Random Thursday

Losing words on how to introduce this chapter on Expressions, yet again, from The Little Book of Answers by Doug Lennox! There's still a few pages left in the chapter alone, plus another chapter after that. The pages are winding down though, so let's have at it!

(image borrowed from Breck's)

When we cover something in a thin layer of gold, is to "gild" it. Lilies are already in a "natural state of perfection," so gilding it would be excessive. Thus the expression, "gild the lily," kind of has no point. It's actually a misquote from Shakespeare's "King John," in which the king's barons describe his second redundant coronation "as throwing perfume on the violet or to gild the refined gold to paint on the Lily."

I feel like lots of things come back to Shakespeare. I'm not familiar with this expression...or that play of his either!

(image borrowed from Wikipedia)

We all know that we have five senses, though sometimes there's a rare "sixth sense" that is uncommon among the other five. The expression comes from a study in 1903, in which some blind people could perceive or sense objects in the room in a way that defied scientific understanding.

Hello Matt Murdock!

(image borrowed from American Book Collecting)

When something doesn't make sense to us, we say, "It's neither rhyme nor reason." This quote comes from Sir Thomas More, who, after reading something that a friend wrote, Sir Thomas told him that he'd have to rewrite it in order to make his point clear. After his friend did so, Sir Thomas read it again and approved of the changes, saying, "That's better, it's rhyme now anyway. Before it neither rhyme nor reason."

That's interesting! I'm wondering how accurate Doug's sources were about this one!

(image borrowed from Amazon)

When we say, "put a sock in it," it means we want whoever is talking to be quiet. This expression comes from the days of the earliest windup phonograph. This early acoustic record player didn't have electronic controls or any muting device to change the volume, so the only way to soften the sound was to stuff something into the horn. Ideally, something small and soft and easy malleable..such as a sock! So when one needs volume lowered, one simply needs to tell another "put a sock in it!"

That's an interesting piece of history!

(image borrowed from Alberta Farmer Express)

When we're headed to bed, an expression we might use is "hitting the hay." This expression dates back to when early sailors were headed to sea and had to provide their own bedding on the ship. This need was easily rectified by merchants who would sell canvas sacks stuffed with hay out on the docks. When he was headed to bed, the sailor would announce he was "hitting the hay." In early American settlements, these canvas sacks of hay were also used, so the saying was still the same even on land.

That's rather interesting too, though easily understood if you think about it! Lol.