MEANINGS BEHIND SAYINGS (Part 2)

Here's some fun for the day.......

TRIVIA:  (Answer below)
What two pieces are moved in chess's castling maneuver?

BRAIN TEASER:
My scale is something that doesn't weigh in grams, ounces or pounds.    However, I may be heavy or light.  What am I?

JOKE: 
Q:  What's brown and sticky?
A:  A stick.   


QUESTION FOR THE DAY:
Why do people say they 'slept like a baby' to express sleeping good when babies wake up and cry every 2 hours?


COMIC FUN:

TRICIA'S TWEET OF THE DAY:

Character is like a tree.  It doesn't develop overnight.   It takes a lifetime.

MEANINGS BEHIND SAYINGS

Time to take a look at some more sayings and the history or meaning behind them.


The phrase:

KNOCK ON WOOD

It is common practice to knock on wood with the knuckles in order to try to ward off
trouble or to seek good fortune.   Most of the time, the phrase is spoken while 
knocking on wood.

One thought is that knocking on wood turns ones thoughts onto the wooden cross on which Jesus was crucified.  

Another school of thought comes from the game of tag.   Trees often afford sanctuary in this childhood game.   A kid that runs to and touches the tree is momentarily free from capture.   In the game, knocking on wood doesn't count unless the verbal announcement is made as well.    Knocking on wood in the game of tag gives safety and good luck and hence a possibilitiy of the meaning behind the saying.

So what happens if you use the lesser known phrase "Knock on a Woodchuck"?   Mainly, you just find out how much wood a woodchuck would chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood.


The phrase:

LIFE OF RILEY

Many people may envy the lifestyles of the rich and famous.  Irish stand-up comic Patrick Rooney expressed this feeling in a song he wrote in the late 1880's.

Mr. Reilly was the central character in of Rooney's song.   In the song, the character Reilly imagined what he would do if he struck it rich in California.    Though Reilly existed only in the imagination of Patrick Rooney, he voiced feelings of many and somewhere along the way the spelling was changed from Reilly to Riley.  

Having heard or read lines from the song, people began to wish they could step into the Irishman's shoes and have the Life of Riley.  

The lesser known phrase about the "Life of Miley" refers to living the life of a former Disney Channel star with a bad haircut.   

The phrase:

CAUGHT RED-HANDED

A common felony of the past involved the killing of another person's pig, sheep or cow.  Under legal codes that prevailed for generations, possession of freshly killed meat did not constitute as guilt.   Only a person caught with the blood of the animal on his hands was sure to be convicted.   It was a waste of breath to plead for mercy after being caught red-handed.   

That's slightly morbid, but in other news, if you're caught Ked-handed, it just means you have some tennis shoes in your hands.



The phrase:

RIGHT DOWN MY ALLEY

Most English cities and towns of long ago had many more narrow alleys than broad streets.  Except for the wealthy, most people were likely to live on an alley.

Asked to make a delivery or a purchase close to home, it was natural to respond, 'That's right down my alley.'    This very British expression for 'it's close to home' seemed to catch on with Americans as a way of indicating 'that is something I would like to do'  or 'that's in the neighborhood of what I like'.   

Some people also say 'right up my alley' which is the same thing.   However, if you use the phrase 'that's right down my Ali-Baba and the 40 Thieves" it means that you really enjoy ancient Arabic literature.



TRIVIA ANSWER:
King and rook

BRAIN TEASER:
A music scale

Until next time........