Cut The Mustard and other strange phrases...game

[one...two...tree 2,762]

The whole kit and kaboodle - anyone want to guess as to the origins of that phrase (no google cheating)? Edited July 9, 2008 by Jabberwocky

[PlatyPius 5]

Wasn't it something from the civil war? Maybe I am thinking of something else...

[Jenn! 918]

No, don't know the origin of that without looking it up. I don't think I've ever used the word kaboodle (caboodle?) without "the whole kit and" in front of it. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever used that phrase anyway.

How about the cat's pajamas? I don't see what's so special about those. Dressing animals is strange.

[tdegrenier 1]

He's not the sharpest knife in the drawer . . .

[tdegrenier 1]

How about we do our push-ups in bed and "kill two birds with one stone . . ."

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Wasn't it something from the civil war? Maybe I am thinking of something else...

Jenn was right with the spelling - caboodle.

The Dutch word boedel means "effects" - what a person owns. Robbers, especially housebreakers, adopted the term - calling whatever they stole "boodle." They carried their burglar's tools in a "kit." If they were able to enter a house, gather up everything valuable, and make a clean escape, they said they had gotten away with "kit and boodle." In time, the phrase was shortened to "caboodle" - the "ca" standing for the "kit." Then the "kit" was reintroduced into the phrase - probably for emphasis.

Edited July 9, 2008 by Jabberwocky

[brnidokiegurl 0]

Its raining cats and dogs (litterly) ha will ck the origin later

[Jenn! 918]

I looked up cat's pajamas:

Cat's pajamas - Something considered to be outstanding

The term "cat's pajamas" comes from E.B. Katz, an English tailor of the late 1700's and early 1800's, who made the finest silk pajamas for royalty and other wealth patrons. Nothing like a cat nap in Kat'z pjs.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I looked up cat's pajamas:

Cat's pajamas - Something considered to be outstanding

The term "cat's pajamas" comes from E.B. Katz, an English tailor of the late 1700's and early 1800's, who made the finest silk pajamas for royalty and other wealth patrons. Nothing like a cat nap in Kat'z pjs.

hehehe...interesting.

Its raining cats and dogs (litterly) ha will ck the origin later

ooooh, that's a good one. I have no idea...perhaps it refered to the numbers of stray cats and dogs prior to animal control and leash laws?

How about this one... A stitch in nine saves time?

[Jenn! 918]

How about this one... A stitch in nine saves time?

I feel like I've heard this one before...something about a sewing machine setting or something? I don't know...I don't sew!

[one...two...tree 2,762]

How about this one... A stitch in nine saves time?

I feel like I've heard this one before...something about a sewing machine setting or something? I don't know...I don't sew!

I don't know either... I just remember that when someone said it, it had something to do with being more thorough initially will save you trouble later on, so maybe that was the recommended number of stitches to mend something?

[Jenn! 918]

How about this one... A stitch in nine saves time?

I feel like I've heard this one before...something about a sewing machine setting or something? I don't know...I don't sew!

I don't know either... I just remember that when someone said it, it had something to do with being more thorough initially will save you trouble later on, so maybe that was the recommended number of stitches to mend something?

Oooopsies, it's actually "A stitch in time, saves nine." That makes more sense.

And it seems like it's just a proverb; "The proverb was originally a couplet. The number nine was apparently introduced fancifully for the sake of assonance."

ETA: I apparently entirely made up the sewing machine nonsense.

Edited July 9, 2008 by Jenn!

[one...two...tree 2,762]

How about this one... A stitch in nine saves time?

I feel like I've heard this one before...something about a sewing machine setting or something? I don't know...I don't sew!

I don't know either... I just remember that when someone said it, it had something to do with being more thorough initially will save you trouble later on, so maybe that was the recommended number of stitches to mend something?

Oooopsies, it's actually "A stitch in time, saves nine." That makes more sense.

And it seems like it's just a proverb; "The proverb was originally a couplet. The number nine was apparently introduced fancifully for the sake of assonance."

ETA: I apparently entirely made up the sewing machine nonsense.

oooooh my....Jenn, I'm serious...I think I have early stages of Alzheimers.

[Jenn! 918]

How about this one... A stitch in nine saves time?

I feel like I've heard this one before...something about a sewing machine setting or something? I don't know...I don't sew!

I don't know either... I just remember that when someone said it, it had something to do with being more thorough initially will save you trouble later on, so maybe that was the recommended number of stitches to mend something?

Oooopsies, it's actually "A stitch in time, saves nine." That makes more sense.

And it seems like it's just a proverb; "The proverb was originally a couplet. The number nine was apparently introduced fancifully for the sake of assonance."

ETA: I apparently entirely made up the sewing machine nonsense.

oooooh my....Jenn, I'm serious...I think I have early stages of Alzheimers.

Well I read it and didn't bat an eye. So I'll be entering the old folks' home right behind ya there...

[brnidokiegurl 0]

Raining cats and dogs

Meaning

Raining very heavily.

Origin

This is an interesting phrase in that, although there's no definitive origin, there is a likely derivation. Before we get to that, let's get some of the fanciful proposed derivations out of the way.

The phrase isn't related to the well-known antipathy between dogs and cats, which is exemplified in the phrase 'fight like cat and dog'. Nor is the phrase in any sense literal, i.e. it doesn't record an incident where cats and dogs fell from the sky. Small creatures, of the size of frogs or fish, do occasionally get carried skywards in freak weather. Impromptu involuntary flight must also happen to dogs or cats from time to time, but there's no record of groups of them being scooped up in that way and causing this phrase to be coined. Not that we need to study English meteorological records for that - it's plainly implausible.

One supposed origin is that the phrase derives from mythology. Dogs and wolves were attendants to Odin, the god of storms, and sailors associated them with rain. Witches, who often took the form of their familiars - cats, are supposed to have ridden the wind. Well, some evidence would be nice. There doesn't appear to be any to support this notion.

It has also been suggested that cats and dogs were washed from roofs during heavy weather. This is a widely repeated tale. It got a new lease of life with the e-mail message "Life in the 1500s", which began circulating on the Internet in 1999. Here's the relevant part of that:

I'll describe their houses a little. You've heard of thatch roofs, well that's all they were. Thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath. They were the only place for the little animals to get warm. So all the pets; dogs, cats and other small animals, mice, rats, bugs, all lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery so sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Thus the saying, "it's raining cats and dogs."