Old sayings and what they mean.

[Diane Amberg]

I don't think we've done this one yet. Throw out an old saying still used today and see who can come up with the meaning and how it came to be. Some are easy and some are hard.  Here's one to start.
    Mad as a hatter.

[Wilma]

My research shows that it might have come from the fact that mercury was used in the making of hats.  The hat makers therefore were exposed to the poisonous mercury which resulted in various personality changes, including madness.  Thus, mad as a hatter.

[twirldoggy]

Rule of thumb

[larryJ]

The 'rule of thumb' has been said to derive from the belief that English law allowed a man to beat his wife with a stick so long as it is was no thicker than his thumb.

 

WHOLE NINE YARDS?

Larryj

[Diane Amberg]

Ok I waited to see if anyone else knew this one. I learned it as the amount of yard goods on a bolt of cloth. Long ago if a proper lady was having a fancy floor length dress made she bought the whole nine yards and all the bits and pieces to go with it. Now it means fancy. How about "cut and run" ?

[twirldoggy]

I would really like to know what "goober peas"  are.  Have read about them recently in song lyrics.

[W. Gray]

Goober peas are the same as what the British call ground nuts or monkey nuts.

That is peanuts.

[larryJ]

Most Southerners recognize the terms goober and goober pea as other names for the peanut. Goober is related to Kongo or Kimbundu n-guba, "peanut."  Nestle makes a chocolate covered goober.

A STITCH IN TIME SAVES NINE

Larryj

[srkruzich]

Most Southerners recognize the terms goober and goober pea as other names for the peanut. Goober is related to Kongo or Kimbundu n-guba, "peanut."  Nestle makes a chocolate covered goober.

A STITCH IN TIME SAVES NINE

Larryj

sewing up a small hole in something to prevent it from becoming larger.




I'd be your huckleberry

[larryJ]

Nobody, including me, answered this one.  To "cut and run" was a term for a cowrdly retreat.  Hence, cut your losses and run.  As Jarhead would say, cowards "cut and run, Marines do not."

Larryj