Fascinating backstories of phrases

Ten common English idioms and their surprising origins

Image: Amador Loureiro

Ever wondered why we "spill the beans" when we reveal secrets, or why something costs "an arm and a leg"? Our everyday expressions carry hidden tales of history, culture, and human nature. Let's dive into ten familiar idioms and discover the surprising stories behind the words we use so casually.

Image: Christian Regg

When you "break the ice" at a party or meeting, you're helping people feel more comfortable and start conversations. This perfectly sensible expression actually comes from a very literal practice. In the days before modern icebreakers, ships would get trapped in frozen harbors during the winter months, unable to move until smaller boats physically broke through the ice to create a clear path.

The phrase made its way into social situations because starting a conversation in an awkward silence feels just as challenging as breaking through solid ice. Shakespeare even used this expression in "The Taming of the Shrew" back in 1590, proving that people have been struggling with small talk for centuries.

Image: Miles Burke

"Spilling the beans" means revealing a secret or letting information slip out accidentally. Historians suggest this idiom may have originated in ancient Greece, where voting was serious business. Citizens would cast their votes using beans. White beans meant "yes," and black beans meant "no." The beans were supposed to be counted privately, but sometimes a clumsy voter would knock over the jar and literally spill the beans, revealing the secret vote.

Image: Alexander Mils

When something "costs an arm and a leg," it's extremely expensive –so much so that you'd have to give up precious body parts to afford it. While this sounds like modern exaggeration, some theories suggest that the phrase comes from the world of portrait painting in the 18th and 19th centuries. Back then, having your portrait painted was a luxury, and artists charged based on how much of your body was included in the painting.

A simple head-and-shoulders portrait was the basic package, but if you wanted your arms and legs painted too, the price went way up. So literally, including arms and legs in your portrait cost extra arms and legs!

Image: Bennie Bates

"Biting the bullet" means facing a difficult situation with courage, usually something unpleasant you can't avoid. This grim expression comes from battlefield medicine in the days before anesthesia. When soldiers needed surgery or had to endure painful medical procedures, doctors would give them a bullet to bite down on to help them cope with the pain and prevent them from biting their own tongues.

The lead bullet was soft enough not to break their teeth but firm enough to give them something to focus on during the agony.

Image: Mikhail Vasilyev

"Letting the cat out of the bag" means revealing a secret or surprise, usually by accident. Legend has it that this phrase comes from medieval marketplaces, where dishonest merchants had a sneaky trick for cheating customers. When someone wanted to buy a pig, the merchant would show them a nice, plump pig, then put what the customer thought was that pig into a bag for transport. But instead of the pig, they'd slip in a much cheaper cat.

The fraud was only discovered when the buyer got home and literally let the cat out of the bag. The cat was definitely out then, along with the secret of the merchant's deception! This medieval scam was so common that buyers learned to insist on seeing inside the bag before paying.

Image: Welcome

When you go "the whole nine yards," you're doing everything possible, giving maximum effort, or including everything available. Despite being such a common phrase, its origin is hotly debated. One popular theory involves World War II fighter pilots, whose ammunition belts were exactly nine yards long. When a pilot used up all their ammo in a fight, they had given it "the whole nine yards."

Other theories include fabric merchants selling nine-yard bolts of cloth, or concrete trucks carrying nine cubic yards of concrete. The truth is, nobody knows for sure, and that mystery makes the phrase even more interesting. What we do know is that nine yards seems to represent completeness in American culture.

Image: Phil hearing

This awkward-sounding advice means you shouldn't be overly critical of something you're getting for free. The saying comes from the practical world of horse trading, where a horse's age and health could be determined by examining its teeth and gums. Younger horses have better teeth, making them more valuable, while older horses show wear and problems that reduce their worth.

When someone gave you a horse as a gift, it would be incredibly rude to immediately check its mouth to see if you were getting a good deal. You'd essentially be questioning the giver's generosity and looking for reasons to complain about your free horse.

Image: Paolo Nicolello

Calling someone "mad as a hatter" means they're acting crazy or irrational. This isn't just a random comparison. Hat makers really did go mad, and there was a tragic reason for it. In the 18th and 19th centuries, hat makers used mercury in the process of turning animal fur into felt. Mercury is highly toxic, and prolonged exposure caused mercury poisoning, which led to tremors, mood swings, and erratic behavior.

Hat makers would develop what we now know were symptoms of mercury poisoning: Twitching, slurred speech, and personality changes that made them seem insane. The phrase became so common that Lewis Carroll used it when creating the Mad Hatter character in "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."

Image: Mrg Simon

Being "saved by the bell" means being rescued from a difficult situation by a last-minute interruption, like when the school bell rings just as the teacher is about to call on you. While many people think this comes from boxing, where a boxer about to be knocked out gets saved when the round ends, the phrase might have an even more dramatic origin story involving the fear of being buried alive.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, people were terrified of being mistaken for dead and buried while still alive. Some coffins were equipped with bells connected to strings that ran down into the grave. If someone woke up buried, they could pull the string and ring the bell to alert the graveyard workers.

Image: Roman Ten

When it's "raining cats and dogs," we mean it's pouring heavily. This bizarre expression has several possible origins, all of them rather unpleasant. One theory suggests that in medieval times, city drainage was so poor that heavy rains would wash dead animals through the streets, making it look like cats and dogs had fallen from the sky. Not exactly a pleasant mental image for your morning weather report.

Another theory points to old English, when thatched roofs provided shelter for small animals. During heavy storms, these creatures would supposedly fall through the soaked thatch into people's homes. While this sounds more like folklore than fact, it captures the chaos and surprise of a sudden downpour.

IN GOOD SPIRITS

Do You Know The Origin Of These 10 Alcoholic Beverages?

Image: Adam Wilson

You probably know many alcoholic beverages that you enjoy drinking alone or combined in different cocktails, but do you know where their names come from? From whiskey and gin to rum and absinthe, the origins of spirits have fascinating stories to tell. Are you ready to explore them? You will surely learn some curious facts to share at your next party!

Image: emkanicepic

Whiskey is one of the most consumed alcoholic beverages in the world. It is produced by distilling malt fermented with cereals such as wheat, barley, corn, and rye, and the resulting spirit is subsequently aged in white oak barrels.

In the Middle Ages, alcoholic beverages were classified into two main groups: "aqua ardens" (burning water) and "aqua vitae" (water of life). Whiskey falls into the category of "aqua vitae." The Latin term was translated into Middle Irish as usque beatha, which in turn derived into usquebaugh, pronounced: "wiskyba," giving rise to "whisky" (Scotland) and "whiskey" (Ireland and the United States).

Image: Timothé Durand

The word brandy is an abbreviation of brandywine, an English term dating from the early 17th century. It comes from the Dutch brandewijn, meaning "burnt wine" or "burning wine," referring to the distillation process.

Brandy is made from the distillate of wine or fermented fruit pulp, primarily grape skins. There are different types of brandy. Perhaps one of the best known is cognac, a high-quality wine distillate, named after the city in France where it is produced.

Image: John Fornander

Gin is a distilled drink made from juniper berries, among other ingredients. The term gin is an abbreviation of the Old English word genever, which in turn derives from the Dutch jenever and the French genièvre. Moreover, all these words trace back to the Latin word for juniper, juniperus.

This drink emerged among European monks during the Middle Ages as a medicinal liquor. Then, in the 17th century, gin gained popularity in England and transitioned into the modern drink we know and love. Nowadays, gin is used to prepare different cocktails, including Tom Collins, Negroni, and the popular Gin & Tonic.

Image: C D-X

The first references to this drink date back to the mid-17th century in Barbados, a small Caribbean island with sugar plantations that was under British rule for several centuries. When rum began to be produced on a large scale in the colonies, the English imported it to Europe and popularized it throughout the continent.

There are many theories about the origin of the word rum. The most accepted one suggests that it comes from the English slang word rumbullion which means "great tumult." This term might have originated in the Devonshire area on the southwest coast of England. From rumbullion, it became known as rum in English, rhum in French, and ron in Spanish.

Image: Deeliver

Vodka is an emblematic drink of Eastern European countries and is used to prepare a multitude of cocktails, including the Martini Vesper, Moscow Mule, White Russian, Cosmopolitan, and Bloody Mary, among others. The word vodka comes from the Russian word voda, which means "water." The ending -ka makes it diminutive, translating to "little water."

Vodka is a distillate that comes from the fermentation of potatoes, wheat, barley, grapes, beets, or any plant rich in starch. Originally, the aim was to obtain a simple, alcoholic liquid composed of ethanol and water, with no pretensions in terms of aroma or flavor. It also needed to have a high alcohol content to cope with the harsh Russian winters. Traditionally it has a graduation around 40º, although there are vodkas that reach 80º and up to 96º. It is hard to believe that it’s simply called water!

Image: Ryan Parker

This distillate made mainly from corn, was first introduced in the United States in the 18th century. The first known producer was Reverend Elijah Craig, a Baptist minister. Legend has it that the clergyman established the first distillery in Fayette County, Kentucky, with the help of a Southern farmer who provided surplus corn from his harvest.

Although it was born in Fayette, this variety of whiskey was named after another nearby county, Bourbon County, where the spirit began to be produced on a large scale. The names of both Kentucky counties have their origin in the same historical figure: Gilbert du Motier, the Marquis de Lafayette, a French aristocrat related to the House of Bourbon.

Image: Giorgio Trovato

The word vermouth comes from the German word wermut, which means "wormwood," one of the main herbs used to make this beverage. This fortified wine, flavored with different botanicals (flowers, herbs, roots, and spices), has been used since ancient times for medicinal purposes. However, the modern version we know today was first introduced in Turin, Italy, in the 18th century.

In the 19th century, vermouth became a global trend thanks to the rise of bars and cocktails, as it was —and still is— an essential ingredient to prepare classic drinks such as Martinis, Negronis, and Manhattans.

Image: Deeliver

Tequila is, without a doubt, a staple of Mexican culture and a famous drink around the world. In ancient times, it was considered a gift from the gods. Today it’s served as an aperitif or combined with other beverages and ingredients to prepare cocktails.

This spirit is produced from the distillation of fermented juice obtained from the heart of a plant known as "blue agave." Its name comes from the Nahuatl word Tekilan, which means "place of the workers."

Image: alandiaspirits

This popular anise-flavored spirit, made from wormwood oil and other herbs, has a high alcohol concentration. With a bitter taste, absinthe’s color is usually pale green. Its name derives from the Latin absinthium, which in turn comes from the Greek apsínthion, meaning "wormwood."

The use of wormwood to make alcoholic beverages dates back to the 1st century, but it was not until the end of the 18th century, in French-speaking Switzerland, that the drink we know today was created. At the end of the 19th century, absinthe, often called "Green Fairy," was the most popular spirit in Europe, enjoyed by all social classes, especially artists and bohemians. However, years later its consumption was limited because it could cause hallucinations, which gave birth to the term absinthism.

Image: eKokki

Peru and Chile, neighboring South American countries, share many things: the Andes mountain range, common ancestors, customs, and, notably, the debate over the origin of pisco. The true birthplace of this spirit has long been questioned, with both countries claiming it as their own. What we do know is that the name pisco may derive from the Quechua word Pisku, meaning "bird."

Peruvian and Chilean pisco are different varieties but have in common that they are grape distillations, made similarly to brandy and cognac. Despite the ongoing controversy, no one should miss trying a good pisco sour!