24 Phrases Most Americans Say But Can’t Explain
American idioms are as colorful as they are confusing. Filled with references to sports, poetry, animals, and even pasta, they often leave non-native speakers scratching their heads. Even many Americans are stumped by the origins of these 24 quirky phrases when they pause to think about them.
1: Shoot the Breeze
Breeze was early 19th-century slang for rumor or gossip, which makes “shoot the breeze” a little less mysterious. But it’s still confusing. Where “shooting” comes into a phrase about extended and aimless conversations is beyond us.
2: Monday Morning Quarterbacking
American football fans understand “Monday morning quarterbacking.” But for everyone else, this phrase sounds odd. It describes unfairly criticizing or questioning an event or situation after the fact, the way a Monday morning sports desk host might criticize a play from Sunday’s game.
3: Piece of Cake
When Americans say something is a piece of cake, they mean it’s easy. This phrase might come from a collection of poetry by Ogden Nash, in which he writes, “Her picture’s in the papers now, And life’s a piece of cake.”
4: Dodged a Bullet
Dodged a bullet means to narrowly avoid a bad situation. This phrase doesn’t have a specific known origin, but Americans may have started using it to describe someone who had literally managed to avoid being shot during combat.
5: Hit the Books
HIt the books means to study or to start studying in a more serious way. “Hit” is common in American expressions that describe starting something, like “hit the trail” or “hit the road.”
6: Ballpark Figure
At the start of baseball games, the commentator often scans the crowd and provides an estimate of the number of seats filled. That’s known as a ballpark figure. In today’s parlance, Americans use “ballpark figure” to mean “rough estimate.”
7: Broken Record
If you ever listened to vinyl records, this idiom might be intuitive. When records break, they play the same portion of music over and over again. Americans refer to someone as a “broken record” when they keep bringing up the same point.
8: On the Nose
“On the nose” might come from boxing, in which the nose is a prime target. The expression now means “exactly.”
9: A Bat Out of “H”
Like a bat out of a word that starts with “h” means to move extremely fast. Though some think it came from Meatloaf’s 1977 song, others have pointed out this American phrase might have deeper Greek roots. In 1553, the playwright Aristophanes wrote, “Then that bat of a Chaerephon came up from {a bad place that starts with “h”} to drink the camel’s blood.”
10: Under the Weather
If an American says they’re “under the weather,” it means they’re sick. This term may have come from sailors who would go below deck to seek shelter from a storm.
11: Ducks In a Row
Since ducklings literally walk in a row behind their mother, this term makes more sense than most. It means to be prepared or organized, which a mother with her ducklings must be if they’re all going to survive.
12: Herding Cats
The term “herding cats” probably originates from a 1979 Monty Python sketch, in which they say, “Can you imagine a herd of cats waiting to be sheared? Meow Meow!” It’s meant to describe the impossible nature of organizing large groups of people.
13: Drinking The Kool-Aid
In 1978, delusional cult leader Jim Jones convinced his followers to drink poisoned Kool-aid. Subsequently, they all passed away. Americans now use the term to describe being so blindly loyal that one is willing to lose their life for a cause.
14: Run It Up the Flagpole
Run it up the flagpole is the shortened version of “Run it up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes.” It comes from 1950s advertising execs who would say it when they were spitballing ideas and wanted to test their popularity.
15: It’s Not Rocket Science
The U.S. was the first English-speaking country to develop an institute solely devoted to rocket science, which might be part of why “It’s not rocket science” took off in the 1980s. It refers to something that’s not that difficult.
16: Break a Leg
In American theater, telling a performer to break a leg is a way of wishing them luck on stage. There are several ideas about the origin of this phrase. One is that theater members tend to be superstitious, so saying “good luck” could be bad luck, and it’s better to say the opposite.
17: For the Birds
For the birds describes something useless or meaningless. It came from soldiers in World War II who were referring to birds pecking at horse manure to try and get the seeds out.
18: Behind the Eight Ball
In a game of pool, being behind the eight ball is never a good thing. This phrase reflects that and has come to mean being in an awkward or bad position.
19: Throwing Spaghetti at the Wall
Throwing spaghetti at the wall is based on an American pasta myth. The idea is that spaghetti is cooked through if it sticks to a wall when thrown. Though there are far better and more effective ways to see if your pasta is done, the phrase lives on as a way of saying you’re trying things without much of a plan to see if anything works.
20: The Cat’s Out of the Bag
It’s unclear where “the cat’s out of the bag” came from, but it’s become a common U.S. saying that has nothing to do with cats or bags. It refers to revealing something secret or hidden.
21: Spill the Beans
It’s possible that “spill the beans” comes from ancient Greece where they used beans during elections. If someone spilled the beans, they’d accidentally reveal the election results. Americans use the term now to refer to revealing a secret, often when they shouldn’t have.
22: No Use Crying Over Spilt Milk
There’s no use being upset over something that’s happened and can’t be changed, as this phrase illustrates. “No use crying over spilt milk” is well over three centuries old with the first known usage found in a publication from 1659.
23: Jump on the Bandwagon
“Jump on the bandwagon” comes from P.T. Barnum, an American politician and one of the creators of the Barnum and Bailey Circus. In his day, politicians would literally use his circus bandwagon to gain attention as they traveled through town. Now, the phrase means to join in on a growing movement.
24: Run With It
“Run with it” means to take an idea or plan and execute it on your own. This phrase comes from American sports, where a player would take a ball and literally run with it to make a play.
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