So, I found this web site the other day. There is a great deal of useful origins of common sayings. http://www.mindlesscrap.com/origins/more-a.htm#A
One in particular that struck my fancy: RING AROUND THE ROSY-
Nobody knows for sure where it came from. The Black Plague of the 1600s is the most widely accepted origin of the song, with good reason. Most scholars explain the song this way:
Ring around the rosy - rosy refers to the rose-colored rash people developed.A pocket full of Posies: posies were herbs used to sweeten the air from the smell of death.Atchoo, atchoo - these were the original words to the song, having been traced as far back as the 1800's.We all fall down - I don't think I need to explain this one, do I?
Now for the other side of the argument. There are some scholars who disagree with the Plague reference simply because there are a great deal of records detailing how the Plague started, how it spread, what the symptoms were, how it disappeared, how many people died, and the way that people lived. Yet it wasn't until the 1800's, almost two centuries after the Plague, that the first reference of the song appeared.
RULE OF THUMB:
The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
TIPS
It originally was an acronym for "To Insure Promptness." Old English inns used to keep a box near the door to remind patrons that if the service was good, a little extra something was not objectionable. Printed on the box was "To Insure Promptness," which was later simplified to "T.I.P."
X-MAS:
X has been recognized as a standard abbreviation for Christ since before the year 1100. The X represents chi, the first letter of Christ's name when spelled in Greek (XRICTOC, pronounced Christos).
BACK SEAT DRIVER:
Cars of the early 1900s only had one seat, but it was able to hold two or three people. When back seats were eventually added, they were too far back to effective have a conversation with the driver. All of that changed with the introduction of the 1912 Essex coach, which featured a box-like enclosed body that made it easier to talk. Passengers started taking advantage of the opportunity to talk to the driver from the back seat, including where to turn or stop.
BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE:
Originating in the 1830s, hunting dogs in the United States were often fooled when chasing after small animals like raccoons. The small creatures would climb up one tree, then jump to another...leaving the hound to mislead his master into thinking they were in the right place.
BOOTLEGGER:
The government made alcohol sales to the Indians illegal because their low tolerance to the drink made them dangerous. So frontiersmen used to smuggle the bottles to the Indians by hiding the alcohol in the legs of their boots.
CAUGHT RED HANDED:
In medieval times, animal rustlers who killed someone else's livestock were sometimes clumsy enough not to clean the blood off their fingers. Hence, they were caught "red handed".
CORDUROY:
The fabric mostly used to make pants comes from the France. When the King of France wanted a stout material made for his hunting clothes, the weavers created a corded material called "corde dy roi," or "the king's cord."
CREDIT CARD:
The term was coined in 1888 by an author named Edward Bellamy, who wrote a fictional account of a young man who wakes up in the year 2000 and discovers that cash has been dumped in favor of "a credit corresponding to his share of the annual product of the nation...and a credit card is issued to him with which he procures at the public storehouses...whatever he desires, whenever he desires it."
CUNT:
The word can be traced back to two words: the Greek word konnus (a beard or the wearing of the hair in a tuft) and the Latin word cunnis (a vagina and the woman who possesses it). Many believe cunnis is actually derived from konnus. The first use of the word appears in 1230 when Gropecuntelane is listed among the streets that made up the brothels area of Southwark, England. Given the environment, it's been assumed that the term became a shortening of the word and was in wide use at the time. By the 15th century, though, cunt was viewed as an unacceptable word.
EX-LAX:
The product's name is short for Excellent Laxative.
HOOKER:
Another word that comes from the Civil War, hookers became a common substitute for "prostitutes" thanks to General Joseph Hooker. So many "special ladies" descended on Washington during the war that soldiers called the girls "Hooker's Extra Division."
HONEYMOON:
The ancient Teutones of northern Germany drank a beverage made of honey, every night for a full month following a wedding. And since a month is the length of the moon's cycle, the period was called "the honey moon."
there are many of these sites under: ETHMOLOGY.
I liked it a lot-
