game is not worth the candle, the

The undertaking does not warrant the time, effort, or expense involved. This expression originally was a translation of the French essayist Montaigne’s statement, “Le jeu ne vault pas la chandelle” (1580), and found its way into John Ray’s proverb collection of 1678. In the days of candlelight illumination, it literally meant that the card game being played was not worth the cost of the candles used to light the proceedings. It soon was transferred to any undertaking and so persisted through the centuries.

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fair-haired boy

The current favorite, the individual singled out for spe- cial treatment. This male counterpart of “gentlemen prefer blondes” comes from the late nineteenth century. “The old crowd of Fair-haired Correspondent Boys who hung to the ear of President Roosevelt” appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in 1909.

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fair game

A legitimate object of attack, pursuit, or mockery. The anal- ogy, of course, is to hunting, and the term has been used figuratively since the early nineteenth century. “They were indeed fair game for the laughers,” wrote Thomas Macaulay in his essay on Milton (1825).

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fair and square

Just and unequivocal. This expression, recorded since the early seventeenth century, owes its appeal to its rhyme and has survived despite its tautology (“square” here means the same as “fair,” surviving in such phrases as “a square deal”). “You are fair and square in all your deal- ings,” wrote William Wycherley (The Gentleman Dancing Master, 1673).

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fact of the matter, the

The truth. This rather empty phrase, for which plain and simple “fact” would do just as well, is somewhat newer than its turnaround companion, as a matter of fact, which means “in truth” and, as Eric Partridge pointed out years ago, often precedes a lie. Both have been clichés since the nineteenth century. Two closely related locutions are the truth of the matter and if truth be known, which generally precede an emphatic statement of how the speaker sees a situation. On the other hand, matter-of- fact used as an adjective has a quite different meaning, that is, straightfor- ward and commonplace, and a matter of fact without as has meant, since the sixteenth century, something of an actually factual nature.

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face the music, to

To meet the consequences of one’s bad behavior, mistakes, and the like; to confront difficulties bravely. This term, American in origin, is believed to come from the theater and refers to the orchestra in the pit, which an actor must face along with a perhaps hostile audience. Another writer suggests it comes from the armed services, where a soldier’s dismissal in disgrace might be accompanied by the band’s playing the
“Rogue’s March.” An 1871 book of American sayings quotes James Fenimore Cooper discussing, about 1851, Rabelais’s “unpleasant quarter [of an hour],” when the French writer found he could not pay his bill and turned on the innkeeper with an accusation of treason, which so frightened him that he let Rabelais leave without paying. Cooper said that “our more picturesque peo- ple” called this facing the music. A less picturesque synonym is to face up to something.

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easy as pie

Not difficult; requiring little or no effort or expertise. The analogy no doubt is to eating pie rather than making it, which requires both effort and expertise. An American term dating from the early twentieth century, it became a cliché relatively recently. See also DUCK SOUP; EASY AS ROLLING OFF A LOG.

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easier said than done

Describing something that is more readily talked about than accomplished. This expression dates back as far as the fifteenth century, when it appeared in several sources, including the Vulgate (Latin) Bible. It was sometimes put as sooner or better said than done; the latter appears in John Heywood’s 1546 collection of English proverbs.

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ear to the ground, to have/keep an

To be well informed. The allusion here, one writer conjectures, is to the days of cowboys and Indians, when one literally put one’s ear to the ground in order to hear the sound of horses miles away. An Americanism dating from the late nineteenth century, the term was a cliché by the time Stanley Walker poked fun at it (and two others) in The Uncanny Knacks of Mr. Doherty (1941): “He had his ear to the ground and his eye on the ball while they were sitting on the fence.”

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earth move, to feel the

To have an extremely good sexual experience. This hyperbole first appeared in Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), “But did thee feel the earth move?” It has been repeated, usually in humorous fashion, ever since.

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early bird catches the worm, the

Those who get there first have the best chance of success. This stricture appeared in William Camden’s book of proverbs (1605) and has remained part of the work ethic ever since.

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days are numbered, one’s/his/its

One’s life or usefulness is about to end. Perhaps the earliest instance of this expression is in the Book of Daniel, in which Daniel reads King Belshazzar’s fate in the writing on the wall: “God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it” (Daniel 5:26). Another early version appears in a collection of Chinese proverbs made by William Scarborough (1875): “Man’s days are numbered.” See also NUMBER’S UP.

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day of reckoning

The time when one is called to account. The idea no doubt comes from the biblical Day of Judgment, when Jesus is supposed to return to earth for God’s final sentence on mankind. The day of reckoning came to have a somewhat more benign meaning, referring to paying one’s debts, or accounting for one’s actions. The expression became common in the nineteenth century. “There will be a day of reckoning sooner or later,” wrote Dickens (Nicholas Nickleby, 1838).

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day in, day out

All day and every day, regularly, constantly. The expression was so defined in a dialect book by W. Carr in 1828 and was widely used by the end of the century. It was a cliché by the time C. Day Lewis used it in describing his school days in his autobiography, The Buried Day
(1960): “One boy . . . was kicked around, jeered at or ostracised, day in day out for several years.”

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dawn on (someone), to

To perceive or understand for the first time. See LIGHT DAWNED.

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dawn on (someone), to

An unexpected potential winner. The term dates from the nineteenth century and comes from racing, where a horse is termed “dark” when its ancestry and history are unknown. It was so used by Benjamin Disraeli in his novel, The Young Duke (1831), but the precise origin is obscure. Some think it comes from the owner’s dyeing a horse’s hair to disguise it and so get better odds; others cite the practice of a particular American horse trader who made his fast black stallion look like an ordinary saddle horse, rode into town, set up a race, and consistently came out a winner. The term was soon transferred to political candidates on both sides of the Atlantic. The first American presidential dark horse was James Polk, who won the 1844 Democratic nomination only on the eighth ballot and went on to become president.

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can’t call one’s soul one’s own

To be very much in debt or bondage to another; to have lost one’s independence. This turn of phrase dates from the sixteenth century and has been repeated ever since. In Dickens’s The Old Curiosity Shop (1841, Chapter 4), “She daren’t call her soul her own” is said of Mrs. Quilp, wife of the tyrannical dwarf, Daniel.

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can of worms, it’s a/like opening a

Introducing a complicated prob- lem or unsolvable dilemma. The metaphor alludes to the live bait of fisher- men. In a jar or other container, they form an inextricable tangle, wriggling and entwining themselves with one another. The term is American in origin, dating from the mid-twentieth century.

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cannot

See entries beginning with CAN’T; also YOU CAN’T.

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camp follower

One who follows a group without being part of it. The practice originated with the families of recruits, prostitutes, and traveling merchants, who would settle near a military encampment. Later it was extended to others who benefited from military installations. The term itself may come from a letter written by the duke of Wellington in 1810.
In mid-twentieth-century America the camp followers of rock musicians and other entertainers, mostly young women who followed their idols on tour, acquired the name groupie, which then was extended to any ardent fan.

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calm before the storm, the

A sense of foreboding, during a particularly serene period, that violence is on its way. “Fair weather brings on cloudy weather” is an ancient Greek proverb. Numerous writers from approximately 1200 on also are recorded as saying that calm will come after a storm. Transferring fair and foul weather to human affairs, particularly to good fortune and adversity, and to peace and war, are also very old. “It is a common fault of men not to reckon on storms in fair weather,” wrote Machiavelli in The Prince (1513). In modern times the phrase frequently has been applied to an uneasy peacetime, when war seemed imminent. It was so used in the late
1930s, when it was already a cliché.
camel through a needle’s eye, a An impossibility. The whole phrase, which comes from the Gospels of St. Matthew (19:24) and St. Mark (10:25), states that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God. Variants appear in both Jewish religious writings and in the Islamic Koran. The thought is repeated by Shakespeare in Richard II (5.5): “It is as hard to come as for a camel to thread the postern of a small needle’s eye.”

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bag and baggage

All one’s belongings, usually in the sense of departing with them. It originally was a military phrase that meant all of an army’s property and was so used in the fifteenth century. To march away with bag and baggage meant that the army was leaving but was surrendering nothing
to the enemy. The alliterative nature of the term has appealed to many writers, including Shakespeare. In As You Like It Touchstone says, “Come, shepherd, let us make an honourable retreat; though not with bag and baggage, yet with scrip and scrippage,” meaning the purse and its contents (money).
In time the connotation of honorable departure was dropped and the term simply described clearing out completely. “‘Bag and baggage,’ said she, ‘I’m glad you’re going,’” declared Samuel Richardson’s heroine in Pamela (1741). See also KIT AND CABOODLE.

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bad penny, always turns up (comes back) like a

The unwanted or worthless object or person is sure to return. A proverb in several languages besides English, this expression dates from the days when coins had intrinsic worth and a bad penny (or shilling or crown) was one that was made of inferior metal or contained less metal than it should.

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bad hair day

A day when everything seems to go wrong. The term originally meant merely that one’s appearance, especially one’s hair, does not look attractive. Dating from about 1980, it soon was extended to mean having a bad day. The Denver Post had it in 1994: “Soon you will notice how much less complaining you do, even on bad hair days.”

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bad blood

Anger or animosity, between individuals or groups. The blood was long regarded as the seat of human emotion, and by the sixteenth century it was particularly associated with high temper and anger. “To breed bad (or ill) blood” meant to stir up hard feelings. In the late eighteenth century both Jonathan Swift in England and Thomas Jefferson in America wrote of ill blood in this way, and a few years later the English essayist Charles Lamb wrote of bad blood.

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back to the wall, with one’s

Hard-pressed; making a last-ditch defen- sive stand. The term embodies the idea that backing up against a wall pre- vents an attack from behind, but it also indicates that one has been forced back to this position and no further retreat is possible. Although it had been used since the sixteenth century and was already colloquial in nineteenth- century Britain, the term became famous near the end of World War I through an order to the British troops given by General Douglas Haig and reported in the London Times on April 13, 1918: “Every position must be held to the last man. . . . With our backs to the wall, and believing in the justice of our cause, each one of us must fight on to the end.

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all that glitters is not gold

Appearances can be deceiving. A proverbial saying since the late Middle Ages, it appears in numerous languages to this day. O. Henry wrote a story entitled “The Gold That Glittered,” and two other writers observed in addition that “all isn’t garbage that smells.”

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all systems go

Everything is ready for action. The term is relatively new, originating in the space launches of the 1960s, and became well known through widespread television coverage of these events. John Powers, the public information officer for the United States space program from 1959
to 1964, would announce, “All systems go. Everything is A-OK.” The phrase soon was extended to other endeavors.

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all’s fair in love and war

Any tactic or strategy is permissible. The idea was expressed for centuries by numerous writers, from Chaucer (Troilus and Criseyde) to Maxwell Anderson (What Price Glory?). Modern versions sometimes add or substitute another enterprise, such as “in love and war and politics”
(George Ade), or “in love and tennis (or any other competitive sport).”

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all roads lead to Rome

Any of several choices will lead to the same result. The metaphor is based on the ancient empire’s system of roads, which radiated from the capital like the spokes of a wheel. As a figure of speech it appeared as early as the twelfth century. It was used by Chaucer, and occurs in numerous other languages as well.

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