I recently read a book called 'I didn't know that' by Karlen Evins. This woman gathered words & sayings throughout her life, did her best to find out the meaning/origin of them & put them in a book. She gathered her info before there was Google, no internet. The info inside the book is based on what she found in her searches. I didn't read all the words & sayings but I did find a lot of interesting history on the ones I did read. I thought I would share some of those. I will type word for word that is in the book.
1) Crocodile tears - Those insincere tears we've come to know as crocodile tears quite literal in origin. For you see, a crocodile does indeed cry over it's meal as it eats. But the crying has nothing to do with the croc's sense of the situation. Instead, as a crocodile eats, his food is pressed to the top of his mouth, causing pressure against the glands known as the lachrimals. These secrete a tearlike substance that flows from the eyes. From this biological activity of the reptile, we today draw our meaning for crocodile tears.
2) God bless you - Ever wonder why we would have "God bless you" after a sneeze? Well, in much the same way that it was believed man could part body & spirit & be beside himself, the ancients believed a good sneeze could literally blast your soul right out your body! To ensure that no bad spirits moved into the vacancy, "God bless you" was said to clear the way so soul & body could reunite.
3) Goose pimples - Also known as gooseflesh, goose pimples are those bumps you get when your skin takes a chill. For obvious reasons, goose pimples were named for their similarity to the skin of a plucked goose. Long ago, goose feathers were used for a myriad of things; thus, some birds were plucked up to five times a year. From these pluckings, farmers soon noticed the reaction of gooseflesh to the cold, as the birds' skin contracted to pull up what would have been feathers. This gooseflesh was soon associated with the same bumpy-skin effect that cold or certain emotions had on humans.
4) Knock on wood - So why would knocking on wood be a symbol for luck? It goes way back to pre-Christian times, when pagan religious beliefs held that good spirits resided in trees. To knock on a tree was to call upon those spirits to protect you as you journeyed through life (and especially through the forest!)
5) Paparazzi - Any freelance photographer who aggressively pursues a celebrity for the purpose of obtaining that perfect candid shot is said to be a part of the paparazzi, but what exactly is paparazzi? Well, the word is Italian in origin and, literally translated, means "buzzing insects." (Anyone having seen the hoopla surrounding the better known celebs of our time knows exactly where the word gets it's meaning!)
6) Raining cats & dogs - It was during the heaviest of rains back in 17th century England that the remains of dogs & cats were often seen floating through the streets. The reason had to do with poor drainage systems & even poorer health - control laws. As these animals often drowned when there came a flood, it was soon said that it had "rained cats & dogs" (though at the time, the saying pertained more to pole cats & dogs!).
7) Skeleton in the closet - Back in the dark ages it was long held by superstition that a doctor could not cut into the body of a dead person, for fear of disturbing it's ghost. As a result, cadavers became hot items on the black market for doctors longing to study human anatomy. When grave robbers began to supply the goods, many a good doctor became suspected of having a skeleton in his closet, which gives us today's meaning of "private of hidden secrets".
8) Wearing your heart on your sleeve - Wearing your heart on your sleeve was customary among knights at one time. In reality, the actual heart worn was a scarf or handkerchief given by a damsel to her knight, prior to his going off to fight. The scarf, worn by the knight as an armband, was a symbol to his fellow soldiers that his body might be in battle, but his heart was somewhere else.
9) X for a kiss - The original X used to designate a kiss dates back to medieval times, and believe it or not, it was a legal custom. In attempts to show good faith, the X (symbol for Saint Andrew) was placed after each signature on papers of importance. To further reinforce the pledge made in the documents, the signee was required to kiss the X as a guarantee of his or her obligation. Over time, the association with the legal profession has been long forgotten, but the X we still remember as the sign for a kiss.
10) Xmas - While some consider it disrespectful to substitute an X for the Christ part of Christmas, others know that the letter X was in fact the symbol used long ago for Christ. X represents the Greek letter chi, which is the initial letter of the Greek word for Christ. And according to 1st century history, the early Greek Christians used the letter X to stand for Christ, much as they used the fish with the X in the tail to represent Jesus.
11) Zip code - We refer to it every day, but how many of us know that the ZIP stands for "Zone Improvement Program"? Okay, so you may have known that, but do you know what the 5 digit code represents? Well, according to our reliable postal people, the first 3 digits indicate a district, usually a city, while the remaining 2 digits correspond with a local zone.
I may do my own research on some words because I am always curious about things like this. :)
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