The True Story Behind Common Sayings/Idioms

Each language has its own collection of sayings, idioms, and proverbs. These phrases often offer advice about how to live while also unveiling some underlying idea, value, or principle of a given culture or society. When they’re on the shorter side, these sayings are referred to as “idioms,” while longer phrases are known as proverbs.

“A penny for your thoughts,” for example, is just another way to ask someone what they’re thinking. The first known use of this phrase was published in a self-help book titled, A Treatyce Upon the Last Thynges. It reads: “In such wise yt not wtoute som note & reproch of suche vagaraunte mind, other folk sodainly say to them: a peny for your thought.” That old English may look like gibberish, but the phrase eventually became so popular that by 1900 some people would simply say “penny.”

Here’s an example from H.G. Wells’s novel Love & Mr. Lewisham: ‘Penny,” she said after an interval. Lewisham started and looked up [and said], “Eh?”

The total number of idioms that are used around the world is pretty significant. So how many popular phrases can you think of? Here are a few common sayings (and their meanings) to get your creative juices flowing.

1. “Blood is thicker than water.”

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Family is important, but battle scars are everything.

While many people use this phrase as a way to suggest the strength of family ties, it’s not actually about family, at all. The correct quote, which was published in the Book of John, reads: “The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.”

This phrase, when read in its original form, means that the blood we shed in battle (AKA the struggles we share with one another) creates a stronger bond than just being related to someone.

2. “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

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Important work takes time.

This phrase was adapted into English in the 16th century from the medieval French proverb: “Rome ne fu[t] pas faite toute en un jour.” The modern version reads: “Rome ne s’est pas faite en un jour.” Basically, this phrase just means to be patient. For example, someone might say, “You can’t expect me to finish this project in such a short time; Rome wasn’t built in a day, you know.”

3. “Dressed to the nines”

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Pure perfection

“To the nines” is an English phrase used to denote the highest level of perfection. Although we’re not completely sure where the “nine” comes from in this phrase, many believe that tailors used nine yards of fabric to make a shirt or suit. Back in the day, the more material you had, the more highly the public regarded you.

4. “Once in a Blue Moon”

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Something that happens infrequently

A blue moon is an uncommon phenomenon that involves the appearance of two full moons within a single month. Consequently, people use the phrase when referring to a rare event. According to NASA, the last blue moon appeared on March 31, 2018. We should see another on October 31, 2020. Interestingly enough, the phrase “once in a blue moon” used to be synonymous with “never.” But when the moon actually appeared to look blue (in 1883 after the eruption of volcano Krakotoa), the phrase changed to mean “rarely.”

5. “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.”

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Don’t assume something will definitely happen before it actually happens.

This one is a bit funny. It begins with Aesop, a Greek fable writer you definitely read about in grade school. In his fable, The Milkmaid and Her Pail, a little girl is carrying a bucket of milk on her head when she begins daydreaming about selling the milk, buying chickens with the money, and then becoming so rich that she could one day be independent enough to turn down any man who tried to woo her. (The perfect dream, if you ask us.) The milkmaid becomes so wrapped up in her daydream that she drops her milk, completely destroying the possibility of becoming rich off of her milk money.

6. “Rule of thumb”

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An approximate method for doing something

For a long time, people thought the phrase “rule of thumb” meant that a man may “beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb” thanks to the 18th-century judge Sir Francis Buller. In the ‘80s, the phrase was published in a report on domestic abuse titled “Under the Rule of Thumb.” Thankfully, the actual definition of this phrase refers to an approximate method for doing something based on experience instead of theory.

7. “Sleep tight.”

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Sleep well.

Some believe this 19th-century expression references the tightness of the strings used to support one’s mattress. Mattresses used to be supported by ropes instead of a box spring. Others, however, claim that the word “tight” (which means properly or soundly) was chosen because it rhymes with “night.” According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the phrase first appeared in 1933. But by that time, the innerspring mattress had been invented, ultimately putting the rope myth to bed.

8. “Three sheets to the wind”

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You’re drunk.

This phrase is a nautical one. “Sheets” referred to ropes or chains that were fixed to the lower corners of a sail to hold it in place. So, if three sheets were loose and blowing in the wind, the sails would flap and the boat would lurch like a drunken sailor.

9. “Hocus pocus”

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Magic

“Hocus pocus,” isn’t just a movie title. This phrase has been used over the years to denote trickery. The phrase is now treated like “abracadabra” or “Shazam.” When it was first coined, however, magicians would use this phrase to trick their audience into thinking something amazing was about to happen. When in actuality, it wasn’t.

10. “Let the cat out of the bag.”

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To reveal a secret

The story goes like this. In the mid-1700s, a dishonest merchant tried to sell a cat as a pig. When the cat found its way out of the bag, though, everyone realized the merchant’s secret. This story, however, isn’t 100 percent proven. And according to Snopes, common sense should tell us this isn’t true.

11. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

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An unwillingness to accept responsibility

This one is a bit eerie. According to the biblical story, Cain and Abel were brothers. One day, Cain killed his brother. God already knew what Cain had done, but instead of confronting him, He asked, Where is your brother Abel? Cain responded, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”His answer suggests that he doesn’t feel responsible for his actions. Today, this phrase means we should look out for one another.

12. “Eat, drink, and be merry.”

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Enjoy life as much as possible.

While this phrase is used several times in the Bible, the phrase itself isn’t necessarily biblical. In fact, it’s the opposite. The phrase suggests that people should enjoy their earthly life as much as possible because there is nothing after death. The Bible, however, claims that there is an eternal spiritual existence after death.

13. “A little bird told me”

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Someone told me something about you.

This specific phrase doesn’t appear in the Bible, but the root of this expression is most likely biblical. Ecclesiastes 10-20 (the King James version) reads, “Curse not the king, no not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter.”

What does this mean? Don’t keep secrets. Eventually, someone will spill the beans.

14. “Bring home the bacon.”

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Financial success

In the 1100s, officials of Parish church in Essex, England, awarded a side of bacon, or flitch, each year to a married couple who displayed wedded bliss. Sounds cute, right? Even so, this isn’t where the term originated. The phrase was first used in 1906 when Joe Gans fought Oliver Nelson in the world lightweight championship boxing contest. In hopes of giving her son some good luck, Mrs. Gans sent him a telegram asking him to “bring home the bacon.” When he won the contest, Joe replied to his mother writing that he “had not only the bacon but the gravy.”

15. “Let them eat cake!” 

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Insensitivity to the unfortunate

Marie-Antoinette is often and inaccurately associated with this quote. But here’s the thing; there’s absolutely no evidence she ever said this or anything even remotely close to it. This phrase has more than a few complications and can be interpreted in a variety of other ways. For example, it could have a genuine connotation. Perhaps, the French were trying to offer cake to the poor as an alternative to bread.

So, who said it? We’re still unsure, but in Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Confessions, he writes:

At length, I recollected the thoughtless saying of a great princess, who, on being informed that the country people had no bread, replied, “Then let them eat pastry!”