Who was the first to "paint the town red"? | IDIOM ORIGINS

[@michaeldeeley5181]

Its great to have you two back. Congrats on Rob on becoming a dad. It was great to see Jess can still make Rob blush

[@thomasmacdiarmid8251]

This was well-earned. Sometimes he is too ready to blush, but that discussion could make anyone blush - except Jess.

[@kevinreece9559]

Congratulations to you and your wife on your new baby

[@georgeosborn3223]

Chinese has thousands of idioms, mostly in 4 character format. My favorite is for someone who has an over-complicated solution to a problem: you take off your trousers to fart.

[@Wee_Langside]

Probably showing my age here. Heath Robinson solutions.

[@helenamcginty4920]

Laughed out loud. Brilliant. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@helenamcginty4920]

​@@Wee_LangsideI knew the expression years before I saw the brilliant cartoons.

[@melodycuthbert4840]

The only thing with that expression is that there really are people who, for medical reasons, do take their pants off to pass gas. Because they have disease process or are on a medication that liquifies their bowels so that if they have gas they already know to sit on the toilet before letting loose.

[@hamaljay]

Definitely going to use this one at work.

[@anaxios]

I had a friend who used to say, "drunk as a bicycle." I didn't understand it for years. When I finally asked, he said, "Have you ever seen a bicycle stand up by itself?" 😂

[@pebblebrookbooks4852]

🤣

[@rickhole]

Growing up in Michigan it was "drunk as a skunk." I think that was just for the rhyme.

[@StizelSwik]

@@rickhole YEP. we still say that! Big D here.

[@653j521]

@@rickhole Growing up anywhere. :) My favorite use of it was in Cat Ballou where she says she is Catherine Ballou and the faux clergyman says, "I'm drunk as a skunk."

[@phdtobe]

I don’t think “beating around the bush” means to “indirectly CAUSE something to occur”, but to DELAY causing that thing to occur by not directly addressing the matter. Meaning, the bird would remain hidden in the bush is the attendant/servant beat AROUND the bush instead of beating the bush directly. That’s why “Get to the point” what someone usually says to accompany saying “Stop beating around the bush”.

[@marymactavish]

For sober as a judge, I just assumed they meant sober as in serious, not silly, not messing around in the courtroom.

[@TedLittle-yp7uj]

That was my understanding as well, though, if that was the origin, it is quite possible that equivocation on the meaning of sober could have led to an ironic use.

[@richardhole8429]

Sober, as in the unexpression of emotion.

[@BillPatten-zh6lx]

Like a sobering moment in one's life.

[@matthew_thefallen]

As an Italian I loved that you mentioned the Italian Idiom "In culo alla balena" ahahah It is not an Idiom, but in theatre always, in Italy, we say "Merda merda merda" before going on stage (it means shit shit shit), and it is said that the explanation is because in old times the audience would come by horse in carriages to the theatre and so more horse poop was a good sign of more people!

[@povedon56]

"Mucha mierda!" -we usually say in Spanish.

[@natehart1988]

Given that I am a non-native speaker of Italian and even I have heard this phrase, I can only assume it is very common.

[@matthew_thefallen]

@@natehart1988 yes it is very common :) I've never heard it in English though.

[@BillPatten-zh6lx]

In the US, it's used when you're about to do something scary, like bungee jumping for the first time, or you made a dumb mistake.

[@PhilBagels]

The Italian one I heard was "in boca lupo" - in the mouth of the wolf. Another way of wishing bad luck in order to make good luck come.

[@taylorchristensen7502]

Randomly got all teary eyed thinking of Rob as a new dad! Congratulations! So cute 🤗 and naming the pink fox Jess is too adorable. Come for the words, stay for the presenters.

[@lohphat]

I let out an “Awe….” too. I’m a sentimental old f*rt.

[@GBEZ]

YAY!! I've missed you two!!! Congratulations Rob! So happy for you! This was just the happy news I needed today.

[@FelonFitness]

While working toward my B.A. in Theatre many years ago I did a small paper on theatre superstitions. What I found was that “break a leg” simply means to “take a bow,” with the breaking being a bent knee in a curtsy-esque movement at the end of a performance for curtain call.

[@DadgeCity]

So why say it before a performance?

[@AlyraMoondancer]

When I was studying theater (way back in the last century), I learned that it was just as they said here, a theater superstition, a way of wishing someone good luck without actually saying it so as not to jinx them. That makes the most sense to me.

[@markleuthauser3040]

I heard that dancers (particularly of the ballet variety) say "merde" before a performance; French for "shit." Supposedly, in the days before the automobile a packed house meant countless carriages, pulled by countless horses, all of whom were shitting. Therefore, shit everywhere means a popular show.

[@jonclarke5303]

I heard it was because some performances didn't last to the end because the performers were boo'd offstage before they could finish. 'Break a leg', meant 'I hope you get to the end of your performance, and therefore can take a bow at the end'

[@pahko_]

34:30 I love when the dynamic of "prudish Brit vs crass American" is on full display lmao

[@trinefanmel]

Jess: f*ck the dog Rob: *rob.exe has stopped working*

[@amym.4823]

I had to pause the video during the "screw the pooch" segment when Rob exclaimed, "Stop saying it!" I just imagined him thinking that he's got to edit the video later and Jess was making his job so much more difficult. Also, another blushing Rob for the montage.

[@agharries]

I have heard “don’t let the cat out the bag” many times and thought it very similar to “don’t spill the beans” meaning don’t divulge some kind of information.

[@653j521]

It does.

[@meruluss]

I remember an old Tommy Cooper sketch in which he was in the dock of a courtroom. He says in his defence, "I was drunk as a judge." The judge corrected him, "Drunk as a lord!" To which Tommy replied, "Yes, my lord."

[@katiejo911]

So, I recently retired from the US Federal Emergency Mangement Agency. One time I was working after an Oklahoma tornado which hit a pig farm. And yes, pigs did fly both forwards and backwards.

[@Olfan]

Re: the sick parrot - parrots are extremely lively birds (when not held alone in a small cage). They move about, screech, preen, play and chat all day, it's hard not to find their sheer lust for life contagious (or to be annoyed by the ceaseless noise if you're that kind of person) as long as they're feeling well. When you've known a parrot for a while and all of a sudden it's just sitting there in silence for hours on end, that's very worrying. You'd prepare for it to soon be deceased, have passed on, be demised, be no more, have ceased to be, be expired, have gone to meet its maker, be a late parrot, be stiff, be bereft of life, rest in peace, push up the daisies, have flung down the curtain, joined the choir invisible, be an ex-parrot, have kicked the bucket…

[@mushjul]

That skit now has even more meaning for me... I had never heard the actual phrase, 'As sick as a parrot," before. Beautiful bird the Norwegian Blue, incidentally. lol

[@maxberan3897]

Something to do with Psittacosis?

[@BillPatten-zh6lx]

I think birds in general don't show illnesses because of the illnesses showing a weakened state and the bird is open to attack from other birds or animals

[@stevetournay6103]

But is this the room for an argument?

[@edryba4867]

The WILD parrots in my neighborhood are VERY lively and noisy. To make matters worse, they fly around (and land, to be noisy somewhere else nearby) in a group of 40 or 50 parrots! Dese boids is LOUD!

[@arvidsson56]

English is not my native language but I am interested in languages ​​so this is my new favorite channel. I am really looking forward to Jess's upcoming book.

[@JoshuaRoch]

I had a fever dream in which I was being annoyed with tedious questions by people helping me complete a task, and my subconscious developed a beautiful idiom to convey the message "don't make it harder than it has to be". "You can stuff a ham so full of turkey, you'll ruin Thanksgiving AND Christmas."

[@johnblakeH]

"A month of Sundays": slightly askew of the subject, but as a Southern US native of 66 years old, I remember Mom and Dad having to make sure the car was gassed up and that we had bread and milk by Saturday, because every gas station and grocery store was closed on Sunday. There was no commerce AT ALL on Sundays. As recently as 30 years ago, the term "roll up the streets" referred to the fact that the main drag of many small towns closed down on Saturday at noon, not to reopen until Monday morning. In the town where I currently live, they also closed most stores (and the one bank!) at noon on WEDNESDAY, as well.

[@jcawly1]

I am a 75 year old who visited grandparents in the southern USA. There too were stores closed on Wednesday at noon and likewise on Saturday afternoons, all day sundays, and reposed early Monday morning.

[@rogerlie4176]

Jess making Rob uncomfortable never gets old.

[@WordsUnravelled]

Imagine if HR got ahold of this! Now to get an HR department… - Jess

[@DerrangedGadgeteer]

Don't forget the wordplay: You tell an actor to "Break a leg..." ... so they end up in the cast!

[@maryjackson1194]

...except you only tell an actor to break a leg when that actor is going onstage for a performance. The actor is already in the cast.

[@cantordavid613]

I had a stage actor friend who explained the expression "break a leg" as having originated from the sentiment that you might wish an actor "break a leg" so that their understudy take their role (apparently in an era when understudies weren't paid, I suppose).

[@PaleoWithFries]

@@maryjackson1194except every actor also has to audition, so the idiom would make sense in that context and easily transfer ahead in time to the performance.

[@michaelkelleypoetry]

Some Spanish Idioms 1.) "Ser pan comido", literally, "to be bread eaten", but means, "to be easy; to be a piece of cake". 2.) "No tener pelos en la lengua", literally, "not to have hairs on the tongue", but means, "to speak your mind; to be a straight shooter". 3.) "Estar hecho un aji", literally, "to be made a chili", but means, "to be very angry; to be hopping mad". 4.) "Al pie de letra", literally, "to the foot of the letter", but means, "literally; word-for-word; verbatim".

[@neskire]

I attended a class in linguistics as an elective while in graduate school. We were assigned to do a presentation to the class. Since most of the other students were planning to teach English as a second language (ESL) I did a presentation on how you might translate idioms from foreign languages. The students had to guess what they meant and give an English equivalent. Here are some examples: Danish: it will cost the white of your eye (it will cost an arm and a leg) Spanish: you are just whipping the air (you are beating a dead horse) Japanese: passing wind, closing buttocks (closing the barn door after the horse has bolted) Chinese: the wood has already been made into a boat (you can't unscramble an egg)

[@deweyd8210]

In my family of performers, “break a leg” was not the message given. My mother used to send a telegram to the theater on opening night which invariably advised: “Don’t shame the family.”

[@blueredbrick]

Congratulations with your wonderfull little girl! That is so awesome 😊 Have you mentioned the Startrek eps Darmok (the one with a language composed entirely of idioms) somewhere in the video perhaps? And the video is going to be a boat load of fun. I love idioms and sayings to the moon and back.

[@rayhume1971]

"When your father comes home, he's going to read you the Riot Act. Tell him I already read it. I found it wordy and not very well thought out." - George Carlin

[@dvsrn1]

Great episode and big congrats to Papa Rob! She's perfect!

[@FAF-Vicky]

I've literally bitten the dust many times over the years of riding (and coming off) horses!!! Great to see you both back and huge congratulations to Rob and wife on the birth of beautiful Rosie x

[@larrynelson4909]

That is biting the dirt if you bite the dust your dead

[@kellifox3250]

Love this show, thank you. Theatre lore ... which is actually fairly supported historically ... theatre curtains don't "have" legs, rather the long narrow black drapes hung along the wings are called "legs". To "break a leg" meant to enter the stage. In vaudeville that meant literally getting on stage and therefore getting paid, which was not a guarantee for every performer who showed up at the theatre.

[@clairehartley860]

Yes. This is what I was told. Performers in vaudeville and musical halls would often be booked to play several theatres in one evening but would not be paid unless they actually made it on stage. So once you made it past the wing curtains or flats (legs) and onto the stage you gained your fee. If you were surplus to requirements, and didn’t get your break, you went off unpaid. So break a leg was not wishing someone harm but actually hoping that they would actually make it onstage a get paid for it!

[@edryba4867]

NEVER to be confused with the phrase, “This show has legs!”.

[@ianwild66]

This might be the origin of 'break a leg'. The previous owner of the Theatre Royal, Haymarket had said such scurrilous things about the king (probably one of the Georges) that his licence to sell tickets for plays was revoked. When Samuel Foote took over the running of the theater he couldn't charge for entry, so he went to the King's brother to plead his case and the royal said 'you can have your licence if you beat me in a horse race.' Samuel accepted, but broke his leg in the process. The royal took pity on the luckless fellow and granted the licence.

[@waverod9275]

I actually have a favorite German idiom: um Schlange stehen "to stand in line", literally "to stand in a snake".

[@stevetournay6103]

The British version is not too far off that, "queue up", with "queue" being the French for "tail"...

[@melissal3159]

Here in the US hiding from the news for a moment. Thanks for something to smile about.

[@ftumschk]

I always thought "raining cats and dogs" meant it's raining as fiercely and noisily as what you get if you put cats and dogs together. The equivalent Welsh expression is "bwrw hen wragedd â ffyn" ("raining old ladies with sticks"), but God knows where that came from!

[@steveknight878]

Possibly related to raining stair rods?

[@ftumschk]

@@steveknight878 Interesting suggestion, but I'm not so sure. Stair-rod rain, specifically, is the kind that comes down hard, heavy and straight... like a shower of metal stair rods. Old ladies, especially ones with sticks, tend not to be hard, heavy... or particularly straight, bless 'em :)

[@Aboz]

I love watching this in color to see Rob's face turning red.

[@edryba4867]

WHERE do you see itin monochrome?

[@vgalea]

Intresting what Rob had to say about shops open on Sundays in Berlin. Since we have been living in Munich for the last two years, it has been a point of amusement that the only shops open on Sunday here in catholic Bavaria are what I call "critical infrastructure": bakeries, cafes, and restaurants.

[@stephenlee5929]

Re Sick as a parrot. I think it probably refers to the Norwegian Blue, which is renowned for it's sleeping on it perch, and feigning death. Note it can easily be stunned.

[@smeglor1]

Also known for its beautiful plumage!

[@johnduggan4993]

I would have thought it was a Monty Python reference.

[@eternalfizzer]

33:15 The phrase "red as a lobster" suddenly comes to mind ...

[@Panthror]

Dutch has some fun idioms too, a couple that have to do with announcing you're going to the toilet: I'm gonna shake the mayors hand (mostly said by men with a full bladder), and if you need to go number 2 you could say: I'm gonna push a splinter out my back. Also: here cats don't come out of bags, we have monkeys coming out of sleeves. And if you've done something that turned out to be pointless (like trying to visit someone who wasn't home, or cleaning a room that gets messed up seconds later by someone else) we say: Well. I've done that for the cat's violin.

[@sourisvoleur4854]

How sweet that you named the fox after Jess, and Jess's reaction was itself sweet!

[@eivindkaisen6838]

Pink fox.

[@Aboz]

Jess is a fox. And so's the plushie.

[@sourisvoleur4854]

@@eivindkaisen6838 oops

[@sourisvoleur4854]

@ Jess has the brightest smile on the Internet.

[@nigelbundy4008]

Marquis of Waterford was known as an infamous and sometime very cruel practical joker. He once asked a train company to crash two trains into each other and he would pay. They refused. He put aniseed balls into the pockets of clergyman and the set his foxhounds on him, what fun. I have done research into a Victorian bogyman called "Spring Heeled Jack" who attacked women and allegedly escaped in great bounds on his spring heeled boots. The Marquis was at first the prime suspect. These stories lasted into 1920's from 1834!

[@chrisc_1012]

I can't believe you've got new episodes, I only belatedly discovered you and have literally just exhausted your back catalogue over the past couple of weeks

[@WordsUnravelled]

Welcome to the pod!

[@mikefingbond3888]

I absolutely love it when Jess makes Rob blush. Fuck the dog was hilarious.

[@BillPatten-zh6lx]

The military in the US doesn't like cussing in mixed company (un-gentlemanly for an officer) but didn't have rules for synonyms like FUBAR or screwed the pooch. Some could wonder what part on a ship was the pooch? Another deck, perhaps?

[@andrewrussack8647]

Love these vids! Congrats to Rob on the new arrival! Keep up the good work!

[@JiveDadson]

Hats. "Mad as a hatter." Hat-makers used a mercury compound to shape felt hats. The mercury often made them insane. Or so I've heard.

[@user-gv4cx7vz8t]

Too true. One of the more famous---and literary thanks to Lewis Carroll---occupational hazards.

[@WordsUnravelled]

This one appears to be true, even to the point that the CDC references it! I had it on my list, but we were trying to keep our timing a bit tighter. Maybe worth a mention next time we visit idioms. :) - Jess

[@marjorieholler8282]

Yes. Rest Breaks are excellent but I am glad it will not be another month of Sundays before we hear/see you again. You are the best escape from the nightmare that is life in the US at the moment. 0:06

[@virginiabarnsley1658]

A baby for Rob is such lovely news! Congratulations to you and your lovely wife, Rob. Rosie will be a clever child, with such parents as she has. I know Rob’s wife must be clever and kind, to have teamed up with the wonderful Rob!

[@soulbound11]

I had some theater friends tell me that Break a Leg, often used when auditioning for a role in a play, had the hidden meaning of, 'I hope you get in the cast' which i like as a play on the word cast

[@andypartridge800]

The thunder in "steal one's thunder" was a system where they had pipes around the walls of the theatre, and the "thunder" was rolling a heavy ball (possibly a cannon ball) to create a kind of surround sound effect

[@howardg396]

Good to see you two again. Congratulations on the new addition to the family Rob. A look at idioms and slang from the 60s might be a good topic for a future episode.

[@simonpayne7994]

Jess as a "Podcast aunt". A complete new degee of kinship! Just imagine Rob's little daughter addressing her in a few years time as "Panty Jess"! 😊

[@vonlicktenbuttz8417]

So glad to find this new video in my feed today! This channel brings me so much joy.

[@michaelmanning5379]

Decades ago I heard someone say "He bit the big chew" and have been using it ever since. "On the wagon" refers to the Temperance Wagon. Young ladies in the Temperance Movement would ride a wagon in a parade and entice young men to join them on the wagon and take the pledge not to drink.

[@1FatLittleMonkey]

That's probably folk etymology (like the condemned man's last-drink). The earliest references were to being "on the water cart" (later, "water wagon"). Even _in_ the Temperance Movement in the early 20th century, the phrase was to "be on the water wagon" (and referencing water spraying) but never to "get on the wagon" (join us/take a pledge). All uses of the phrase by Temperance leaders reported in the press used it without explanation, suggesting they thought the general public would already be familiar with it.

[@jmcdowall]

On animals surviving falls, and the square-cube law, JBS Haldane writes in “On Being the Right Size” (1928): “You can drop a mouse down a thousand-yard mine shaft; and, on arriving at the bottom, it gets a slight shock and walks away, provided that the ground is fairly soft. A rat is killed, a man is broken, a horse splashes”

[@great_icosahedron]

bite the grass is still what we use in German instead of bite the dust

[@pierreabbat6157]

Ich weiß wo der Hund begraben ist! The landlord's dog bit the grass, he buried him, and then he had to put a metal contraption on top to keep the younger dog from digging up the corpse.

[@eivindkaisen6838]

As it is is the continental Scandinavian languages.

[@daerdevvyl4314]

Does anybody sing the song by Queen translated into German, and if so, do they sing _Another One Bites The Dust,_ or _Another One Bites The Grass?_

[@eamonquinn5188]

So lovely to see you both back, and congrats Rob x Wonderful as always x

[@triciahutchins5407]

There was also a Riot Act in the U.S., and it was commonly used to prevent workers from holding rallies. I come from Massachusetts, where there were a set of laws called the "Blue Laws" that dated back to the original theocracy. They kept you from doing business on Sundays or Easter.

[@mattheffron391]

Easter is always a Sunday, so you've stated this a bit redundantly. 😉

[@DistraidaBrionnae]

Here in the southern United States you can't buy alcohol on a Sunday, the stores will block off their aisles that have the alcohol in them, so you can go shop for anything else, but don't expect a drink on a Sunday down here.

[@Azeria]

There’s a rule like that in Cardiff in Wales, shops over a certain size blocked off their alcohol aisles after 8pm. Actually didn’t affect Sundays at all, given those shops were all closed by 4 anyway. Was really annoying when I lived there as a student as you can imagine. They also wouldn’t sell glass bottles on days when certain sporting events were on, like international rugby matches. I can only assume they were attempts to make people drink in the street less, both as a public safety concern and as a way to drive them to the local businesses that sold alcohol.

[@sailingmaster]

Missed you two and the wordplay so much. So good to have you back!

[@pixelpoppyproductions]

I was going to say the same thing!

[@WordsUnravelled]

Thank you for sticking with us!

[@a.e.kieren7955]

okay an origin of the phrase "break a leg" that I heard once: Apparently Vaudeville companies would only put on all the acts if the show was sold out. A show with less tickets sold will only get the top billed acts and the lower tier acts would be cut from the show, and therefore, not paid. The audeience eye level of the vaudeville stage was called the leg line, and so breaking the legline, or breaking a leg, meant just to make it on stage at all. So saying, break a leg, is saying "i hope the show does well enough tonight for you to get paid"

[@stefanfisher4440]

Yay, Jess and Rob are back. I'm a theater teaching artist and actor, and as soon as the episode started, I was thinking: "I should suggest some theater idioms like 'Break a leg,' for a future episode. And then there it was as the first idiom discussed! I'm so glad that it was explained as just wishing someone bad luck to keep from jinxing someone's good luck. Far too many silly explanations out there.

[@frankhooper7871]

"Nissed as a pewt" is one of my favourites. 20 years living in America, 50+ years in England - never heard of "screwed the pooch"!

[@edryba4867]

The concept of Screwing The Pooch” was quite common among the crews who produced live television shows, back when I was in that business. We did LIVE - meaning “simultaneously distributed to the entirety of the United States at the moment the show was being done” - news broadcasts. And when someone had made a large mistake which was painfully obvious to the viewers of a given show, invariably someone else on headset (where the entire crew could hear it) would say something akin to “He [or She] really screwed the pooch on THAT one!”

[@chrisrudolf9839]

Regarding "break a leg": We have equivalent sayings in German that pretty obviously also derive from the superstition to rather ironically wish something bad on someone so that the opposite will happen than wishing them good luck straight on. The general equivalent of "break a leg" would be the even more harsh "Hals- und Beinbruch!" (neck break and leg break). Specifically among sailors who are setting out on a voyage there is the variant "Mast- und Schotbruch" (mast and sheet rope break).

[@anjadrolshagen6388]

I have heard that the German Hals- und Beinbruch originated from the jiddish Expression "Hatzla ve Broche' which means "Luck and blessings"

[@chrisrudolf9839]

@@anjadrolshagen6388 The exact origin is unclear. Duden mentions this as "beleived by some linguists", but also mentions the tradition of superstitious negative well wishes, which exist in many languages and also in other German variants (like the sailor version). Since those other expressions of negative well wishes exist, I find it hard to believe that just this particular one should be a mockery of that jiddish expression, which doesn't really sound much alike Hals- Und Beinbruch except for the first three letters.

[@annasimpson9013]

Congratulations Rob! I enjoy this channel immensely. Both you and Jess make learning about words so much fun.

[@dabneyapplechunks]

Lovely to see/hear you both again! Congratulations, Rob! Breaking a leg… The habit of avoiding jinxing someone by wishing them bad rather than good luck is very old and widespread. In West Africa, if a woman loses more than one child in a row, she will often call her next child by a foul name so that the ill fortune won’t bother to attack. Of course, this may account for how suitable the “break a leg” seems, and there may be other, more intricately elegant derivation stories as some folks have suggested in other comments…

[@msnouveau]

I'm so glad to have you two back! I was just thinking of you especially the last couple of days, wondering when you'd have a new episode. This one did not disappoint! Here's another phrase from my grandparents who were from Georgia (US) - my grandmother would say of my grandfather (long before my time with them) that he was "a dick on wheels," meaning that he was showing off or overly proud of himself. That one would be great for Jess to discuss with Rob. :)

[@jimb9063]

Thank you both, puts the cherry on top of the morning cake. For anyone concerned about the sick parrot, it's sadly bereft of life and ceased to be.

[@BlMuller]

the Norwegian Blue- its just sleeping

[@stephenbirks3177]

It is an ex-parrot

[@payntpot7623]

Congratulations to the addition to your family, Rob. I did a painting for an exhibition themed _Water_ and I painted a series of Water Idioms. I had fun not only remembering them, but then working out how to put them in the form of an image. In the end, there were more idioms than I had room on the canvas. I think I painted 19 or 20 from memory. If you do a series on water themed idioms, I will be keen to see if you get the same ones I came up with. Have heard of _falling off the wagon_ but not that someone was actually on the wagon! Why did I think in the dim recesses of my mind that _paint the town red_ had something to do with the Italian patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi? The colour of the shirts his men wore was known as Garibaldi Red. They fought for control of many towns.

[@toddwynia7491]

A great episode. Great to see you guys back. Congrats, Rob

[@peterdore2572]

CONGRATULATIONS ROB!!!! We sooo happy for you to be a Daddy, and you will be very good! :)

[@gregdarroch1946]

Whilst Rob finds it hard to call a spade a spade, Jess has no trouble calling it a f*cking shovel. Well done Jess!

[@AlyraMoondancer]

Yay! You're back! Woo hoo! You have been missed! And such a fun episode!

[@davewalter1216]

Happy New year from Oz & Congrats on Rosie. That is excellent, or bonza in the Australian idiom (aka 'bonzer' but we are non-rhotic here). Good on ya mate. Lovely to see Jess again too and to explore the origins of idioms - many of which we more or less share here. No 'drunk as a skunk', though. Alas.

[@dbolt6543]

Boring Sundays were a thing in Toronto until the early 60s because they used to padlock the swings and see saws on Sundays to make sure the kids went to church.

[@apcolleen]

On the topic of theatrical thunder- there were theaters in the round that had a track around the building that they rolled cannon balls down to sinulate thunder

[@phdtobe]

I learned some time ago that the idiom “a pig in a poke” denotes something cheats the buyer because while the buyer expects something valuable to be obtain gets fooled by a pig that unexpectedly runs away from the buyer and beyond their grasp when the poke is opened.

[@floraidh4097]

So glad you’re back! And congratulations on your baby!

[@jessrose4301]

My husband's uncle is a judge and is known to like his spirits. So when we go out to the bar with him we definitely use the "sober as a judge" idiom as sarcastic 😂

[@theronaissance]

Congrats, Rob and podcast auntie (and foxy namesake) Jess!🎉 I’d once heard “break a leg” came from hoping someone wound up in “the cast”. Another great episode!

[@bethanybody2201]

27:09 I’ve never heard about being on the wagon but “When you 'fall off the wagon', you go back to drinking alcohol in large quantities after having abstained from it for a while. Nowadays, the expression is used to refer to the resumption of any bad activity - drugs, smoking, overeating, etc.”

[@653j521]

"Sorry, but no thanks, I'm on the wagon."

[@Anne-Enez]

About the tongue and biting-related idioms 😛😬, in french we have also to bite the dust (mordre la poussière) with exactly the same meaning and battlefield origin, and also biting your tongue (s'en mordre la langue) but with the meaning of regretting what you've just said. We have also "tourner sa langue sept fois dans sa bouche" (turn your tongue seven times in your mouth) to say that you should think (think twice!) before speaking. We say "s'en mordre les doigts" (biting your fingers) when you regret an action (and not only words you've said), and "avoir avalé (ou perdu) sa langue" (to swallow or loose your tongue) when you stay silent while you should say something. But we give our tongue to the cat 🐱 (donner sa langue au chat) when we you confess your ignorance and ask for the solution of a question.

[@curtisblake261]

Rob cleverly slips in the phrase take it with a pinch of salt.

[@Loranzojose2000]

“Paint the Townsend red” Reminders me of an expression i first heard in rural Pennsylvania which was to “red up” with reference to a room or building which means to tidy up or clean up thoroughly. “ive got to red up the Barn” It was explained to me that part of the cleaning was to repaint the barn (red, of course.) But it apparently came from the Scots word “redd” which means to tidy up or organize by way of middle English Redden and has nothing to do with Paint , introduced by immigrants to the area.

[@dearthditch]

“Break a leg” being used as a way to reverse a potential jinx is interesting. My black cat is named Jinx

[@TalLikesThat]

Yes! Welcome back! I needed this

[@WordsUnravelled]

I did too! Thank you for listening. - Jess

[@jakejacobsen5000]

I missed you two. So happy you are back. Congrats on the baby Rob!

[@mikefrederick2696]

In "sober as a judge" the intention was to reflect that judges may have to pass the death sentence and therefore would have to approach things seriously (i.e. sober in terms of serious, rather than not being drunk). The use of the word sober encouraged its use in denying drunkenness.

[@creektraveler3470]

Off the wagon was a temperance saying referring to people who fell off the teetotaler wagon and started drinking again. During that time the Temperance League would take a wagon through a town with people who had joined their movement and sworn off alcohol.

[@dw7704]

Biting one’s tongue can not only mean to keep from saying something stupid, I hear it more often to keep from saying something rude, offensive, unnecessary, unhelpful and/controversial. Normally done to avoid an argument, derailing the conversation,or offending someone.

[@KwanLowe]

Thanks!

[@WordsUnravelled]

Wow, thank you once again. Hope you enjoyed this one!

[@maryloumawson6006]

Mom always said it was "raining cats and dogs" but when it was pouring especially hard she'd say "it's raining pitchforks and hammer handles!"

[@topilinkala1594]

I clearly remember some 19th century English thinker saying something like this: I would live forever except I for all the boring sundays. I think if he lived today, he'd find out that there are no longer boring sundays, mainly because of electric lights.

[@prc789]

Electric lights aren't the cure fir boring Sundays. As a child in 1970s Britain, Sundays in the Winter could be very long and boring, The limited television channels were full of religious or political programmes and there was often not much to do.

[@topilinkala1594]

@@prc789 But you can read by electric light much more longer than by other lights. And reading is not boring like you might think.

[@prc789]

@topilinkala1594 Before the electric light, most people were illiterate, books were incredibly expensive. In the 70s the book shelves in my house already held 100s of books alm well read. My library cards were well used, yet Sundays were still long and boring. No way to get anything new to read. Electric lights had been around for nearly 100 years by then. They're not the universal cure for boredom that you believe, plus they only come in to there own after dark

[@janami-dharmam]

So finally Rob has been rewarded for all his hard work! Congratulations, Rob!

[@DeanBatha]

It's good to see the two of you back. Congratulations, Rob.

[@SeeingBackward]

28:30 I've always assumed "sober as a judge" to be a wordplay referencing the sense of "sober" meaning somber, serious, and not joking as they pass a sentence. That this particular quote is in a play referencing a Spanish character may be going for a double-wordplay on the Spanish "sobre" (pronounced like SOH-bray) meaning "over" or "above" as in "above reproach"

[@jurgnobs1308]

spanish words ending on -e tend to not actually be pronpunced with -ay. that's usually just a strong american or english accent thing. also in the case of sobre. american english speakers tend to have difficulties pronouncing the ending -e sound without also adding a y sound because it doesn't really exist in english. basically, in spanish it's actually a monophthong [e] sound in IPA spelling, not a diphthong [eɪ] a great way for english speakers learning spanish to reduce their accent is to consciously cut off the ending pronounciation. it feels cut off and unnatural at first but you get the hang of it you know, kind of like you correctly pointed out that the first part pf rhe word is "soh", not "soe" or "sow" as many english speakers often misspronounce the spanish "o". basically, if we avoid IPA you might say it's sohbreh as an aproximation

[@davidhunden120]

I had either heard or read that “Break a Leg” is equivalent to “Bending the Knee” or “Taking a Bow”. Essentially, telling the actor you have confidence he or she will put on a PERFORMANCE worthy of the applause to proudly... “TAKE THAT BOW”! Also, a somewhat different take on the “bowing” is that in England (perhaps in other countries), if royalty were present, the actors would show respect by the “bow”, (breaking a leg) for the King, Queen, or member of the royal family.

[@markphillips7538]

I always thought the 'Break a Leg' referred to John Wilkes Booth breaking his leg as he jumped onto stage after shooting Lincoln. He remained standing and delivered a few lines as if he was part of the play.

[@thomasmacdiarmid8251]

Flipping one's wig - I have lately heard phrases referring to removing earrings in preparation for a fight. It means people are or have gotten ready for a particularly nasty fight. The idea of course is that one knows a very physical no-holds-barred fight is ensuing and doesn't want to either lose the jewelry or have one's earlobes torn. Flipping one's wig could also be a way of keeping the accessories in good shape. "I Could/Couldn't care less" - which is it, my learned word mavens? I have heard the original was a sarcastic "I could care less, but I don't know how." However, on being shortened, it made little sense, so people made it couldn't.

[@R08Tam]

Popular songs from the 40s and 50s refer to a state of extreme happiness as having ones "heart wrapped in clover". I've tried to find the origin of this but without success.

[@otakubancho6655]

Happy birthday Rosie,and congratulations Rob!🎉🎉🎉

[@donastar8093]

Congratulations on the new edition Rob. Could you do one on the Tiffany effect. I find it so fascinating.

[@HotelPapa100]

Congrats on little Rosie, Rob. Say goodbye to nights of uninterrupted sleep! I always took "sick as a dog" to mean about to puke. I also can't help to notice the (very close) German analogs: "Hals- und Beinbruch" "Ins Grass beissen" "Einen Besen fressen"