Origins of Idioms

We really do have pretty weird catch phrases today. "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't get him to drink it," Steve says when he tries to explain to his friends why they can't convince their moms to let them go skydiving. You can probably guess where this one comes from. But there are some other idioms that really don't make sense where they came from and why they are used in that given circumstance. Here are my best guesses as to the beginnings of these everyday sayings:

"He sure has a chip on HIS shoulder!" - a midget named Chip had a terrible temper, so when he got really angry he had the strange tendancy to perch himself on top of someone else's shoulder.

"Sailed like a lead balloon." - scientists tried to create a metal balloon that would sail in the air that would compete with the Red Baron. These scientists named this project the "Hindenburg". Oh the humanity!

"Elvis has left the building." - as we all know, Elvis has been abducted by aliens a long long time ago. His reoccurences have been in several places: a Burger King, a theater and a butcher shop to name a few. Obviously he was tracked down by the Secret Service, but he escapes them everytime, hence he is sill not caught. "Elvis has left the building," say these infuriated and thwarted secret agents.

"Ethnic cleansing" - all of the people in China have a tradition where on Wednesday evenings they would gather as many people as they could and bathe in a large body of water. Hence the Chinese ethnicity have been cleansed. Sadly, this term has been tainted from it's original wholesome meaning.

"His dad sure wears the pants in the family." - Back in colonial times families were rarely ever to be found wearing trousers in the household. But during wartime efforts the fathers were required to wear pants at all times, in the event he needed to defend the city from the British invasion.

"Paddle your own canoe." - There were definately tensions during the Lewis and Clark expedition, everything from light bantering to fist fights. During the trip they argued whether they should go by river or by foot. Lewis took the canoe, Clark walked. Lewis got tired, so he started asking Clark for his help when he defiantly replied "Paddle your own **** canoe!"

"Hit the Nail on the Head" - Unbeknownst to most, there was an illegal WWE minor league in Wisconsin. There was a legendary fight, "The Nail" vs "Skullcrusher". During one time during the fight, the "Skullcrusher" had "The Nail" pinned while the audience chanted "Hit the Nail on the Head! Crush his skull!"

"Finger lickin' good" - There was a dance-off held in Reno, Nevada where there was one dancer who was so mesmorizing the audience members strangly enough started to lick their fingers!

"He knows every trick in the book" - In Las Vegas, the early magicians were critically accused for not having a very wide range of illusions. To their defence magician scholars told the reporters "They know every trick in the book."

"Hit the sack" - In olden times, peasents slept on a sack of rocks. In order for it to be cushoned, they had to phsycially beat the sack before taking their repose.

"Read the Riot Act" - During a practice of a well known play the actors had a difficult time executing the Riot Act. So the director angrily stopped them and read for them line by line the Act with the Riot in it.

Since there were no pics, here's a throwback
to a previous article.  I plead again, treat animals
like the wonderful things they are.
This is humiliating.