"Don't Beat Around The Bush" - "It Cost An Arm & A Leg" - "That Drives Me Nuts"
These are phrases we have heard and used over and over without giving them a second thought. I never gave them much thought either until a couple of days ago. My daughter and I were talking about a conversation I'd had with a relative. I made the comment that this person was going around every bush in the yard trying to tell me something. When she questioned me about this, I said that the correct phrase was "Beating around the bush", I just embellished it a bit.
This got me wondering "Where exactly did that phrase come from" (I wonder about odd ball stuff sometimes), looking it up then led to checking out other phrases. So lets start this lesson with the phrase that started it all.
Beat Around The Bush
Definition: Typically used to describe someone who is avoiding the main point in a conversation; failing to get to the bottom line.
Origin: The phrase is believed to have come from all things - Hunting. Back in medieval times, hunters would hire men to assist them in the hunt by flushing out animals from within the brush. This was accomplished by whacking the bushes with a stick, the point being to scare the animals out from the cover of the bush
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| Andertoons |
Costs An Arm And A Leg
Definition: This phrase is used to describe anything that is considered extremely expensive or excessively pricey.
Origin: The actual origin is unclear. One theory is that it originated from the early 20th century during one of the major World Wars. The idea being that soldiers, because of their involvement in a war can sometimes lose a hand, foot, leg or arm. Thus, the war could literally have cost a person their arm or leg.
Drive Me Nuts
Definition: Greatly frustrated or annoyed. When someone is so annoyed they can no longer tolerate something anymore, they might use this common idiom to describe their frustration.
Origin: By the mid to late 1800s, the word "nut" was a slang word used when referring to a person's head. At some point it took on the meaning of describing someone who was acting strange - such as "nuts' or being "off their nut'.
Now here's one that is not exactly a phrase more of a name but I'm sure you will have heard it before.
Joe Shmoe - Also spelled Joe Schmoe and Joe Schmo
Definition: According to the Oxford Dictionary - "A hypothetical ordinary man". This is one of the most commonly used fictional names in American English. It is merged with the terms Average Joe, Ordinary Joe etc. which is used primarily in North America to refer to a completely average person (typically an average American).
Origin: Also according to the Oxford Dictionary - It is an alteration of the word Schmuck beginning in the 1940s. Now according to Wikipedia, schmo" ("schmoo","schmoe") was thought by some linguists to be a clipping of the Yiddish word "Schmuck" it is not universally accepted.
Well, what ever the correct origin all I know is that I've heard that term ever since I was a little kid and every time I've used it my daughters about double over from laughing.
So the next time you find yourself using a common phrase, take a minute and wonder "Where Did That Originate From".
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