Friday, February 16, 2007

Common Terms and Phrases

So Lately I have been hearing a lot of terms and phrases, and I have been wondering where the saying came from. So today as the kidlets nap I decided to google it! There are a multiple of Websites out there so I won't reference them, but here is a couple of the ones I found interesting.

Frog in my throat - Medieval physicians believed that the secretions of a frog could cure a cough if they were coated on the throat of the patient. The frog was placed in the mouth of the sufferer and remained there until the physician decided that the treatment was complete.

Mind your P's and Q's-In old England ale is/was drunk in pints and quarts. So when customers got unruly, the innkeeper would yell at them to mind their own pints and quarts and settle down.

Spring Cleaning- The layer of hay in the kitchen, was finally hauled out of the house when the weather turned warm in the Spring

Son of a Gun- After sailors had crossed the Atlantic to the West Indies, they would take the native women on board the ship and have their way with them in between the cannons. Some of the women the sailors left behind would have boys, who were called sons between the guns.

Getting your Goat- This apparently refers to an old English (Welsh?) belief that keeping a goat in the barn would have a calming effect on the cows, hence producing more milk. When one wanted to antagonize/terrorize one's enemy, you would abscond with their goat rendering their milk cows less- to non-productive.

Hey Stace are you sure you had a frog in your throat on Sunday?

1 comment:

Stacey Sparshu Miller said...

When you put it that way, I sure hope now...eeeewwwww....