Origins of Expressions

  Like Nailing Jelly to a Tree  Watch this on YouTube here - Tree Video - YouTube Video Meaning: Like Nailing Jelly to a Tree means to deal with a very difficult problem or a problem that cannot be solved. a foolish or worthless attempt at something.  “Ha, that will be like nailing Jelly to a tree.” In America they say "to nail jello to a tree", Jell-O  being a gelatin dessert that comes in fruit flavors. Origin: The origins of both these phrases actually lie in politics. Theodore Roosevelt, in 1915 wrote a letter to William Roscoe Thayer talking about the difficulty he was having negotiating with Columbia regarding the Panama Canal, it said: 'You could no more make an agreement with them than you could nail currant jelly to a wall - and the failure to nail currant jelly to a wall is not due to the nail; it is due to the currant jelly.' Example: Today we do not hear this expression as much, but if you did hear it, it would mean t...

  Leave in A Lurch   Watch this on YouTube here - Abandon Video - YouTube Video Meaning: Leave in A Lurch means to be Abandoned in a difficult position without help.  Origin: The phrase originates from the French board game of  lourche  or  lurch , which was similar to backgammon and was last played in the 17th century unfortunately the rules have now been forgotten and lost over time. Players suffered a lurch if they were left in a hopeless position and too far behind to win the game. The card game of cribbage, or crib, also has a 'lurch' position which players may be left in if they don't progress halfway round the pegboard before the winner finishes. The first written history was in 1596 from Thomas Nashe in   Saffron Walden it read : "Whom he also procured to be equally bound with him for his new cousens apparence to the law, which he neuer did, but left both of them in the lurtch for him." Example: Today we use this saying to express that we have ...

  Like Father, Like Son Watch this on YouTube here - Family Video - YouTube Video Meaning: Like Father, Like Son means that someone resembles their parents in some way, either in appearance or because of their behavior. Origin: It is common for similarities to exist between children and their parents. not just in terms of how they look, but also in the way they behave. One reason this is because children inherit genes and traits from their parents, these create similar looks between parent and child. However, there’s another factor at play. As a child grows up, they are influenced by what they see their parents do and say. So, a parent’s words and actions can affect them too. The end result is that once a child reaches adulthood, the way they look and act may be similar to their parents, “like father, like son!” There has been a long history of comparing children to their parents throughout history.  This ancient proverb has been in many languages, in slightly variations since...

  Lose Track of Time Watch this on YouTube here - TIME Video YouTube Video Meaning: Not being aware of time, when more time has passed then what you wanted   Example Sentence:  “I started playing a video game, and lost track of time, I played for six hours.”   Origin:  This idiom is quite interesting. It came about with the implementation of standardized time. Standardized time happened between 1884 when the prime Meridian conference happened, and 1913 when time got globally broadcasted from the Eiffel Tower because railroads needed standard times. This change led to the end of many local times and everyone being on the same time for this idiom there is no exact time to when it was first started many writers made time their subjects because of this there are many variations of “lose track of time” one of my favorites is HG wells The Time Machine it reads “…you are wrong to say that we cannot move about in time, for instance, if I am recalling an inci...