Take One's Name in Vain

Watch this on YouTube here - Vain Video - YouTube Video

Meaning:

Take One's Name in Vain means to speak about someone when they are not present, usually in a poor manner.

“Hey, I heard that! Don't take my name in vain!”

Origin:

This phrase has been around for a while,

This idiom originated as a translation from the Latin version of the Bible, stating “to take God's name in vain,” and for a time was used only to denote blasphemy and profanity.

We first see the phrase from the Ten Commandments that prohibits

Speaking God's name in vain.

In the early 1700s, it began to be used more loosely as well.

Example:

Today we do not hear the saying to take one name in vain as much, but if we did, it would still have the same meaning, to say don’t talk bad about someone when they are not around, an example sentence is:

“My new Desk is near Tom, and he keeps talking about me and taking my name in Vain.”

Watch this on YouTube here - Vain Video - YouTube Video

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