Phrase Origins?

[Faust]

The English language is just wierd. In my many years on this Earth (at least, many by dog standards) my only real accomplishment seems to be gathering pointless information. Case in point, I know the origin of many phrases and idioms that a lot of us use in our everyday language.

For instance, do you know the origin of the phrase "rule of thumb?" Well IIIIIIIIII doooooooo!

Back in olden times when wife beaters were not just a shirt, there used to be a rule that said that a man was allowed to hit his wife so long as the object used was no wider around than the man's thumb.

So by making this thread, I ask you all; do you know any strange phrases and looked up the origins?

[nascent]

Well, I know one or two... not sure how much is truth and how much is urban myth, though, so feel free to correct me.

"The whole nine yards" is supposedly a reference to machine gun ammo belts from WWII; thus to "go the whole nine yards" was to dump the entirety of your ammunition into the enemy. Not hard to see how it went from that to meaning, basically, "everything I've got" or "all that there is".

Most of us say "god bless you" when someone sneezes, but do any of us stop and wonder why? From what I understand, the phrase originated in an odd belief from ancient Hebrew folklore that your spirit could leave your body when you sneezed. Thus it was that "god bless you" was basically people's way of saying "may God see fit to retain your life".

[Rocket!]

Alright, I've been sitting on this one for TOO LONG!

Bad word that starts with "F".

That one.

We english people got it from the German word "ficken", meaning "to strike or penetrate". The Germans got it from the Latin word "pug", meaning puncture. And pug goes back to prehistoric times. It actually wasn't all that bad a word 'till the Enlightenment came around.

Something to laugh about, eh?

Now, to something more interesting!

Friday! It comes from the Scandinavian goddess of love Freya.