terça-feira, 28 de agosto de 2012

As Cool As A Cucumber


 As cool as a cucumber: Calm and unruffled.

"Cool here means imperturbable rather than having a low temperature. Cucumbers are cool to the touch.
First recorded in John Gay's Poems, New Song on New Similies, 1732:

"I ... cool as a cucumber could see The rest of womankind."


"Calm and composed, self-possessed, as in Despite the mishap Margaret was cool as a cucumber ."
  This idiom may be based on the fact that in hot weather the inside of cucumbers remains cooler than the air.


I never thought about comparing someone to a cucumber…
 
The first time I read this expression I thought that cool meant great, attractive, beautiful and different, and it's very strange to think of cucumbers this way. That would be a "hot" cucumber??? No… I don't think so.
Then I realized that they were talking about the cucumber temperature. Hummmm… ok, It's weird anyway!

And you? Are you as cool as a cucumber even if you have a hot potato in your hands???


Your turn!!!
You can swap ideas and make your comments. Don't be shy and let your curiosity talk!


sexta-feira, 24 de agosto de 2012

Curiosity Killed The Cat


Curiosity killed the cat: Inquisitiveness can lead one into dangerous situations.

"The original form of the proverb, now little used, was "Care killed the cat". In this instance, "care" was defined as "worry" or "sorrow."
The earliest printed reference to the original proverb is attributed to the British playwright Ben Jonson in his 1598 play, Every Man in His Humour, which was performed first by William Shakespeare.

...Helter skelter, hang sorrow, care will kill a cat, up-tails all, and a pox on the hangman.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curiosity_killed_the_cat

"The proverbial expression 'curiosity killed the cat', which is usually used when attempting to stop someone asking unwanted questions, is much more recent. The earlier form was still in use in 1898, when it was defined in Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable:
"Care killed the Cat. It is said that a cat has nine lives, but care would wear them all out."
Curiosity hasn't received a good press over the centuries. Saint Augustine wrote in Confessions, AD 397, that, in the eons before creating heaven and earth, God "fashioned hell for the inquisitive". John Clarke, in Paroemiologia, 1639 suggested that "He that pryeth into every cloud may be struck with a thunderbolt". In Don Juan, Lord Byron called curiosity "that low vice". That bad opinion, and the fact that cats are notoriously inquisitive, lead to the source of their demise being changed from 'care' to 'curiosity'."


Poor cat. Careful or curious, it always ends dead!!!
That is one of my favorites, and one of the reasons is because it mentions Shakespeare and I think it is really cool!!! He used
a similar quote in Much Ado About Nothing:
" What, courage man! What though care killed a cat, thou hast mettle enough in thee to kill care." 


Your turn!!!
You can swap ideas and make your comments. Don't be shy and let your curiosity talk!

domingo, 19 de agosto de 2012

Bring Home The Bacon


Bring home the bacon: To earn money, particularly for one's family; to be successful, especially financially successful.
 

"This phrase’s origin is harder to nail down, but there are two theories that stand out among the rest:
The first theory is that it derived from a tradition called Dunmow Flitch that is still practiced every four years in Great Dunmow, Essex. In 1104, the Prior of Little Dunmow was so impressed with a couple’s devotion to each other that he gave them a side of bacon (also called a flitch). There is no solid proof if this is true, however.
The first time anyone had actually been quoted as using this phrase was in 1906, when Joe Gans won a boxing match. The September 3rd Reno Evening Gazette reported the words of an announcer at the match who read a telegram from Gans’ mother aloud. She wrote, “Everybody says you ought to win. Peter Jackson will tell me the news and you bring back the bacon.”
It’s unclear whether she made it up on the spot or was repeating an already well-known phrase, but there is no hard evidence of this term’s use before that day."
 http://www.gobankingrates.com/bringing-home-the-bacon-origin-of-popular-finance-sayings/

I found another one:
The origin is attributed to a kind of sport that happened during the annual fairs and medieval festivals. They threw a greasy pig up and who caught it took the prize which was, "The sticky pig!"
Source: Why do we say that? by Jack Scholes. Elsevier.



I do not know
how you feel about that , but I think these habits are quite disgusting! Winning a piece of pork as a gift? Grabbing a greased pig? No, thanks. I pass!!!

Isn't it funny to think that we work "to bring home the bacon"? What do you think about that?


Your turn!!!
You can swap ideas and make your comments. Don't be shy and let your curiosity talk!

sexta-feira, 17 de agosto de 2012

To Know The Ropes


So let me introduce you "The ropes"!:

To know the ropes: To understand how to do something. To be acquainted with all the methods required. To fully understand the subject.

"There is some doubt about the origin of this phrase. It may well have a nautical origin. Sailors had to learn which rope raised which sail and also had to learn a myriad of knots. There is also a suggestion that it comes from the world of the theatre, where ropes are used to raise scenery etc."

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/221800.html

Ok! Now I suppose that you got the idea about what I was trying to say when I created the name of this blog, don't you?



Your turn!!!
You can swap ideas and make your comments. Don't be shy and let your curiosity talk!