Origins of Expressions

  Off the Beaten Track  Watch this on YouTube here - Traveling Video - YouTube Video Meaning: Off the Beaten Track or path means Little-known, or in a remote or lesser-known area. away from the frequently traveled routes. unique or uncommon. “Well, this place is off the beaten track.” Origin: The term beaten track alludes to a well-worn path trodden down by many feet, the usual route or method this term was first recorded in 1638. So, when we add the word OFF to the phrase “off the beaten track” we are now talking about an unusual route or destination. We can hear this phrase used as off the beaten track or off the beaten path. In America they use path and in Europe, they like to use track. Example: Today we still hear this phrase being used when we want to do something out of the ordinary, explore places that are not popular, or to be away from the crowds, an example sentence is: “We we...

  One-Horse Town   Watch this on YouTube here - Numbers Video - YouTube Video Meaning:  One-Horse Town means that the place you are talking about is small and insignificant. "Well, that's a one-horse town." Origin: This phrase started out a bit different and has changed over time. In the 1700’s through the end of the 1800s it was just said as “One-Horse,” it was used to explain tasks that could be completed by one horse. Charles Dickens wrote in his magazine All the Year Round in 1871 that “'One horse' is an agricultural phrase, applied to anything small or insignificant, or to any inconsiderable or contemptible person: as a 'one-horse town,' a 'one- horse bank,' a 'one-horse hotel,' a 'one-horse lawyer', [etc.]” As time went on the phrase “One-horse Town” stuck and was the one that was used all the time. One of the earliest records of this phrase was in 1857 in Graham’s Illustrated Magazine in a poem ‘The One-Horse Town’, written b...

  On The Bread Line Watch this on YouTube here - No Money Video - YouTube Video Meaning: On The Bread Line refers to a group of needy people who form lines to receive free or discounted food from government or charitable organizations. As time went on, “On or under the breadline” has also been used to explain income level. Origin: On the breadline started out as a literal phrase, where lines of people would occur outside a bread store. The New York Times in 1904 wrote the obituary of Louis Fleishmann, it told a story of how the breadline started outside his bakery. The story goes, Louis Fleischmann opened a Vienna bakery near Broadway and 10 th street in New York City. The Fleishmann family packaged yeast and wanted to open a bakery, yup, it's the same yeast you can still get today. After a while he started to get people lining up outside the bakery, the smell of the hot bread being baked drew in starving New Yorker. Fleishmann offered to feed one of the men and soon after that, a...