“Balls to the Wall” “Under the Gun” – I’m DONE!

YUP, it’s DONE!  Of course I had to go “balls to the wall” while “under the gun”.  And now to explore the origins of these motivational expressions! Balls to the Wall It probably doesn’t mean what you think, or do you?  Well it does mean, as in my case, to go all out, full throttle [...]

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Down to the Wire – Back Up Against the Wall

What do those two expression conjure up in your mind?  Well if you are in my age category, these phrases have  been used for years to denote a deadline that is rapidly approaching, the sense of urgency needed to complete a task. This is a two-part blog: First of all let’s explore the origin of [...]

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Little Shavers with Noses Out of Joint

OBSCURE ORIGINS OF COMMON AND NOT SO COMMON PHRASES Where do out of date, out of fashion phrases and old sayings go?  Why, they end up in Pbenjay’s blog!  How I happen to pick one to research its origin is often a function of watching an old movie.  Those of you who really know me, [...]

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Pull Out All The Stops-Obscure Origin of a Common Phrase

Ever wonder where some of the phrases we use in our everyday language?  I do and in this blog I have often featured phrases that once were common and now are obscure to generation X and Y.  Sometimes a phrase fades away because it’s no longer applicable or contains words that have dropped out of [...]

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Once Common, Now Obscure – Do You Know What These Phrases Mean?

I really like doing these posts;  in between blogs in this category when I hear a phrase that I grew up with but know that none of my kids or their friends would have a clue what it meant, I try to jot  it down.  Phrases come and go out of style and in this [...]

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You Don’t Know DIDDLY SQUAT!!

OBSCURE ORIGINS OF COMMON PHRASES and some OBSOLETE ones too In one week I heard three almost-obsolete phrases used…so you can safely assume I’m hanging out with people my own age, lol, lol.  With language changing at a speed equivalent to Alvin Toffler‘s Future Shock,  that is phrases, terms, and words I grew up with [...]

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Rhyming Reduplications – Heebie-Jeebies

One day I said to Peter, “that gives me the Heebie-Jeebies” and he looked at me like I was speaking in tongues.  I couldn’t believe he had never heard the phrase before.  It’s a great phrase and used in the right context the way it rolls off your tongue, it just conveys its meaning. Heebie-Jeebies [...]

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Sitting in the Catbird Seat

    Obscure Origins of Common Phrases It was Friday night and we were watching MSNBC and Keith Oberman was reading a short story from a James Thurber book.  For those of you who are NOT leaning left and were listening to some Fox news rhetoric, this reading always takes place on a Friday evening [...]

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The Good Lord Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise

The Good Lord Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise Ruby, one of my readers,  brought this phrase to my attention and it just so happens that recently I saw it on the cover of a CD in Starbucks.  So when something as obscure as this turns up twice in one week I figure it should [...]

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Obscure Origins of Common (and not so common) Phrases

Phrases and clichés are generational and so many of the ones I heard growing up have practically disappeared from our language.  I thought I’d resurrect a few if just for the amusement of my younger readers. Going to hell in a handbasket – used to describe a situation headed for disaster.  It’s thought that the [...]

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