15 Facts about Common Expressions and Saying You Never Knew

6Blood is thicker than Water

This means that family is the first priority. In Ancient cultures, blood began to represent a bond between men who were in most cases warriors that also led to the term “becoming blood brothers”. The warrior who fought alongside each other as blood brothers were regarded as more important than family.

In respect to the family theory, there is a document dating back to 13^th century Germany called the Heidelberg manuscript which contains the sentence "I also hear it said, kin-blood is not spoiled by water." 

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7Bury the hatchet

Among common expressions, everyone knows that this means making peace and that it originated in America where native Indians were always in conflict with Puritan settlers. When negotiating a peace treaty, they would bury their weapon and make them inaccessible.

The hatchet, of course, was the biggest symbols of war which were buried first including knives, tomahawks and bows and arrows.

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8Eat Humble Pie

To eat Humble pie has its origins in the 14^th century when the entrails of animals called offal were made into pies. The term soon came to be known as umbles in the 15^th century and the first reference to umble pie was observed from 1330 onwards. As a type of humiliation, it also came to be synonymous with the act of having to apologize after defeat.

Commoners who were invited to the feast of a lord or duke were served such umble pies to show them their social standing.

9Give the Cold Shoulder

This was, of course, ignoring somebody intentionally. Today it is a rude gesture but in ancient England, it was, in fact, the opposite; It was considered a polite gesture to let a guest know that it was time to leave and event that he or she had been invited too. At this time they were served a cold portion of meat cut from the shoulder of an animal.

The expression itself is attributed to Sir Walter Scott when he used it in his novel the Antiquary written in 1816.

"Ye may mind that the Countess’s dislike did na gang farther at first than just shewing o’ the cauld shouther..”. where cauld meant cold and shouther meant shoulder

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10Let Your Hair Down

The phrase originated in the 17^th century and means to relax but in today’s terms, it is more synymous with having a blast. Parisian nobles would also risk criticism and condemnation if they appeared in public without doing up their hair. Intricate and complex styles required women standing for hours on end with heavy ornaments woven into their hair. Thus at the end of the day, letting ones hair down provided extreme relief.

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