I noticed this large hawk in the tree outside our casita, after I saw Olive the cat crouched against the screen door fascinated. I’ve been looking for it online and in a bird book, but so far haven’t come up with a species. It had lodged something in a branch and spent an hour eating it. Then it stayed in the tree for hours.
Now on to the topic of today’s blog post. The other morning while asleep I dreamed I was invited “spur of the moment” to a neighbor’s house that I don’t know very well for dinner. I was supposed to bring lamb chops and scallops and I had about one hour. I woke up, and was so relieved that I didn’t have to do this “spur of the moment.” Whew!
Those words stuck with me because I enjoy idioms and finding out the etymology of words.
Spur of the moment — in great haste, referring to the use of spurs to urge a horse to move.
That one idiom had me look up other ones including above board, aftermath, ahead of the curve, baloney, haywire, make a clean sweep and pass the muster. The information I found on Idiom Origins was in more detail, but here are my “Cliff Notes:”
Above Board — a gambling term from the 17th century derived from card playing when cards had to be above the table in view.
Underhand — the opposite of above board.
Aftermath — from the 17th century it means the result or consequence of something. In the 1500s it was called aftermowth and meant the second mowing of summer grass.
Ahead of the curve — became popular in the 1980s in business circles referring to a graph and being ahead of trends or in the forefront.
Baloney — means rubbish or nonsense. Two theories are that it came from the Irish immigrants word blarney. Second, it’s Italian based on cheap bologna that is made of bits and pieces
Haywire — when things go wrong or out of control. In the early 1900s haywire was used to describe something poorly constructed. It was based on cheap wire that tangled easily and was used to bale hay.
Pass Muster — a military term from the 15 or 16th century where a soldier passes inspection. Now it means you undergo a review or examination successfully.
Make a clean sweep — now means to win everything but it originated with cleaning or sweeping in the 19th century.
https://idiomorigins.org/
One I couldn’t find was hornswoggle. There was an idea it came from Texas in the 1800s from lassoing a bull around the horns, but there is no evidence.
What are some of your favorite sayings and where did the words originate from?
Mind your P’s and Q’s. When the brew in the pub was particularly strong, the pub owner would warn patrons in advance: Gentleman, mind your pints and quarts.
I like that one!
I don’t actually have a favorite, but I love learning where they came from!!
It is interesting!
I like “in the hoosegow” because it’s fun to say. It comes from a Spanish word that was misheard by English-speaking settlers here in the US. The Spanish word meant something about judging, but that morphed into meaning that you were in jail. Just had a conversation about this saying this weekend.
I’ve never heard that before. That’s a fun one!
“Fixin’ to”. We all say it in Texas. It has been shortened by some to “finna” . Here’s the backstory. https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/finna/
Thanks for “fixin’ to” and the link!
Coopers Hawk, or maybe White-Tailed Hawk?
What a great site! I see hours of wandering through the database ahead 🙂
I thought Coopers Hawk was the closest. I spent a lot of time on that site!
My first thought was a Coopers Hawk. Lots of them around here!
I haven’t seen one before. We have tons of Harris Hawks. But Coopers Hawk looks closest in my bird book to this one.
Just had one stalking my little sparrows and chickadees! The crows are amazing at scaring hawks away. They just gang up on one and terrorize it until it gives up 🙂
Crows are amazing birds! I had a window broken by a Harris Hawk flying into it carrying a quail!
Oh No! I hope the quail got away…
I think it did, but we had to replace a double paned window.
Ouch!
Amazingly the hawk flew away.
Haywireflooey was a word my grandmother used.
I like that and I’ve never heard it before.
Oh….the hawk! We just spied one sweeping around enjoying some early morning flight time in our backyard. I love your idiom deep dive. Yesterday I had to check myself when I wrote the word “slapdash” because I wasn’t sure if I made it up or if it was, truly a word. Dontcha love it when these little morsels bounce around in our heads? 🥰
I enjoyed that hawk all day Friday. I thought he had moved in! Slapdash is a good one!
🥰🥰🥰
Oh I never thought about the origins of many of the phrases and idioms we use. Thanks for increasing my knowledge
There are phrases we take for granted without knowing how they came about.
Yes, I seldom think where they came from!
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☺️
One of the favorites of my Dad and mine It is better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.
That’s so true! I’ve heard that about food!
I love that… being invited to dinner and being asked to bring dinner! Good thing it was a dream.
If you love word origins (I do too) see if you can find A Way With Words either as a podcast or on their weekly show on NPR. I think you’d enjoy it.
I woke up so relieved! And quite frankly, I do not like the person that well who invited me in my dream! I will look for A Way With Words. Thanks for the suggestion.
I’ve had stressful dreams where I wake up relieved that it was just a dream and I didn’t actually have to deal with the reality of the dream. What I love is diving deeper into dreams. I’ve heard it has to do with your mind dealing with an emotion but in dreams it can play out in strange ways. What does it mean to be invited to someones house you hardly know for dinner and then asked to bring the dinner. I think you’re giving too much to someone who doesn’t appreciate you. Close? What do you think the dream really means? Hugs, C
Interesting analysis of the dream. I think it was related to “Ladies Coffee Group” that I had attended the day before.
It’s an organized neighborhood group and sitting with women I didn’t know well. Maybe my mind was reliving the moment in a more stressful way?
Well, let me just say, “the ladies coffee group,” is damn lucky to have you! xxoo
Thank you! I dropped out of book club because it turned out to be A Real Housewives episode with people taking sides in cliques and f bombs thrown around. Maybe that why the ladies coffee group stressed me out! 😅
I love your definitions/origins. Especially haywire and aftermath. I think you just did my writing/your reading a service but giving such thorough and good examples. Thanks, Elizabeth!
I’m glad you enjoyed them.