Skip to main content

Walking on Egg Shells

 

Walking On Egg Shells

Watch this on YouTube here - Eggs Video - YouTube Video


Meaning:

Walking on Egg Shells means that you have to be careful about your words or actions around another person. To be overly careful around someone to avoid upsetting them, to be careful of your behavior to avoid offending someone.


Origin:

Walking on eggshells has only been around since the 1800s; walking on eggshells means you are trying not to cut your feet; you must go slow and step softly.

One of the first written records was talking about chickens and how they must move about without breaking the eggs in the book The history of the Hen Fever by George Pickering Burnham in 1855, it was meant to be a funny account of the chicken fanny fern it reads:

“…She was rather long-legged, and "spindle-shanked," but she moved about skippingly and briskly, as if she were treading upon thin eggshells. Her feet were very delicate and very narrow, and her body was thin and trim…”

The next account where it is recorded as walking on eggshells the way we would use it today is in Newness of life, a series of sermons and addresses by William Hay Aitken in 1878; it read:

Other Christians walk very timorously, always expecting to make mistakes; but there is a great difference between walking timorously and walking accurately. Some strike out wildly, never thinking where they are going ; others go along painfully, as if they were always walking on egg-shells or glass bottles. 


Example:

Today we still use walking on eggshells to express that we have to move or speak cautiously, watch what you say; and example sentence is:

"Whenever Lisa is around the house, everyone has to walk on eggshells around her in order not to get her annoyed."


Watch this on YouTube here - Eggs Video - YouTube Video





Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Eat Us Out Of House and Home

  Eat Us Out Of House and Home Watch this on YouTube here - Home Video - YouTube Video Meaning: Eat Us Out Of House and Home means that the food and resource have been depleted.  “The Football team has eaten out of house and home” Origin: This phrase has been around for a while; it was first written in the ( Thesaurus Linguae Romanae Britannicae), a glossary by Thomas Cooper in 1578; it read: “To eate out of house and home: to waste and consume his substance, money etc.” This idiom became quite popular after William Shakespeare started using it in his play Henry IV(4 th ) Part II , in 1597 it read: “It is more than for some, my lord; it is for all, all I have. He hath eaten me out of house and home; he hath put all my substance into that fat belly of his.” Example: Since then, the phrase to eat us out of house and home has been a regular idiom that we hear quite often; it is a way of expressing that a lot of resources seem to be used up when people come to visit. An exa...
Post a Comment
Read more

Shooting Fish In A Barrel

  Shooting Fish In A Barrel Watch this on YouTube here - Fishy Idioms - YouTube Video Meaning: When a simple task needs to be done and there is guaranteed success in the task. A simple activity. Example Sentence: "The size of my apartment is relatively small, so keeping it nice and tidy is  like shooting fish in a barrel ." Origin:      The earliest instance found of this phrase was in a column called By the By! on February 11th, 1902. The column tells a story about 2 men - a high-end tea taster and a man drinking alcohol. the tea tester says that the man drinking alcohol can't tell what he is drinking after only 2 drinks. The drunk man replies "Oh yes I can, and what more I can tell you the brand of alcohol with certainty."  The tea tester takes the bet. After the drinking test was over the drunk man won. He was asked, "How on Earth did you do it?" He replied, "Just as simple as shooting fish in a barrel."      This saying originates from b...
Post a Comment
Read more

Break A Leg

Break A Leg    Watch this on YouTube here - Luck Video - YouTube Video Meaning: Break A Leg is an encouragement to actors before they go on stage or in front of an audience as a way of saying good luck.  “Ooh, break a leg out there.” Origin: Theatre actors are well known for their belief in superstitions, one of them is, - do not to utter the words 'good luck' to an actor. - Instead, by wishing someone bad luck, it is supposed to be that the opposite will occur. The term 'break a leg' appears to come from that belief. Before break a leg became a theatrical way of wishing someone good luck is was used to mean - make a strenuous effort- with many old records. Like “break a leg trying” The earliest record of Break a leg in a theatrical way was in 1948 from a US newspaper The Charleston Gazette, in the 'Ask The Gazette' column, the question asked was: Q. What are some of the well-known superstitions of the theatre? A. Superstitions of the stage are numerous, and man...
Post a Comment
Read more