Funny Things We Say
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**Bite the bullet
Kick the bucket
Face the music
Drunker than a skunk
Caught red handed
Got up on the wrong side of the bed
Under the weather**
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Bite the bullet
You often see in period dramas that they have women bite on wooden spoons while giving birth. Well, it's claimed that in war time they had soldiers bite on a bullet to take their mind away from the pain of their surgery; ie amputating a limb.
Kick the bucket
When someone would commit suicide by hanging, they often used a bucket which they would kick to hang them self.
Face the music
The expression “face the music” comes from the military “drumming out” ceremony for disgraced soldiers. This ritual called for only drums to accompany the dishonored as he was stripped of his rank and colors in front of his assembled unit. For cavalrymen, this humiliation was enhanced by having the offender sit backwards on his horse so that while leaving he could still see, as well as hear, the drums and the band.
Drunker than a skunk
This appears to be a fairly modern phrase. Despite what you see in the movies, it seems that the earliest use of the phrase didn't start until the 20th century.
The best that anyone can guess, it seems to be based on the fact that it rhymes and that skunks and drunks stink.
Caught red handed
This is being caught with the blood of your victim on your hands.
Got up on the wrong side of the bed
This is a Roman superstition. It's bad luck to to get out of bed on the left side. Doing so will make you grumpy all day long.
If you notice, day beds are made so you can't get out on the left due to it having a back on that side. You can only get out on the right side.
Under the weather
It was believed that weather can make you sick, so you were under the influence of the weather or more commonly "under the weather".
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Smart Ass
Military Intelligence(please take no offence)
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Smart Ass
The root of this phrase is "smart Alec" and is based on the exploits of Alec Hoag, a celebrated pimp, thief, and confidence man operating in New York City in the 1840s, Hoag, along with his wife Melinda and an accomplice known as "French Jack", operated a con called the "panel game", a method by which prostitutes and their pimps robbed customers.
Military Intelligence
At best, this can only be classed as an oxymoron and not a saying, so I can't give a basis for it.
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Hair of the dog
(usually talking about drinking but still makes no sense :P)
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Hair of the dog
The root of this is "the hair of the dog that bit you".
This literally refers to the misguided belief that if you were bit by a rabid dog, you need to pluck a few hairs from it and put it on the bite wound to prevent getting rabies.
Oddly enough, around the time of William Shakespeare, many European countries had almost identical sayings that related to both rabies and hangovers.
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Built like a Brick Outhouse
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Built like a Brick Outhouse
Traditionally, outhouses or shit-houses where made of wood due to the fact that they had to be moved fairly regularly because the holes kept filling up.
Brick outhouses where usually only done by the wealthy and very fancy.
Of course, brick outhouses are much stronger than their wooden counter parts.
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A little long in the tooth.
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A little long in the tooth
This means you are getting old.
This is based on horse teeth keep growing and if left unattended, can get very long. Other animals' teeth keep growing as well, mostly rodents.
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