Origins of Expressions

  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...

  Fly the Coop  Watch this on YouTube here - Abandon Video - YouTube Video Meaning: Fly the Coop means to leave, to depart, or to escape.  Origin: This phrase has not been around for long but it has some old roots. In Middle English around the 1200s, the word COOP first meant a wicker basket - and then as a cage or a pen for keeping poultry. In the late 18th century COOP, became criminal slang for prison or jail, and eventually any confining place, both literal and figuratively. So, to “FLY THE COOP”, first meant to escape from prison, with the visual likeness of a chicken escaping from a chicken coop. It later came to mean to depart hastily from any place, but especially from a place that started to feel confining or restrictive. The first written record was in 1909, in The Enchanted Profile by O. Henry it read: “On the third day, I FLEW THE COOP.” Example: Today we still use this saying to express that a place was left and left quickly due to feeling boring or r...

  Fingers Crossed   Watch this on YouTube here - Luck Video - YouTube Video Meaning: Fingers Crossed is a phrase one uses to express the hope that something comes to pass, or that someone is blessed with good luck.  Physically crossing your fingers and placing them behind your back is a sign of lying, this is not to be confused with the act of saying “fingers crossed”  Origin: This phrase fingers crossed has a long connection with Christianity where It was used back in 1600s in the Courts of Mosaic law also known as law of Moses where judges would render verdicts with the phrase "May God have mercy upon your soul" this was to reaffirm God's supreme authority over the law. Most judges felt that while they could pass a sentence of death upon a person, they personally did not have the authority to destroy souls and that only God had the authority to do that. As a result, some judges would cross their fingers whenever they said the phrase as a result of concern for the...

  From Soup to Nuts Watch this on YouTube here - Nuts Video - YouTube Video Meaning: From Soup to Nuts means from beginning to end, start to finish. Origin: From soup to nuts started as a literal meaning, this phrase was meant to be all the successive parts of a meal, from soup at the beginning to nuts and fruits at the end—an example form from The Charleston Daily Courier 1870 reads: “We have lately had the pleasure and privilege, along with a friend, of a dinner, at the Charleston Hotel, as an invited guest. The Bill of Fare, from soup to nuts and fruit..,” We changed the meaning of from soup to nuts from the literal sense of a full meal to anything that explains a process from beginning to end. The earliest occurrence that I have found of the phrase is from  A Flying Shot at the United States , by ‘Fitzgunne’, published in The Dublin University  Magazine , 1852, it reads: “I have heard of a boast being made by a veteran in the art that ...

  Find a Needle in a Haystack Watch this on YouTube here - Hay Video - YouTube Video Meaning: Find a Needle in a Haystack means something is difficult to find.  “Well, that’s like finding a needle in a haystack.” Origin: You’ve probably lost something small before, like your keys or maybe even your phone. After searching every nook and cranny, you finally find them. Whew! However, looking for a needle in a haystack, as the saying goes, is far more challenging. You are trying to find an object, like a small needle in this case, in a large stack of hay. This can be quite hard, if not impossible for some people. The needle and hay are so similar, that it can be easily overlooked. This saying and others around the same idea have been used for hundreds of years in our language to express difficulty finding something, one of the first written records of a similar saying goes   But the first written record where the phrase was the same as what we used today was in The Complete W...

Fall For Someone   Watch this on YouTube here - Falling In Love Video - YouTube Video Meaning: Fall For Someone means to be attracted romantically to someone, to start to fall in love with them. To fall in love means that this was not an action that you wanted to happen, just like if you trip and fall on the ground, it is said that the feeling of falling in love is just like tripping or being helpless, you cannot control it, it just happens. It is often said as “to fall in love” or “I am falling for them” Origin: The first written record of fall in love was in 1590's epic poem The Faerie Queen, published in the 1590s, it reads: “He sees her face; doth fall in love, and soone for her depart.”   Example: Today we still used the term “fall” in love or for someone to express a love that was not expected but just happens. An example sentence is: “The more we worked together and got to know each other, the more I could feel myself falling for her.” Watch this on YouTube ...

  Fish Out of Water Watch this on YouTube here - Fishy Idioms - YouTube Video Meaning: Fish out of water means that someone is struggling with a task or they are really uncomfortable or awkward while performing a task. Example Sentence: "I felt like a fish out of water at the party because I knew no one." Origin: Fish out of water has been around for a long time, the first written record was in 1483 by the English poet, Geoffrey Chaucer - his poem read:               "A huge man, uncouth; a master of vessel and knew all the ports, not ride well, like a fish out of                water as he sat on his horse. Watch this on YouTube here - Fishy Idioms - YouTube Video