I'm Not Sure Why I Said That
I recently heard two articles that shed some light on the origins of phrases many of us use throughout a year. It's funny how you don't need to know where they came from in order to use them. In a sense, it's like not knowing where your groceries are grown or your car manufactured. Back on April 18, NPR recognized the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible. Later, the Writer's Almanac for the 23rd recognized the birthday of William Shakespeare. Both highlighted phrases familiar to me — and perhaps you — all these years later.
In the King James, you can find:
To find the original articles from NPR and the Writer's Almanac, just follow the links below. Take care.
In the King James, you can find:
- apple of your eye (Deut 32:10, Zech 2:8)
- at their wits' end (Psalms 107:27)
- bite the dust (adapted from Psalms 72)
- the blind leading the blind (Matthew 15:14)
- broken heart (Psalms 34:18)
- by the skin of your teeth (Job 19:20)
- by the sweat of your brow (Genesis 3:19)
- a drop in the bucket (Isaiah 40:15)
- the ends of the earth (Zechariah 9:10)
- fall by the wayside (Matthew 13:4)
- heart's desire (Psalms 21:2)
- labor of love (Hebrews 6:10)
- peace offering (Leviticus 3:6)
- the powers that be (Romans 13:1)
- put words in her mouth (2 Samuel 14:3)
- the root of the matter (Job 19:28)
- the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13)
- see eye to eye (Isaiah 52:8)
- sign of the times (Matthew 16:3)
- sour grapes (Jeremiah 31:30)
- the straight and narrow (Matthew 7:13/14)
- two edged sword (Proverbs 5:4)
- woe is me (Job 10:15)
- a wolf in sheep's clothing (Matthew 7:15)
- writing is on the wall (Daniel 5:5/6)
- come what may
- dead as a doornail
- eaten out of house and home
- a fool's paradise
- forever and a day
- Greek to me
- heart's content
- into thin air
- love is blind
- night owl
- slept a wink
- a sorry sight
- wild goose chase
To find the original articles from NPR and the Writer's Almanac, just follow the links below. Take care.
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