Changing words

These sayings don't mean what they used to

Image: Chouaib Maiza

More often than not, we toss around old sayings without giving them a second thought. However, many of them once meant something entirely different than what we are trying to say. Over time, words drift, idioms evolve, and what started as a literal warning becomes a cultural cliche. Let's rewind the dictionary and see how these phrases came to be, and whether their meanings remained intact or not.

Image: Nathan Dumlao

Quoted as gospel by floor managers and entitled customers alike, the original phrase had quite a different meaning. Attributed to the business pioneer Harry Gordon Selfridge, some believe that the saying originally was The customer is always right, in matters of taste. That would translate to: don’t argue if a buyer prefers stripes to solids. It never meant the shopper can insult staff or ignore policy.

Image: Erik Mclean

Master of none, right? That's the phrase as we are used to hearing it, usually accompanied by an eye roll, implying mediocrity. However, the full phrase from the 1600s was jack of all trades, master of none, but oftentimes better than master of one. It praised versatility and curiosity, as opposed to obstinate single-mindedness. As time went by and society became ever more specialized, this phrase dropped the last bit and completely changed its meaning.

Image: Karthick Krishnakumar

Today, happy as a clam just means "content." But the full 19th-century expression was happy as a clam at high tide, which adds a whole new dimension to the phrase. Clams aren't happy all the time, just when the water is high and they are the safest and hardest to dig up. Over time, the survival context vanished, leaving only the joy.

Image: Liv Bruce

The message behind this saying seems to be as clear as day: family always comes first. However, some people sustain that the original phrase went in a completely opposite direction: The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb. In the older version, chosen bonds (friendship, camaraderie) run deeper than mere kinship.

Image: Allen Y

In 15th-century England, a good broth was "without bones:" easy to swallow and free of unpleasant surprises. A soup with bones, on the other hand, was full of obstacles.

The meaning of what-you-see-is-what-you-get transparency stuck, and that's why to make no bones about something means to speak candidly about it, without hiding your opinion.

Image: Sebastian Fell

This phrase most likely comes from boxing, but some theories about its origin are much more macabre. Allegedly, this saying comes from the Victorian fear of being buried alive. Some coffins were fitted with bells connected to a string inside, so that anyone mistakenly entombed could ring for rescue. Even though safety coffins were indeed made during the Victorian era, there is no actual record of this phrase ever being used during that time.

Image: Jana Ohajdova

If you ever found this one confusing, it's because the phrase is missing a few key words that clarify its meaning. The original saying, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, made quite clear that the test of quality lies in experience, not appearance.

Image: Samet Erköseoğlu

This is another one of those that dropped their second half to change meanings entirely. Today, it reads as a cheery nod to shared inspiration, but the original quip went: Great minds think alike, though fools seldom differ. In its original sense, though intelligent people can often arrive at the same conclusions independently, unintelligent people tend to always agree without much thought.

Image: Tijana Drndarski

The common explanation for this phrase dates back to Ancient Greece. Back then, citizens cast their votes using colored beans: clear for yes, dark for no. If someone knocked the jar over before the official count, the results were exposed prematurely. Over the centuries, this quirk of ancient democracy morphed into a metaphor for blabbing or revealing secrets.

Image: engin akyurt

While there are many myths about the origin of this idiom, some of them quite violent, its origin is actually quite pragmatic. Back when precise instruments of measurement weren't as commonplace as they are today, various trades used the thumb's width (about an inch) to roughly measure materials informally

Genealogy of words

Cobwebs and scapegoats: The surprising origins of 10 compound words

Image: Jackson Films

Compound words are everywhere, often hiding fascinating stories in plain sight. English is an exceptionally adaptable language, and one way it creates new words is by combining the sounds and meanings of existing ones. These terms, deeply rooted in history, culture, and language evolution, have become part of everyday speech. From cobweb to hodgepodge, here are 10 compound words you’ve probably used without realizing their fascinating backstories.

Image: Simple stripes

"Cob" comes from an Old English word for spider. Over time, web naturally paired with it, referring to the silky structures spiders spin to catch their prey. While cob eventually faded from use, "cobweb" endured, surviving linguistic changes.

Interestingly, cobweb now typically refers to older, abandoned spider webs rather than the fresh silk spun by active spiders. The word (and cobwebs themselves) feels more at home in the long-forgotten corners of an attic than in an entomology class.

Image: Anastasia Zhenina

Although the origin of this word remains somewhat unclear, strawberries are likely unrelated to straw in any way. The name probably comes from strew, referring to how the plants spread runners along the ground. Early farmers may have noticed this characteristic and coined the term.

But if that sounds odd, here’s another twist: strawberries aren’t even true berries! Botanically, they belong to a group of aggregate fruits, with tiny seeds embedded on their surface rather than inside.

Image: SLNC

"Jackpot" originated in 19th-century poker games, where it referred to a hand requiring at least two jacks to open betting. If no player had the necessary cards, the pot would grow until someone did.

Over time, jackpot expanded beyond poker to describe any big prize or windfall, from casino winnings to life-changing events like lotteries or discoveries. The phrase "hit the jackpot," meaning to achieve sudden and unexpected success, emerged in the 1940s.

Image: Alfonso Lorenzetto

"Wedlock" comes from the Old English wed, meaning pledge, and lac, meaning action or proceeding. Together, they signified the act of pledging oneself in marriage. Though lock now evokes the idea of being bound, it originally meant something closer to "law."

The term persists today in phrases like "born out of wedlock," but its origin highlights the ancient importance of marriage vows.

Image: Sindy Süßengut

"Bulldoze" combines bull and dose, originating as a late 19th-century Americanism. Initially, it referred to severely beating someone—akin to receiving a "dose" of a bull’s force. Over time, it came to signify using brute strength to push through obstacles.

By the early 20th century, the term evolved to describe heavy machinery used to clear land or construction sites, reflecting the sheer power needed to reshape the earth.

Image: Jametlene Reskp

The name "hopscotch" comes from the Old English word scotch, which originally meant to scratch or cut—unrelated to the modern term for whisky.

In the game, children hop across squares scratched or drawn into the ground. Although this meaning of scotch has fallen out of everyday use, it lives on in the game. When you play hopscotch, you’re literally hopping over scotches, or marks.

Image: Monoar Rahman Rony

Surprisingly, the name "eggplant" comes from early European varieties that were small, white, and resembled eggs—quite different from the large, purple ones we know today.

In various parts of the world, the plant goes by other names, such as aubergine or brinjal, both of which trace back to the Arabic word al-bāḏinjān.

Image: Nandhu Kumar

"Scapegoat" originates from an ancient Jewish tradition in which the community's sins were symbolically placed on a goat that was then driven into the wilderness. The goat, escaping with the blame, gave rise to the modern meaning of someone unfairly held responsible for others' mistakes.

The practice of assigning guilt to an animal later influenced literature and language, and today, scapegoat refers to individuals wrongfully blamed for group failures.

Image: Serey Kim

The word "honeymoon" combines honey, symbolizing sweetness, and moon, representing a month. Originally, it had little to do with a post-marriage vacation and simply referred to the first full month after marriage.

However, it was still considered a special time for newlyweds. Honeymoon traditions date back centuries, with early references to couples drinking honey-based mead during their first month of marriage—a custom believed to enhance fertility.

Image: Edward Howell

"Hodgepodge" is a corruption of the French hochepot, a stew made from a mix of meats and vegetables. Over time, the word evolved to mean any confusing or jumbled mixture, often lacking planning or order.

Today, we use hodgepodge to describe any chaotic assortment, from ingredients in a dish to a random collection of objects or ideas.