Spilling The Beans

I'm not sure I have any that I use frequently, but it interests me to find out where they come from. One that I learned a couple of years ago while visiting a historical site is "cut to the chase". Of course I had heard the expression before, but I mean I learned where it originated.

Back in the days of letterpress printing, printers had large collections of individual letters that they would painstakingly place (reversed!) in a large "frame". Once placed, they would print multiple copies of a newspaper by inking the letters and pressing a piece of paper against them (hence the name "letterpress"). This frame was called a "chase"... so if the article was too long and they couldn't fit all the required letters in the chase, they would have to "cut to the chase".

Another one - bed frames used to have ropes strung between them on which the mattress would rest. If these ropes were loose, the mattress would sag, and wouldn't be very comfortable; thus, it would be better for the ropes to be tight, and so originated the phrase "sleep tight".

I have so many but are unmentionable here.

I saw a sign somewhere one day, a few years ago, that I really liked and it still makes me laugh today.

However I have never really used it anywhere; but perhaps you may like to use it in one of your creations.

If so, feel free to do so and I will look forward to seeing it here.

" Hypochondriacs make me sick ! "

Best wishes !

My current favorite idiomatic expression is "Keep on keeping on". Also, "It is what it is". I used to brood over things, a LOT, to extreme excess, but now, I just "let it go" (my third favorite idiomatic expression).

Also, when I wish to take a diety's name in vain, I say,"Oh, my gods and goddesses," just to cover all the bases.

I have a friend who likes to use "cool beans" a lot. I don't think I ever asked him where he picked that up from.

There was this guy who was such an avid birder that he would plan his vacations around bird-watching trips, around destinations where he thought he could add some new species of birds to his life list. He came into some money one year and found an ecotour company that offered guided bird-watching trips to Belize in Central America. They were very expensive, but the price included, not only airfare, but room and board in a lodge in the jungle and a personal guide to help the company's clients identify rare and unusual birds. So he signed up, eagerly anticipating this journey. He set a date that was centered around his birthday, in the hopes that he could add some really cool birds to his life list on that day. What a great birthday that would be! Then he bought himself a bunch of books on identifying South and Central American avian fauna and studied them assiduously until he became quite knowledgeable about the birds that lived in that part of the world.

Finally, he was there! In the jungle with his favorite bird book, his binoculars and his personal guide, who was leading him down a faint path in the jungle that paralleled a beautiful river. Suddenly there was a loud and raucous squawking and a truly spectacular bird flew across the path in front of the two men, and then across the river. It was gorgeous! Huge, too - three-feet-long at least! And multi-colored, as well: bright green, turquoise blue, and red, with flashing yellow underwings. The man had no idea what it was, despite all of his bird-book studying. It wasn't a parrot, it wasn't a species of tropical pheasant, it wasn't a bird-of-paradise, it wasn't anything the man had ever heard about or read about. It was the most wonderful thing he'd ever seen!

Enthralled and excited, he shakily pointed to the flying bird and said to his guide, "What in the heck is THAT?"
His guide answered, "It is what it is."
"I want my money back!" replied the man.

My mom always says "at any rate" to mean anyway.

I am sure I have many but am "drawing a blank" right now.

“It ain’t no never-mind” comes to mind. It comes to mind now and then for some reason.

I’ve never used it, but I’ve kept it in mind.

So does "drawing a blank" have to do with an artist and an empty canvas or a gunslinger with an empty cartridge?

Shelli,

RE:.. " Drawing a Blank"

Well, Now, The Cat's out of the bag

Here's the actual origin

"The phrase "drawing a blank" originates from 16th-century England's lottery system, where a "blank" was a ticket that offered no prize, and to "draw a blank" meant to come up with nothing. This evolved into the idiom we use today to describe an inability to recall information, find something, or produce a needed response, much like finding only empty space" (AI response).

Never thought of the empty cartridge one, Shelli.

I just thought as I was writing, that “Shelli” is like - cartridge shell. For whatever that is is worth.

oh no! , I am getting "shell shocked"

Thanks for that history Roger! it is not at all what I expected. You "could have knocked me over with a feather"


or should I say... Well "blow me down" "I had no Inkling"

Don’t get all wigged out.

Shiver me timbers.

Taking some guesses, that might mean your legs/timbers were shivering in excitement.

Wigged out might mean mind-blowing, and if you had a wig it would fly off your head.

I could appreciate that comedic scene.

Hey Ken,

Why not give the following a whirl?

With your marvelous oil painting



Take a few digital images of it

And in a series of layers, placed them a millimeter off from each other, in a transparent, 30% opacity mode.

I'll eat my hat, if the resulting image, won't have those timbers on your wonderful painting, SHIVERING

Tooting my own horn

Here's where I had the timbers of my Feral Coots shivering

Thanks Roger. That is a great suggestion.

It’s got me quivering in my boots. I think that’s one. I meant shaking in my boots.

Nice work, Roger, but I think maybe more than a scarf…

Ken,

Make sure you leave no stone unturned before you put on your boots

Someone might have turned it into a quiver



You don't want to be poked by those damn arrows

"Cool beans", "man alive", "run amok" to name a few.

Cool beans
https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/cool-beans/

Man alive (my grandmother used this one a lot, and I still do occasionally)
https://writingexplained.org/idiom-dictionary/man-alive

Run amok. This one is a bit more vague in it's origin, but kind of entertaining to read up on.
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/51176/whats-origin-phrase-run-amok
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amok_syndrome

Yikes Roger

Reminds me to pull myself up by my boot straps.

I'm from the Southern US. We use them all the time. I can't think of any right off the top of my head that I would say I use frequently though.

Raining cats and dogs

RE:... "Run Amok"

Chuck since you mentioned "Run Amok"

I got something for that




By the way, your link, to me, deserves to posted directly

Today, the phrase “run amok” (also spelled “amuck”) is often used to describe such things as children making a mess while they run around and play. Classically, though, it more resembled the modern phrase “going postal” or someone who just snaps for various reasons and goes on a rampage.

One false etymology of run amok derives from sailors running a ship aground, literally running the ship into muck—but the English word most directly comes from the Malay amuck (also spelled amuk, and amuco), more or less meaning “attacking furiously” or “attacking with uncontrollable rage” or, more aptly, “homicidal mania.”


I have this to say.

Originally, I was corrected when I used "Amuck"...

Now, I see it's an acceptable alternative

Why we use "Amok" is beyond me

Especially when the phrase “run amok”, most directly comes from the Malay amuck

Why the "O" ?

Back to it's etymology

when pigs fly

when hell freezes over

on a cold day in hell

not on your best day

That’s all she wrote

not by a long shot

Jail bird - when fight against mafia gave first results, police realize even hardest and most cruel members of mafia start singing, and speaking everything they know, even without asking, thats how sintagma jail bird was born ...

Belly-up

Go-getter

Changed his tune

That’s one for the books

It’a sure thing

Step on it

He’s toast

Thats all she wrote

‘Later alligator

After while crocodile

Walk a mile in my shoes

Miliji,

RE:... "Jail Bird"

Here's what happens when that bird starts singing

:)
Crocodile tears
Hiena smile ...

Here's a cringy one: "Path forward." or" Paradigm Shift"

There must have been a management meeting where these terms were used so much that they all got brainwashed. I heard these six million times at work. There was no shift in programs or paths to follow unless it was a card game.

No good deed goes unpunished.

There is "It is not a rocket science" also in my country, exactly the same, probably because it is new age phrase .. saying something could not be too complicated to be done.

But there is also oposite: "Those are Spanish villages for me" in a meaning: I don't know anything about it, it is far away from me ..

One of the strangest in my country is "To throw an iron" when someone puke after hard and a lot of alcoholic drinks, nobody knows why to throw "an iron"

Spanish villages sounds like the same as our

It was Greek to me.



As far as puking...

worshipping the porcelain god

hugging john

tossing your cookies

losing your lunch

Here are more from the south...

"I gotta see a man about a dog" (means you have to pee

"gonna open a can of whoop a**" (threat to beat someone up or spank a naughty child

"I don't have a dog in this fight" (leave me out of this argument, I don't care one way or the other

"don't amount to a hill of beans" ( not worth much

"getting all gussied up" ( dressed up in your) "Sunday go to meeting clothes"

"makes you wanna slap your mama" ( something that makes you react in the extreme or do something you would not usually do

"quit being ugly" ( mind your manners

" A rooster one day, a feather duster the next" ( you can go from rich to poor in one day

" that is cattywampus" (something is off kilter, not right or straight

"this ain't my first rodeo" ( I have done this before

We don't have "let a cat out of bag", but we do have "To buy a cat in the bag" when someone dont check what hes buying ...

Shelli,

RE:... "Hill of beans"

https://youtu.be/IHQlwHuPKj0

It all comes out in the wash

One lets the cat out of the bag when it all comes out in the wash

Final sale - Black Friday - Everything must go - Show must go on

your chickens come home to roost (negative things that happen because of your past actions)

'til the cows come home (this will take all day)

a leopard can't change his spots (you can't change your basic character)

more fun than a barrel full of monkeys (something that is not fun but rather chaotic and stressful)

don't change horses in the middle of the race (When drinking stick to the same kind of alcohol to avoid getting sick)

Shelli,

RE:.. "don't change horses in the middle of the race"

I was brought up as that being:

"Don't change horses midstream"

( I had a cartoon with that saying, but can't find it now)

Roger, your version is even more impactful! LOL

Funny how even in the same country our sayings are different.

"elephant in the room" ( a glaring issue no one wants to talk about

"Chew the fat" (make small talk with someone

"like chalk and cheese" ( referring to two things that are very different

"throw the baby out with the bathwater" ( rejecting the good in something we don't really like

"Bob's your uncle" ( a British term for something that seems hard but was really pretty easy

"made a dog's dinner of it" ( messed it up

"full of beans" (very energetic and lively

"full of piss and vinegar" ( someone who is fiesty and even a bit of a rebel

"the tail wagging the dog" ( the less powerful controlling the powerful

"bought the farm" ( died

"bury the hatchet" (stop arguing or fighting

"in a New York minute" ( right now

"at the drop of a hat" (immediately

"cut the mustard" (meet expectations

Shelli,

RE:... "Elephant in the room"

I love Leah Saulnier's version of this idiom

Like an elephant in a glass store .. when someone don't have good coordination of movements ..

So, my grandpa had many sayings and I'm not sure where they came from. He was born in 1901 and lived his whole life in Michigan. His name was Charlie Brown. Here's a few he used to tell us:

"I'm home, wish you were the same!"
"You little dickens!"
"You're a good man Charlie Brown, especially when you're asleep!"