Find out the roots of eight famous phrases used in conversation
Great writers leave us with more than just good books. They change the way we speak. You'd be surprised by how many everyday phrases come from literature. Here are just a few.
1. A drop in the bucket. The expression comes from the King James Version of the Bible: "Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket and are counted as the small dust of the balance." (Isaiah 40:15) The bible referred to the nations of the world as nearly meaningless in the grand scheme of things. In the last 400 years the term has come to signify anything that is only marginally useful given the scale of the situation. Like, $100 is just a drop in the bucket if you owe someone $1 million . (pg. 115)
2. March to the beat of a different drummer. Henry David Thoreau wrote the phrase in Walden in 1854. "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer." The phrase got a lot of mileage when Linda Ronstadt, a rock star popular in the 60s and 70s, came out with the 1967 hit "Different Drum."
3. In a pickle. Leave it to Shakespeare to coin this one. "How camest thou in this pickle?" Alonso said to his co-conspirator in The Tempest. The phrase has been used to describe a predicament ever since.
4. Catch-22. The title of Joseph Heller's 1961 novel became an instant catch phrase. The novel is all about "catch-22," a farcical Air Force rule that says a pilot is considered insane if he keeps flying missions without asking for a break. But any pilot who asks for a break must be sane, so he doesn't need a break. See the catch? Now, Catch-22 is used to refer to any situation that has you in a double bind.
5. Open Sesame. No it's not just some silly game your little sister wants you to play with her. It dates back to 1375 and the story about Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves from One Thousand and One Arabian Nights. Ali Baba used the phrase "open, sesame" to open the robber's den. It caught on and by 1800 had become a generic term for a password. (pg 309)
6. Ignorance Is Bliss. The concept that ignorance is a happy state has been around since ancient Greece, but the English poet Thomas Gray coined the phrase in a 1742 poem when he wrote, "Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise." Now it's a great conversation starter: "Is ignorance really bliss? Makes you wonder."
8. It takes two to tango. The phrase dates back to a 1579 proverb "It always takes two to make a bargain" by John Lyly. It became popular in the U.S. in the 1920s when the tango hit the scene.
Source: The Facts On File Dictionary of Cliches, Second Edition
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