. Thanks!!
Funny, In my country instead of "Speaking of the Devil" we have "Talk about the wolf while he's at your door."
What country
we have something similar in my country! but for us it's more like "as soon as you mention a wolf, it appears" (kā vilku piemin, tā vilks klāt)
Tako je bre
in Portuguese "saved by the bell" is "salvo pelo gongo (gong)", which makes much more sense in a boxing match perspective
Umm, yeah: The boxing theory for "Saved by the bell" is a LOT more accepted, and much less of a stretch.
agreed
How is it a stretch? I don't know which version is true, but they are both plausible.
The grave bells is at least part of the reason behind the origin of another phrase: the 'graveyard shift. People were paid to watch over graveyards, especially at night. Some of it was to prevent grave robbing (a new national past time in the era of budding medical science!) but also to listen for the bells.
I'd love to see the origin of 'You can't have your cake and eat it too' - I can't conceive of a single situation where you'd have a cake for any other purpose other than consumption, so that one's always kinda confused me
The actual saying is "You can't eat your cake and have it too.". Misquoted all the time.
@@MFO6 Precisely! Saying it the correct way around provides the answer. Thank you for clearing it up. 👍🙂
Its basically like once you eat your cake, you don't have a cake any more; so you can only do one or the other, either have/keep the cake or eat it.
It would make more sense to word it like "you can't eat a cake and still have it"
however the other way of wording it is more memorable because "having a cake" can also mean the same thing as "eating a cake".
Reflecting the meaning like "think carefully about what you really want, in practice you can't do one thing without simultaneously making the other thing impossible"
@@Jaun-Vincent Are you feeling ok? That doesn't clear up anything lol. Eating and having it too vs having it and eating it too are the same thing! If you use a one time use item then you can't keep it, vice versa, if you want to keep it then you can't use it.
In Hebrew we say "you can't eat from the cake and leave it whole" which makes a bit more sense in my opinion
Any origin of the phrase, “The Devil’s beating his wife,” in reference to sun-showers?
What??
@@aweldof haha its true, we also have that saying in Romania when it sun-showers
it goes along as "God is playing basketball" in a certain country.
In Argentina we say "A witch is getting married"
@@CrazyMazapan that’s really funny lol
4:56 I always found it funny that where I live, we say cats have seven lives, but in other cultures, it's usually nine lives.
7:44 my christian family always told me not to say the Devil's name so I wouldn't attract him to my life. Then I figured how the saying "speak of the devil" came into use.
5:10 when Peta starts saving more animals than they kill, sure, I will consider it
How about "The Devils in the details"
That comes from the notion of the devil signing pacts with those who sold their souls to him. The devil, in Christianity, promises you many things if you give yourself over to him. However, what is neglected is the details of it; how the devil will use you for his evil deeds.
So, when you sign a contract, you want to check the details because the devil (the potentially sinister aspects of the deal) is in the details.
"A doctor a day, keeps the apples away"
-Me
😆🍎
damn hypochondriacs
you flort with doctors? damn, now that's a life.
"Saved by the bell" is almost certainly related to boxing (or other fighting sports) in Portuguese. We use "salvo pelo gongo", which literally means "saved by the gong", that disc-shaped instrument distinctly associated with East Asia. The word "gongo", however, is also used, by extension, to refer to any sort of signal, including those that announce the end of a work shift, or a round in a boxing bout.
I had heard that an apple a day keeps the doctor away was in reference to apple's ability to clean the teeth, at a time where tooth infection was actually a very serious problem where an infection before antibiotics could kill you.
I had heard that when prohibition came along, Apple growers had to expand their market because they could no longer sell hard cider, so they promoted Apples as a health food. Michael Polen, The Botany of Desire.
Tear glands apparently evolved from sweat glands, just like mammary glands... information you never asked for, I did my job and boosted the algorithm... anyway, I really love these videos and it's amazing to see how this channel has grown...
Lol or they could have been designed as each individually and not some magical self assembling chaos.
@@pluckngrit2 ok wow, a creationist... this is simply not worth my time...
@@walterl322But it was for the algorithm right? Evolution is the single dumbest idea humanity has ever had. Not plausible or reasonable, not to mention zero evidence for it other than wild imaginations. But i guess you consider yourself scientific, i call it science fiction and laugh that the indoctrination works so well. You really believe you are a monkey made from space dust? Lol
@@walterl322 since this benefits the algorithm. Do you really belief chaos can create order? Even though No observable evidence suggest disorder can create order and plenty of evidence to suggest no order ever comes from chaos. If you do, than you must love contradictions and paradoxes. You must live the indoctrination and lack any critical thinking.
Evolution is the dumbest idea humanity has ever had. There is not a single shred of evidence for it. None. DNA studies show mutations only cause the genetic loss of information. If anything evidence suggest we are devolving to a less intelligent species. Lol
@@walterl322 you say stuff magically changes from one thing to another with no guiding process. Randomness and chaos creating order. And Im the silly one?
In Nigeria, especially in the South West, instead of saying "speak of the devil", we would jokingly say, "you are the true daughter or son of your father or mother."
I have read so many embarrassing animal friendly idioms in vegan cookbooks but I have to say "feeding a fed horse" kinda works in its own right with a nuanced difference in connotation.
I remember hearing something about “bite the bullet” being from the Indian Mutiny - the Indian soldier’s bullets were coated in pigs fat and they had to bite it to load their rifles, but they couldn’t consume pigs fat or eat pork for religious reasons. The British could have chosen to use another form of oil but forced them to “bite the bullet” instead - hence it’s meaning of doing what you don’t want to do. It was one of the things that led to the Indian Mutiny
Ironically they weren't "coated in pig fat" that was a rumor spread in order to encourage rebellion.
Actually, there's no strong evidence that the bullets were actually coated in pig's fat, but the rumors were strong enough to spark the rebellion. From E. Britannica: "The pretext for revolt was the introduction of the new Enfield rifle. To load it, the sepoys had to bite off the ends of lubricated cartridges. A rumour spread among the sepoys that the grease used to lubricate the cartridges was a mixture of pigs’ and cows’ lard; thus, to have oral contact with it was an insult to both Muslims and Hindus. There is no conclusive evidence that either of these materials was actually used on any of the cartridges in question"
How about the full sayings of some, such as curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back?
Most of them, including that one, are modern additions.
They’re usually done to adapt the aphorism to one more appropriate for our current values, as if they even need to be. These sayings are treated as if they’re some sort of anthropological gospel, but in reality they’re just something people say to put an exclamation point on a situation. Almost by definition, one liners can hardly summarise broad aspects of human experience and don’t need to be embellished as if a wink-and-nod update somehow makes a banal saying wise.
The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
@@imsorrythankyouplease7613 I love the dark undertone with the mouse.
@@imsorrythankyouplease7613 I was like, huh? Than I was like, oh!
@@elgatonegro1703 how about this one liner summary for the human experience.
We're born, we live, we suffer, we die.
When my wife was breast feeding and was pumping milk, each drop was precious. Spilling a cup of breast milk while on 2 1/2 of sleep can bring a tear to your eye. Speaking as a parent of two lol
I have two you may want to include. “Curiosity killed the cat” is used to warn people from exploring uncertain situations. What it actually means is “When left curious, a cat will die.” As in being left curious will make a person dwell over the unknown and its best to find out what it is you’re curious about if you know it’ll bother you later.
The next is “Knock on wood” which is used after making a wishful statement to help it manifest. It was believed that invisible, malicious faeries existed everywhere and when you wished for something, they would do all in their power to make the opposite happen. Faeries however are very scatterbrained so when one knocks on a hard surface, it makes a loud noise that will temporarily scare the faeries into making them forget what you were just hopeful for. It just so happened that most surfaces were made of wood back then. Today it can be adapted to “Knock on something hard” to get the same effect.
interestingly enough, I've heard it said that "Speak of the Devil and he doth appear" comes from Chinese as well: specifically the phrase "Speak of Cao Cao and he shall appear", Cao Cao being a particularly fierce general during the Three Kingdoms period, who overthrew the Emperor.
The (proposed) origin of "saved by the bell", the safety coffin with the bell attached, is also the origin of the phrase "dead ringer"
But how would that mean someone who looks just like someone else?
Doesn't dead ringer also mean a game set up in such a way a person can't lose even if he tried? Believing this one is falling into gambling circles.
@@jamesloll4601 Haven't heard that use of it before, I'll look into it
Can't be any such thing as a dead person who rings the bell, so, for that example, the term would be an oxymoron.
The phrase "The Graveyard Shift" is said to have the same origins, where someone was paid to sit in a graveyard overnight to listen for safety coffin bells ringing.
i remember older people when I was a kid using the phrase "Speak of the sunshine & see it's rays." Usually when they ran into someone unexpectedly, they had recently talked about. "Speak of the devil" was when they were speaking about a person (usually speaking well of) who then showed up.
As an amateur falconer, it's fascinating to see how many everyday expressions and sayings have their origins in falconry - "fed up", "hoodwinked", "wrapped around one's finger", etc. That could be a video of its own, however.
What the fuck is a falconer?
Falconry is the practice of keeping and training birds of prey, usually in order to use them to hunt.
@@stephenm8415 as in a falcon, the bird
@@stephenm8415 google babe
Ah yes, "falconer".
I believe it's an oooold snl skit. Lolz
"There's no correlation between apples and the proximity of physicians"
Daleks: * *sadness noises* *
Hi Stormgem
This was an incredibly well put together video in terms of visual editing and storytelling staging, a great use of communications as a big history and language nerd I cannot thank you enough for this excellent content. You've certainly earned my subscription!
6:02 I know the “meaning” was most likely a silly joke, but this has an interesting meaning I’d like people to realize: it’s a commentary on how emotions affect your health.
My Religion Teacher in Highschool (who actually had a PhD in ancient Hebrew afaik) always insisted, that the Phrase "An Eye for an Eye" is actually a mistranslation and the actual meaning is more similar to "An Eye for an Eye-replacement"
So in other words, it doesnt advocate for revenge but rather adequate compensation after a crime, which is basically the oppositione of what the "usual" translation implies.
Disclaimer: Idk if that is actually true, it's kinda hard to verify without the proper insight and knowledge about the topic.
Either way, the implication is that the punishment for a crime should fit the crime and not exceed it.
@@41-Haiku That is true to an extent, even though I would argue the translation given by my (former) teacher actually implies no "punishment" but rather compensation and forgiveness.
I'm not relogious myself at all, but that seems to also kinda fit in esp. with Christianity (whether it does with Judaism aswell I can't really say).
It’s highly highly unlikely “saved by the bell” relates to graves. Boxing in it modern codified form also came into mainstream existence in the 19th Century and was by far the most popular and most participated-in sport in the English speaking world for generations. The idea that it came from anything other than boxing is simply trying to create an origin story involving the macabre for no other reason than to create a mistruth
Totally. In Portuguese the saying is "salvo pelo gongo" which can only be the particular type of bell used in these matches.
Or to feed human’s insatiable curiosity of the macabre, maybe.
i heard it was from boxing as well, i don't know where he did his research for that one, which also makes me worry about how accurate he was about the rest
I'd always been told that at some point in old England, cats and dogs would sleep on top of thatched roofs for warmth. So when there had been a wicked rain storm, parts of the roofs would give way due to the extra weight of the animals and they would fall through and into the home! It may sound ridiculous to some, but it seems quite logical to this subscriber. Tysm for ur wonderful content.
I heard that too
as a kid, I used to think "saved by the bell" was an school expression till I learn that people could be buried alive.
I would think "speak of the devil" could also maybe trace to ancient greece, as they often avoided deliberately talking about underworld gods, those that are these days considered evil, for fear of drawing their attention.
Same story, different setting.
@@TheGreatThicc yeah, though hellenic greece and the religion predate at least christiantiy by hundreds of years.
@@TheDemanour wouldn't be the first thing Christianity is known to have taken from other faiths
The phrase "Don't whizz on an electric fence" is believed to come from a mesopotamian proverb that warned of possible electrocution from urinating on an electric fence.
A true classic
Or don't fuck with Gilgamesh or Gilgamesh will fuck you when you don't pay your debts
Yeah, I heard that too
"What is it Bible?" had just the right amount of snark, love it
Those peta alternatives are actually pretty cool. I'll be using those but only because I'm weird in general.
You've done good with this video, thanks for the content.
I really love hearing the origins (especially the dark origins) of things! This video is great and very interesting!
Throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Cauldron calling the kettle black.
Sweat more in peace. Bleed less in war.
Legal language in general being related to the water of seas/oceans.
Way back in the day (15th 16th century maybe? Cant remember) families would take a bath in the same bath water. They would bathe in order of importance which meant the father bathed first and the baby was last. That meant the water was already quite dirty, so you couldn't see the baby within the tub. Not sure howd you forget a baby in the tub before discarding the water but hey, I wasn't a 16th century peasant
At least that's what I've heard.
Another few would be poisoning the well
Dying on a hill (battle related I presume)
Cat got your tongue? and, By the skin of your teeth
Excellent narration with well researched explanations, direct and to the point, and a very pleasing voice. Looking forward to more.
I once spoke with my adopted father about some idioms, one being "Saved by the bell" and he insisted something I think fits here.
He was Polish and his grandfather told him of some age old tale of a man caught stealing chickens. He was about to lynched by the towns people, backed into a wall and scared for his life...suddenly, Church bells began ringing and the entire town proceeded to mass, sparing his life.
Try as I might however, I cannot find any verification of this being Polish folks lore anywhere on Google so who knows just how true it is.
I’ve only watched 1/3 of the video, and this is an absolute masterpiece.
Oooo its about to begin....
A lot of his videos are just *Chefs kiss*
@@MadnessInTheMoonlight so true
One of the funniest idioms (albeit also sort of dark in an "off color" kinda way) is "how the cow ate the cabbage," which is a Southern figure of speech that refers to telling someone a harsh truth/not sugar coating something. I won't divulge its origin here, but rather leave it up to you in a future video. It's sure to make you laugh! ✌️
I love finding out where those types of phrases originated. Enjoyed the video, subscribed, and will be exploring more on your channel :-)
The bite the bullet idiom more likely refers to how bullets were stored at the time of the war. Metal jacketed bullets were just becoming a thing and were still relatively uncommon in the military. They were still using a lot of muzzle loading weapons. You would be given paper cartridges that contained gunpowder and a bullet. To load the guns it was standard procedure to bite the end of the cartridge and tear it off so you could hold onto your gun in the other hand, and then pour most of the powder and bullet into the gun.
Came to the comments to mention this. Biting the bullet was how to begin loading your firearm of the time. I suspect that loading it too early, and leaving it loaded for a long time, meant there would be an increasing chance of a failure to fire due to the mixture of the black powder, humidity, and environment in general. Despite attempts at "keeping your powder dry".
7:12 you have made the common mistake of copy-pasting Hebrew into your word processor and accidentally reversing the order of the letters.
I am always so excited for these videos. They are so interesting and entertaining. Keep up the good work!
Easily one of the best UA-cam channels out there. Very well made and always an interesting topic, thank you!
"You earn more french fries kicking turtles in a disco" - Robinhood
"Let the cat out of the bag"
Was used in reference to the cat-o-nine tails. I learned that in a wax museum which had a horror themed basement
wait is he referring to “kills more dogs than the animal shelter ” peta?
More like "90% euthenasia rate" peta, but yes
"A cat in the yard is worth two on the euthanasia table."
@@foodank_atr817 dawg 😭🤣🤣
Yes the "killed saltwater Lobsters they stole by releasing them into a freshwater river" peta
"Eliphant in the room" has been one of my favorites, because of my love of Patrice O'Neil. He adressed it all the time, With no hesitation or care of others feelings.
Not sure if its been mentioned already, but are you familiar with T.E. Breitenbach's picture "Proverbidioms"? First printed in 1975. Classic poster! The author is local to me and I was honored to have met him 3 years ago. He built his home, a castle, in the local mountains. Gorgeous structure that can be rented for weddings! Very fascinating artist....
the one with two birds one stone was pretty interesting. The german version of the saying goes more like "killing two flies with one strike", so i always assumed it came from the fairy tail, where the little tailor killed 7 flies at once. Or maybe the German version really comes from it lol
Interesting video as usual but just wanted to say that at 7:11 its not "ןיע תחת ןיע" its actually "עין תחת עין". I think it flipped it because hebrew written from right to left :)
Love your videos. I love how detailed you are. New to your channel and just love everything about it.
I have subscribed awhile ago.Always a simple thank you for your videos,they are great and very informative 🙂☮️
"More than one way to skin a cat." What I want to know is this: What the one way that everyone else but me seems to already know?
"There is more than one way too skin a cat , but if you have a weak stomach , you don't want to hear about the other 9?"
@@dewetolivier2362 😹😹😹
I'm really interested in finding out the origin of "don't look in the mouth of a gifted horse" (or something like that)
I'm pretty sure it's because you can tell a horse's age by looking at it's teeth, and that's what you would probably do before buying a horse just to make sure you're getting a young, strong horse and you're not getting ripped off by the seller. So, if you are gifted a horse, you shouldn't be picky about what age the horse is. Basically, you should gratefully accept the gift no matter what condition/quality it is, because you should be thankful that you are being given something for free.
@@spaghetti4659 thank you so much!! I always knew what the saying meant but I never understood why choose that image. I didn't know that you could tell a horse's age by it's teeth, very interesting!
@@lucagaibazzi2157 no problem! it is very interesting :)) by the way, hope you don't mind me asking but are you italian? (your name sounds italian haha) i'm learning italian and I'm curious if you also have a similar phrase.
We have basically the same phrase in polish except it's "in the teeth" and not mouth.
@@spaghetti4659 yes I am! And yes we do have a similar saying in Italian: "a caval donato non si guarda in bocca". I can't faithfully translate it in English because technically the Italian version uses this Italian thing which sounds like the 3rd singular person (he/she/it) but actually isn't. It is usually used to describe things like etiquette, good conduct and things that should be done (or shouldn't) I certain situation. I'll give you a simple example... "Questo non si fa" means "You don't do that" but if you were to translate it word by word from English to Italian it would be "Tu non fai questo", which in Italian barely counts as an actual sentence. Sorry if I explained it this deeply but I thought you may be interested since you're studying Italian. Aldo good luck, the grammar can be a bit more difficult than in other languages (especially verbs, which have lots of different conjugations depending on the person and the time) but it's definitely worth learning, it has such a beautiful sound!
Edit: also sorry for replying 4 days later, at first I came back from a trip abroad and was too tired to answer and after that I straight up forgor💀
that's very interesting, thank you for explaining! we actually have the same thing in polish! we say "darowanemu koniowi nie patrzy się w zęby" and "nie patrzy się" literally looks like "he/she doesn't look" but means that you don't do that :))
and yeah, I'm struggling with italian grammar a little bit, especially the verbs hahah
It's not that easy but it's such a beautiful language and I really like learning it. I actually picked italian as one of additional subjects that I will be passing (hopefully lol) a final exam on (an exam at the end of highschool, kinda like the SAT's? we call it matura here). so yeah, I'm pretty excited! I love the language and I hope to go to Italy again sometime, maybe even move there for a bit :))
also no worries haha hope you had a nice trip
what’s even more curious is that most of these sayings are shared verbatim across cultures in Europe that sometimes have little in common
I LOVE this exact topic. THANK YOU!!!
Yes! I‘m hyped. Thx for a new vid
I always thought the phrase "canary in the coal mine" had an interesting origin
True enough because they were canaries in a coal mine. They were used to detect toxic gases that could kill people but because the canary was much more sensitive to them would drop dead and was an early warning for the group to back out BEFORE they too became overwhelmed by the poison in the air. So surprisingly this saying is based on a bit of fact as I see it.
"Saved by the bell" also leads to "Graveyard shift". Someone would have to sit in the cemetary all night to listen for the bell ringing from the coffin.
6:37 i believe that verse is referring to the act of pointing out someones foolishness so they no longer are lead astray, while the other is trying to say don't take a fools advice
"There are no Oogways"
-Master Accident
There are no Panda, only Kung Fu.
-Master Ninja Turtle.
I always thought "saved by the bell" comes from school, where something happens like the teacher asks you a question or something and you don't know the answer to but then the bell rings and class is over and you are saved from embaressment or rebuke.
That's dumb.
@@bludshedt2647 🤷
@Sushiirull I don't think so, because I never heard of that show before. But I actually used and heard that phrase in the context of school. The situation I described actually happened to me in a more or less similiar way.
I thought it was probably from old fights
@@samuelgouldwoolley5702 yeah like from the box ring, right? that could also be possible