Origins of Expressions

  A Penny Saved is A Penny Earned  Watch this on YouTube here - Penny Video - YouTube Video Meaning: A Penny Saved is A Penny Earned means that it is as useful to save money that you already have as it is to earn more. "A penny saved, is a penny earned."   Origin: This phrase has been around for a while and has changed a bit as our language has changed, you might see it as 'penny got' or 'penny gained' instead of 'earned' but, no matter how it is said or spelled it always means the same thing, it is easier to save the money that you have than to go out and make more. The first recorded history is as early as 1633 in George Herbert's  Outlandish Proverbs , it reads: "A penny spar'd is twice got." Benjamin Franklin one of the United States’ founding Fathers reportedly designed the first American penny in 1787. Along with the first U.S. penny’s design, the phrase “a penny saved is a penny earned” has been attributed to Benjamin F...

  A Pretty Penny  Watch this on YouTube here - Penny Video - YouTube Video Meaning: A Pretty Penny means A considerable profit or a large sum of money. “Whoo, that’s gonna cost a pretty penny.” Origin: I know, it sounds like if you have a clean penny, it is worth more than a dirty penny, but not quite. This phrase started out a bit different, being said as 'a fine penny' or 'a fair penny' the expression came into the language in the 1700s. We see it first being used in 1710 in a play by the popular playwright Susanna Centlivre, The Man's Bewitch'd, it reads: “Why here may be a pretty Penny towards, if the Devil don't cross it.” Example: Today we still use the phrase pretty penny to say something costs a lot of money, an example sentence is: “A fancy car like that costs a pretty penny, so I definitely can't afford it!” Watch this on YouTube here - Penny Video - YouTube Video

  Ants in Your Pants  Watch this on YouTube here - Insect Video - YouTube Video Meaning: Ants in Your Pants means to be extremely restless, not able to keep still, uneasy about something. “Looks like you got ants in your pants?”  Origin: This term has been around for a while, probably coming from the word Antsy which means restless and impatient in an American English dictionary in 1838. The phrase To have ants in one's pants means “to be nervous and fidgety" it is from 1934 The Dictionary of Cliches  by James Rogers, where it is said that Hugh S. Johnson, the colorful former Army general was known to say it, and made it popular. Example: Today we still use the saying “you got ants in your pants?” as a way to tell someone that they are being fidgety or restless, and it is noticeable. An example sentence is: “She was very excited to be going to the party that night and had ants in her pants all day.” Watch this on YouTube here - Insect Video - ...

  Fly On the Wall  Watch this on YouTube here - Insect Video - YouTube Video Meaning: Fly On the Wall means to be in a position of being able to freely observe a situation without being noticed.  “Ooh, if I were a fly on the wall.” Origin: So, have you ever seen a conversation happening in a glass room but the doors are closed, and it seems really intense, And you wish you could be in there to hear what is being said? That is what people mean when they say I want to be a fly on the wall. No one even notices the fly or feels that the fly is a threat so they keep talking. This is an American phrase that originated in the 1920s. The first citation of it is from The Oakland Tribune, 1921 it reads: "I'd just love to be a fly on the wall when the Right Man comes along." Today the term fly on the wall has been associated with real-life documentaries called 'fly on the wall documentaries' it is a film-making technique in which events are me...

  Social Butterfly Watch this on YouTube here - Insect Video - YouTube Video Meaning: A Social Butterfly is a person who is social or friendly with everyone, flitting from person to person, the way a butterfly might.   “Well, aren’t they a social butterfly” Origin: This phrase started out much different than how we use it today. The 1837 quote states,  "He has too much goodness of heart to engage in the breaking of social butterflies upon the wheel of ridicule." The quote appears to be making reference to a famous saying by Alexander Pope, "Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?", found in the 1735 satirical poem,    Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot . Pope's reference to breaking a butterfly on a wheel alludes to the medieval practice of torturing people on a breaking wheel. "Breaking a butterfly on a wheel" would then be equivalent to an action that is so harsh or disproportionate that it becomes absurd. Back in the 1700s  "social butterflie...

  To Hit the Road  Watch this on YouTube here - Traveling Video - YouTube Video Meaning: To Hit the Road means to begin a journey, set out on a trip, to be asked to leave.  “Time to hit the road” Origin: This phrase means to leave, it can be good or bad. The bad way is when someone is telling you to go home or to get out “hit the road” or in the good sense it means that you are about to set out on a trip of some kind “all ready? Let’s hit the road.” The phrase has origins in the 1800s when it meant the pounding of a horse’s hooves hitting the trail, re was first written in W. F. Butler’s book ‘The Wild North Land: being the story of a winter journey, with dogs, across northern North America ‘ in 1873. The phrase meant “to get going,” “let’s hit the trail”, and “start our day.” This phrase took on more of a negative twist to say “get out of here” or “Leave” in the 1960s when Ray Charles sang the hit song “Hit the road, Jack”. Example: Today we still see the phrase Hit ...