We all use them. We all know what they mean. But where do these phrases come from and how did they get their meanings that we assigned them today? This article will examine the origins of some of the more common English phrases which we know and love.

“Square Meal”

To have a ‘square meal’ means to have a full, satisfying, nutritious meal. The phrase originated in the Royal Navy of the 18th century. Sailors were served their food on square, wooden plates (so, literally a ‘square’ meal). The plates were made in the shape of squares, probably because they would be easier to store on a ship rocking and rolling around at sea.

“In the Clink”

To be “in the clink” or “in clink”, means to be in prison. This comes from the old Clink Prison, once located on Clink Street, in London.

Queer Street

Not one you hear very often these days, more something your parents or grandparents might use. To be on Queer Street means to be in financial difficulties. This comes from CAREY STREET in London, where the city’s bankruptcy courts were located. How exactly ‘Carey’ became ‘Queer’ was never firmly established.

Kick the Bucket

To Kick the Bucket means to commit suicide. This comes from standing on a bucket to put a noose around your neck. Kicking the bucket away made your body drop, hanging yourself in suicide.

Petered Out

If something is said to be “Petered Out”, it means that it’s exhausted. This term originally applied to mining (probably more specifically to gold-mining), where rock-faces were blasted away with old-fashioned blackpowder explosive gunpowder, in the days before dynamite. The three ingredients of old-fashioned blackpowder were Sulphur, Charcoal and Potassium Nitrate…or…Saltpetre, as it was once called. Therefore, if a mine was ‘petered out’, it meant that you had blasted it with gunpowder so many times that you had mined out as much gold or silver, diamonds or other precious things, that you possibly could, and that further explosives were not needed. Alternatively, it could mean that you had done so much mining that you had run out of gunpowder, which was essential for breaking away the rock-faces which picks and chisels alone, could not do.

“Cop”/”Copper”

Originating in the United States in the late 19th century, a word meaning ‘policeman’. The likely origin of this term comes from the copper badges which policemen wear, to identify themselves. A similar, British origin states that it was underworld slang meaning “Constable On Patrol”.

The Daily Grind

‘The Daily Grind’ means something that you have to do every day, day after day, day in, day out, every day of the year…it’s boring, it’s tedious, it’s repetitive…but what is it?

The term ‘the daily grind’ actually comes from Anglo-Saxon England, after the fall of the Roman Empire (although it may have existed before then). It actually refers to the grinding and crushing of grains, specifically corn kernels or kernels of wheat. Grinding the grains up like this produced flour, which was used to make bread, which was the staple food of Roman, and later, Anglo-Saxon society. Without the ‘daily grind’, you had no flour. No flour meant no bread. No bread meant that you starved to death. You wouldn’t be able to go out and BUY your flour to bake your bread like you would today; it all had to be done at home with your own grindstone and it was something you had to do every single day.

Top Dog and the Underdog

The ‘Top dog’ and the ‘Underdog’, two two people who we either love or hate. But where did this term come from? Someone who’s a ‘top dog’ is someone who’s in charge, who’s powerful, who had a position of prestige. The underdog is a downtrodden, inferior sort of fellow who is nothing but a slave to the top dog. But who are these two people…and why dogs?

The dogs are actually lumps of wood, believe it or not, and the two men are actually sawyers, that is, people whose job it is to saw. Saw what? Wood, of course. Specifically, to saw logs of wood into planks for shipbuilding. In the old days, this was done inside a rectangular pit with two men and a massive saw. One man climbed into the pit, while another man put down wooden blcks above the pit, going across it widthwise. These blocks of wood supported the log which the two men were to saw into planks. It was these wooden support-beams that held the log above the pit, that were called the ‘dogs’. The man ‘under’ the dogs, in the pit, who had all the sawdust raining down on him was called the ‘under’-dog, that is, literally ‘underneath’ the support-dogs. The man on top, the ‘top dog’ got his name because he was literally ‘atop the dogs’, and out of the way of the falling sawdust. Also, he had more control of the saw which was used to cut the wood.

Flash in the Pan

Something described as being a ‘flash in the pan’ means that it’s a momentary idea. Something foolish and poorly thought out. But what is the flash and where is the pan?

The pan is the flash-pan of early, flintlock muskets. When the trigger was pulled, the hammer fell forward, struck the frizzen (steel, sparking-plate), forced the frizzen open and sent sparks into the flash-pan. These sparks set off the gunpowder which ignited in a massive flash of smoke and sparks. It was quick, bright, dazzling…and over in a second.

Going off Half-Cocked

Going off half-cocked means doing something without being properly prepared. This comes from the ‘half-cock’ safety-position on flintlock muskets. To gain access to the flash-pan, to fill it with gunpowder, you opened the frizzen (steel striking-plate) and you pulled back the firing-hammer. Pulling the hammer back to ‘full cock’ (all the way), meant that if the gun went off unintentionally, you could shoot yourself (or someone else) by accident. Having the hammer on ‘half-cock’ prevented this (as the hammer would not fall fast enough to create the sparks to set off the gunpowder).

Thereby, going off ‘half-cocked’ meant to fire your gun without first pulling the hammer back all the way, which eventually came to mean doing something without being fully prepared, first.

Hold a Candle to

If you can’t hold a candle to someone, it means you’re not worthy to be compared to him, to be in his presence or to assist or replace him in any way, shape, or form.

The origins of this phrase are disputed, but it is believed to have come from 17th and 18th century England. In the Stuart and Georgian eras, street-lighting did not exist as we know it today. If you had to go out after dark, you either had to provide your own light-source, with a lantern, or, you could engage the services of a fellow known as a ‘link-boy’. A link-boy was a poor, beggarly street-urchin who wandered around with a flaming torch. It was his job to walk beside you, holding this torch, to light your way. As being a link-boy was possibly the lowest job in the entire world (half the time they didn’t even get paid, and if they did, it was a paltry tip, maybe just a ha’penny), saying that you couldn’t hold a candle…meaning that you couldn’t light someone’s way in the dark…implied that you were lower than even the lowest class of labourer…the impoverished link-boy…which was a pretty big insult back in the Georgian period.