get into/in the act, to

To thrust oneself into another’s conversation, performance, undertaking, or the like. The term comes from the theater and is analogous to another theatrical cliché, STEAL SOMEONE’S THUNDER. The American comedian Jimmy Durante popularized it from the 1930s on with his frequent complaint that “Everybody wants to get into the act” (cited by Eric Partridge in his compendium of catchphrases). It no doubt originated years earlier in vaudeville.

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get into hot water, to

To get in trouble, or into an embarrassing situa- tion. Presumably the allusion here is to water hot enough to burn one. Although Lord Malmesbury wrote in a letter in 1765, “We are kept, to use the modern phrase, in hot water,” the term had appeared in print more than two centuries earlier. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it was put as “to cost hot water.” It was probably already a cliché by the time it appeared in Richard H. Dana’s Two Years Before the Mast (1840): “He was always getting into hot water.”

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far be it for/from me to . . .

A disclaimer, often quite false. This expression, which basically means “I would not dream of doing/saying [something] when in truth I really would,” dates from the fourteenth cen- tury and has been a cliché for at least two hundred years. The earliest record is in John Wycliffe’s translation of Genesis (44:17): “Josephe answerede, Fer be it fro me, that Y thus do”; the King James Version has it “God forbid that I should do so.”

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death and taxes, (certain as)

Absolutely inevitable. This ironic phrase was coined by Benjamin Franklin in a letter to Jean Baptiste Le Roy in 1789: “But in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” It has been repeated ever since.

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cash on the barrelhead

Money paid immediately for a purchase, as in “I’ll give you $50 for that bike, cash on the barrelhead.” Why hard cash should be equivalent to putting money on the flat head of a barrel is unclear. In nineteenth-century America barrel was slang for money, especially for a slush fund provided for a political candidate, and a barrel of money signified a huge fortune. However, these usages are only loosely related to the cliché, which itself may be dying out.

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battle cry

A slogan used in any campaign or movement.   Originally used literally  by  soldiers  or  their  commanders,  the  term  was  transferred  to  less bloody  usages,  such  as  rallying  supporters  in  a  political  campaign.   George Bernard Shaw played on it in Man and Superman (1905): “A good cry is half the battle.”

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apple of one’s eye, the

A cherished person or thing. The term comes from the ancient concept that the eye’s pupil was a solid, apple-shaped body, and, being essential to sight, was precious. It appears in the Bible (Deuteron- omy 32:10): “He [the Lord] kept him [Israel] as the apple of his eye.”

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A-1

The best quality. The term originated in the 1775 edition of Lloyd’s Reg- ister of British and Foreign Shipping, in which the state of a ship’s hull was desig- nated by a letter grade and the condition of the anchor, cables, and so forth by

a number grade. This insurance rating was soon transferred to numerous other areas and has been a cliché since the late nineteenth century.

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handsome is as handsome does

Actions, not appearances, are what count. This proverb was already an “ancient adage” in 1580 (Anthony Monday, Sunday Examples) when it was put as “goodly is he that goodly dooth”; it appeared in modern form in John Ray’s proverbs of 1670 and has been repeated over and over by numerous writers.

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hands down

Easily, without effort. The term comes from racing, where a jockey may drop his hands and relax his hold on the reins when he is sure to win the race. Dating from the mid-nineteenth century, the term still is used with regard to various kinds of competition, as in, “She won the nomination hands down.”

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far and wide

To great lengths and distances; affecting many individuals or many localities. This term is one of the oldest English ones in this book: It appears in an Old English work dating from about the year 900, “He . . . ferde [fared] . . . feorr and wide.” Shakespeare also used it in Romeo and Juliet (4:2): “I stretch it out for that word ‘broad’; which added to the goose, proves thee far and wide a broad goose.”

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far and away

Beyond comparison, surpassing by a wide margin. This tau- tological phrase (“far” and “away” here both mean a considerable distance) dates from the mid-nineteenth century. Anthony Trollope wrote, “He was far and away the cleverest of his party” (The Duke’s Children, 1880).

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dear John

A letter or other notification calling off a romantic relationship. The term was born during World War II, when a serviceman stationed over- seas received a letter from his girlfriend or wife ending their relationship. After the war it was extended to both genders and used quite loosely, some- times even for other kinds of rejection.

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deaf as a post

Unable to hear or to listen. The simile dates from the six- teenth century, when J. Palsgrave wrote (Acolastus, 1540), “He wotteth ful lyttel how deffe an eare I intended to gyue him . . . he were as good to tell his tale to a poste.” It caught on and has survived to the present, outliving such similes as deaf as an adder (first recorded in the Book of Psalms, 58:4–5), deaf as a beetle, and deaf as a white cat. See also FALL ON DEAF EARS; TURN A BLIND EYE/DEAF EAR.

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cash in one’s chips, to

See CHIPS ARE DOWN.

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carte blanche

Complete freedom, unlimited power. The term is French for “blank paper,” used in the same sense as “blank check” — that is, anything may be filled in. In the 1600s it was used in the military for unconditional surrender. After World War I it was broadened to civilian contexts, such as “He’s the best mechanic we have; the boss gave him carte blanche to handle all the repairs.”

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batten down the hatches, to

To get ready for trouble. A nautical term dating from the early nineteenth century, it signified preparing for bad weather by fastening down the battens, strips of wood nailed to various parts of masts and spars, and fastening tarpaulins over the ship’s hatchways (door- ways and other openings). The term began to be used figuratively as preparing for any emergency by the late nineteenth century. See also CLEAR THE DECKS.

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bats in one’s belfry, to have

To be slightly crazy or quite eccentric. The term alludes to the bat’s seemingly erratic flight in the dark, which is trans- ferred to thoughts flying about in the head. In reality, the bat has a sophisti- cated sonar system whose nature came to light only recently. In flight it keeps up a constant twittering noise that bounces back from solid objects in its path. This echo enables the animal to avoid actually bumping into obstacles. Never- theless, bats have long been associated with craziness. See also BLIND AS A BAT.

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A-OK

Excellent. The  term  dates  from  a  specific  incident  in  1961, when the   National  Aeronautics   and   Space  Administration’s   Colonel  “Shorty” Power misunderstood astronaut Alan Shepard’s “OK” for “A-OK,” indicating that  his  suborbital  flight  was  going  well. The  term  caught  on,  along  with other space-flight terms that entered the language about the same time.

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any port in a storm

Any relief is welcome when one is in great difficulties. The phrase appears in an eighteenth-century play by James Cobb and in Fanny Hill (1759), by John Cleland, where it is suggested that it was already com- mon.

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hands are tied, my/one’s

Not free to act. This metaphor became common after the mid-seventeenth century. An early appearance in print was in clergy- man Thomas Fuller’s The Holy State and the Profane State (1642): “When God intends a Nation shall be beaten, He ties their hands behind them.”

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get in on the ground floor, to

To take part in an enterprise from the start and thereby gain some advantage. The term is used especially often with regard to new investments and probably originated in the financial world of late nineteenth-century America.

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fan the flames, to

To exacerbate an already inflammable situation, or to revive a flagging situation. The fact that wind stirs up a fire has, of course, been  known  since  ancient  times,  but  the  precise  metaphor  here,  with  its alliterative  lilt, is  considerably  newer. Dickens  used  it  in  The  Old  Curiosity Shop (1840): “Fan the sinking flame of hilarity with the wing of friendship.”

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dead wrong

See DEAD  ON  ONE’S  FEET.

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cart before the horse, don’t put/set the

Don’t  reverse  the  natural order of things. This expression no doubt dates from the time when horses first  were  used  to  draw  wheeled  vehicles,  and  began  to  be  transferred  to other  affairs  almost  immediately. Cicero  accused  Homer  of  doing  so, com- plaining  that  the  Greek  poet  stated  the  moral  of  a  story  before  telling  the story.  From  the  1500s  on,  numerous  English  writers—Sir Thomas  More, William  Shakespeare,  Charles  Kingsley,  to  mention  just  a  few—used  this turn  of  phrase,  which  also  appears  in  Greek,  Latin,  French,  German,  and Italian. In English it was a cliché by the 1700s.

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bated breath

See WITH  BATED  BREATH.

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ants in one’s pants

Extremely restless, jumpy. This vivid metaphor no doubt has survived because of its rhyming character, just as alliteration enhanced its seventeenth-century forerunner, a breeze (gadfly) in one’s breech(es). Several twentieth-century writers are credited with popularizing the phrase; among them are George Kaufman and Moss Hart, in The Man Who Came to Dinner (1939): “I’ll get the ants out of those moonlit pants.” The cliché also gave rise to the slangy adjective antsy, for restless or jumpy.

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hand over fist

Moving quickly. This term comes from sailing and began life as hand over hand, which is how sailors climbed a rope. In nineteenth- century America it was changed to hand over fist and was transferred to any enterprise in which rapid, easy progress is being made. Thus Seba Smith wrote, “They clawed the money off of his table hand over fist” (Major Down- ing, 1833).

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get in/into one’s hair, to

To annoy someone more or less persistently. The allusion here may well be to head lice but is not known for certain. Presumably it was already in common use by the time Mark Twain wrote, “You’ll have one of these . . . old professors in your hair” (A Tramp Abroad, 1880).

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famous last words

A satirical rejoinder to what the speaker considers a fatuous remark or easily refuted statement. The expression alludes to the so- called famous last words of history—for example, “this is the war to end all wars,” or “it [meaning some calamity] could never happen here.” Its exact ori- gin is not known, but Eric Partridge believed it began in the armed services during World War II, first in Britain. After the war it crossed the Atlantic. It now is applied to just about any situation, even as a self-deprecating comment on one’s own remark (“That’s the last time I strike out—famous last words”).

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dead weight

An oppressive burden or heavy responsibility. The physical attributes of such a weight were noted early on, but the figurative use of the expression dates from the early eighteenth century. The English philosopher Lord Shaftesbury (the third Earl) wrote (1711), “Pedantry and Bigotry are millstones  able  to  sink  the  best  Book, which  carries  the  least  part  of  their dead weight.”

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carte blanche

Complete freedom, unlimited power. The term is French for “blank paper,” used in the same sense as “blank check” — that is, anything may be filled in. In the 1600s it was used in the military for unconditional surrender. After World War I it was broadened to civilian contexts, such as “He’s the best mechanic we have; the boss gave him carte blanche to handle all the repairs.”

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basket case

An individual too impaired to function. This term dates from World War I, when it denoted a soldier who had lost both arms and legs and had to be carried off the field in a basket or litter. In civilian usage the term was applied to an emotionally unstable person who is unable to cope. Today it is used still more loosely to describe an attack of nerves, as in “The mother of the bride was a basket case.”

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an open book, he/she is (like an)

Very  obvious. See  READ  SOMEONE LIKE AN  OPEN  BOOK.

another  day, another  dollar      Another  day’s  work  is  done. The  expres- sion  became  current  in  the  United  States  in  the  early  twentieth  century, presumably when a dollar a day was a living wage.

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hand in glove

On very intimate terms; allies. This metaphor for a close fit (as glove fits hand) was already a proverb in John Ray’s 1678 collection, although it originally was put as hand and glove. “Connected as the hand and glove is, madam, poetry and love,” wrote David Lloyd (Epistle to a Friend, c. 1792).

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get down to brass tacks, to/let’s

To arrive at the heart of the matter. Some think this late nineteenth-century term comes from Cockney rhyming slang for hard facts. Another possible and perhaps more likely source is the American general store, where a countertop was marked with brass tacks at one-yard intervals for measuring cloth, and “getting to brass tacks” meant measuring precisely. Still another theory is that in upholstered furniture, brass tacks were used to secure the undermost cloth, and to reupholster properly one had to strip the furniture to that layer. A mid-twentieth-cen- tury American synonym is to get down to the nitty-gritty, alluding to the detailed (nitty) and perhaps unpleasant (gritty) facts of the case. It was bor- rowed from black English, where it signified the anus and alluded to picking body lice (nits) from that body part. This association had been largely for- gotten by the time the term was popularized by the 1964 hit song “The Nitty Gritty” by Shirley Ellis.

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familiarity breeds contempt

Overexposure to or knowing something or someone too thoroughly can turn liking into hostility. The idea behind this expression dates from ancient times—the Roman writer Publilius Syrus used it about 43 B.C.—and approximately twelve hundred years later Pope Innocent III repeated it, also in Latin. The first record of it in English appeared in Nicholas Udall’s translation of Erasmus’s sayings (1548): “Familiaritye bringeth contempt.” Later writers often stated it with humor or irony, notably Mark Twain in his unpublished diaries (Notebooks, c. 1900): “Familiarity breeds contempt—and children.”

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