It’s life list update time, which you’ll be receiving on Mondays from now on. Which means I’ve got to do some serious living during the week so you have something to read, yes? Yes.
First of all, remember this post? 5 cliches down, 95 to go. Here are five more to make Monday a Funday!:
Let’s bury the hatchet.
To bury the hatchet means to end a specific disagreement with others and move on. This is actually an American Indian tradition in which two tribal chiefs would bury an axe to symbolize a peace agreement in a “lay your weapons down” sort of way. Love that.
I’ve coined a phrase.
Coining a phrase essentially means you’ve invented a new term, similar to a catch phrase (oh look! Another cliche!). The idea of coining a phrase originated with the idea of coining money, which is essentially stamping metal with a uniform die to create coins. When you coin a phrase, you stamp your creative imprint onto a well-known idea.
She’s a dead ringer for…
To be a dead ringer of someone, you’re like, their doppelganger or something. Get it? Good. So, the word ‘ringer‘ originated from horses, who were called ringers (or stand-ins) when they were trotted under a false pedigree to defraud bookies. So essentially, a dead ringer is an exact duplicate, or stand-in of something else.
Headed for hell in a handbasket…
First, a funny story. I have a family friend named Helena who once dated Hank Handbasket. How perfect would that have been? Oh, opportunity lost.
OK, hell in a handbasket means you’re headed straight for a serious disaster… and fast. This derives from the guillotine days, where heads were chopped off and then caught in handbaskets. Quick, painless, but definitely headed for hell. Ick.
Let’s end on a happier note, yes?
Let’s have a red letter day.
A red letter day is a super special, totally awesome day. Its origin? Church festivals on calendars were printed in red ink back in the ’40s. Easy enough, right?
Whew! Only 90 to go! We’re getting somewhere…
[All info from Phrases.org, which is my new favorite site. B/c I’m a nerdbomber.]
This is one of my new year’s goals, and I’m doing swimmingly so far. I’m actually super proud of myself, and my pinky is much less stifled now that its not continually resting on the hyphen key. Consider this crossed off!
Next up? Tackle that exclamation mark addiction…
oh, the exclamation mark addiction… i, too, need to work on that… !
its just so addicting! there i go again(!).
Adore learning about cliches! And I am the worst with both emoticons and exclamation marks…maybe I should work on that.