Everyday expressions

Where does the phrase “close, but no cigar” come from? 8 idioms' origins

Image: Pisit Heng

Idioms are a rare breed, aren’t they? They confuse non-native speakers to no end, as they can’t simply be deduced from the meaning of individual words. After all, who in their right mind would accuse someone of stealing their intangible thunder? Or complain about having to burn lamp oil at midnight?

English speakers use these idioms all the time but rarely stop to figure out where they come from. If you were ever curious about how spilling beans might connect to confessing a secret, then this article is exactly what you need.

Image: Michał Mancewicz

The very literal origin of this idiom comes from the play "Appius and Virginia," written by English dramatist John Dennis in the early 1700s. For the production of his play, Dennis created a new method to imitate the sound of thunder. Sadly, "Appius and Virginia" had disappointing attendance and was canceled shortly after. However, Dennis soon after discovered that a production of Macbeth was using his thunder device, to critical acclaim. According to literary scholar Joseph Spence, Dennis angrily exclaimed, "Damn them! They will not let my play run, but they steal my thunder."

Image: Yohan Cho

This idiom has a surprising lighthearted aspect to it. While its meaning entails soul-crushing defeat, one can’t help but also imagine a Groucho Marx-looking character chewing on a big cigar. And this lightheartedness might not be completely accidental: After all, this idiom comes from the cheerful world of carnival games.

In the late 19th century, carnival games were targeted for adults, not children. Therefore, instead of handing out oversized stuffed animals of undefined species, winners might receive objects like cigars as prizes. The idiom "close but no cigar" was born from those players that almost won, but didn’t earn a prize.

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The most widely accepted use of this idiom comes from America’s very own national pastime: baseball. In 1916, the New York Giants (now known as the San Francisco Giants) had an incredible winning streak of 26 consecutive games. The Giants believed that, if they were in the lead during the last inning of a game, moving a bag filled with extra baseballs off the field would secure their victory. They had "captured" the game in the bag. This team’s superstition has now evolved into an everyday idiom that means secured and complete success.

Image: Milada Vigerova

Picture this: You are at work, hanging by the water cooler, and you are trying to get your favorite coworker to reveal a piece of office gossip that promises to be huge. We have all been there, but did you know that by asking your coworker to "spill the beans", you might be referencing one of the very first instances of democracy?

The origins of this idiom are still debated, but the consensus is that it most likely comes from a voting system from Ancient Greece. This process involved placing colored beans in a vase (white for yes, black for no). Tallying up the votes would then literally require someone to spill the vase and count each bean that was cast.

Image: Ritabrata Das

Almost every student can attest to spending many sleepless nights burning the midnight oil in front of a seemingly endless pile of textbooks. While the origin of this idiom comes from oil lamps used in the 17th century, students all across the world still refer to this expression when talking about working late into the night.

The first known use of "burning the midnight oil" comes from a book written by English poet Francis Quarles in 1635. More recently, in 1972, country music legends Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner recorded a collaborative studio album titled The Right Combination • Burning the Midnight Oil.

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While turning a blind eye might make us think about that lenient schoolteacher who occasionally gave us a pass on our missing homework, the most commonly accepted origin of this idiom comes from the nautical world. Specifically, from the iconic 18th century British Admiral Horatio Nelson.

In 1801, Nelson led the British attack alongside fellow Admiral Sir Hyde Parker in the Battle of Copenhagen. Nelson, who was blind in one eye, received a flag message from Parker that urged him to retreat. However, Nelson believed that the British fleet should continue to push forward, so he held his telescope to his blind eye and pretended he hadn’t seen Parker’s message.

Image: Raimond Klavins

Weirdly enough, another unexpected nautical term has found its way into this list! While nowadays feeling "under the weather" means feeling ill, the origin of this idiom dates back to slang used by sailors as far back as the 19th century.

The term "under the weather bow" was used to refer to the side of the ship that was exposed the most during storms. Sailors would seek shelter in their cabins to avoid getting seasick, literally going under the ship’s deck to escape the weather. The first literary use of this term was by American author Donald Grant Mitchell in his 1855 book Fudge Doings. In the book, a character describes a nasty experience in a steamer as feeling "a little under the weather."

Image: Carlos Felipe Ramírez Mesa

Throughout the years, countless parents have repeated the same question to their misbehaving children at the dinner table: "Were you raised by wolves?" And, while the current intention of these parents is to highlight bad manners and improper etiquette, it might hurt their case to learn that several outstanding characters from myths and literature were, in fact, raised by wolves.

Perhaps the first and most famous story of children raised by wolves is that of the founders of Ancient Rome, Romulus, and Remus. In the myth, the brothers are abandoned on the bank of a river, where they are found and nurtured by a she-wolf, before being eventually adopted by a shepherd. Furthermore, the protagonist of Rudyard Kipling’s 1894 novel The Jungle Book is a boy named Mowgli who is raised in the jungle by wolves.

Corporate jargon rules

Do you speak office? Corporate buzzwords that are simpler than they sound

How well can you recognize office jargon? These words pop up in meetings, emails, and in business contexts. They are meant to make work conversations quicker, though sometimes, let's be honest, they make them sound more complicated than their actual meaning. Keep reading and see how familiar you are with office jargon.

What is your core competency? It is something you do particularly well at work. If you list customer service as a core competency on your resume, you are saying that it is one of your strongest skills and part of what makes you valuable to an employer.

A core competency often helps you stand out from others because it is difficult to replicate and contributes to a company’s success. It might help the business improve its performance, serve customers more effectively, or expand into new markets.

"Let’s touch base about this project tomorrow" usually means, "Let’s briefly discuss it." In business, people use this phrase when they want to reconnect, check in, or get an update on a specific topic.

The expression comes from baseball, where a player must literally touch a base to be safe or score a run. Over the years, people began using it as a metaphor for reconnecting. In the professional world, it often means sharing quick updates and making sure everyone is on the same page.

Imagine you bring up a problem during a work meeting, and your supervisor says, "Good point. We’ll circle back to this later." The meeting moves on, and the issue is not forgotten, even though it is not mentioned again.

In corporate language, "circle back" means returning to a topic at another time. It allows people to pause a discussion without dropping it entirely. The phrase comes from moving in a circle and returning to where you started, like completing a lap, becoming common in office jargon during the 1970s.

Imagine your team is stuck on the same old solution, and your manager says, "We need to think outside the box." What does he mean? He’s encouraging the team to look for a more creative or unexpected way to solve the problem. Sometimes, ordinary procedures don’t always yield the best results.

The phrase comes from the Nine-Dot Puzzle game, where you must connect all nine dots with four straight lines. The trick is to draw beyond the imaginary box around the dots instead of staying inside it.

Synergy happens when two people, teams, or organizations work together and achieve a better result than they could separately. It's usually represented as 1+1 = 3; in other words, the combined effect is greater than the sum of its parts. The word comes from the Greek synergia, meaning "working together." And, in business, it is often used to make teamwork sound more strategic.

When a company tries ten small ideas, but only one actually increases sales, that one idea "moves the needle." The phrase is a way of saying something made a real, noticeable difference, compared to the other ideas trying to cause a similar effect.

The expression comes from old measuring tools, like speedometers and fuel gauges, where the needle moves when the speed, fuel level, or another measurement changes. It entered office slang in the 80s as a corporate shorthand for actions that produce clear, effective results.

If a team wants quick wins, it may start with the "low-hanging fruit." These are the simple opportunities that require less effort and are usually the easiest tasks to finish first. A "low-hanging fruit" example could be calling back customers who already showed interest compared with finding brand-new customers. Before becoming an everyday term for the office, this expression referred to fruit growing on the lowest branches of a tree, which is the easiest to reach and pick without a ladder or much effort.

If a coworker says, "I don’t have the bandwidth for that," they are probably not talking about Wi-Fi. In office language, bandwidth means time, energy, or mental capacity. In other words, it’s a polite way of saying, "I’m already too busy; I won't handle that new task." This way, we compare the computer capacity to handle data as a metaphor for the mental capacity humans have.

The phrase is easy to guess once you hear it. If a manager asks for a "deep dive" into falling sales, they are asking for more than a glance. They want a detailed look at the numbers, causes, and possible solutions, a complete analysis of the situation. Such as diving, yes, but without the water fun part.

Ever heard someone say, "Let’s take it offline"? In a meeting, it usually means the topic should wait. The group can move on, and the issue can be discussed later, privately, or outside the main conversation. In computer science, "offline" is used for processing data or tasks separate from the main active network.