The Origins of 14 Commonly Used Phrases
You use these idioms all the time, but did you ever think about where they came from?
The seven-year itch
Before the phrase became associated with Marilyn Monroe’s iconic skirt, the “seven-year itch” felt much worse than a playful subway breeze. The term originally referred to scabies, an itchy infection caused by mites burrowing underneath a person’s skin. Its “seven-year” moniker referred to how long the bugs could linger. Yuck! Don’t miss these 70 words and phrases you’ve probably been using wrong all your life.
Gadzooks!
“Zounds!” “Egad!” “Cripes!” These silly exclamations, called minced oaths, were originally Bible-friendly alternatives to swearing. The idea was that if you shouted “Gadzooks!” instead of “God’s hooks!”—a reference to the nails from the Crucifixion—you could stub your toe without running afoul of the third commandment. Other minced oaths: gosh (“God”) and jeepers (“Jesus”). Christians have been shouting “gadzooks” since the 1690s. Check out these 12 surprising phrases that come from the Bible.
Blood is thicker than water
You probably think this means you should always put family ahead of friends. In fact, it originally may have meant the opposite. The full maxim was “The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb,” with covenant referring to friendship. In other words, it was your friends—your blood brothers, if you will—who were with you through thick and thin. Here are some words that mean the total opposite of what they used to.
Till the cows come home
Clearly, this has to do with cattle curfews, right? It sort of does. Cows were often milked in their barns at night, making that task one of the last on a farmer’s to-do list (but let’s hope he wouldn’t wait forever to do the job, the way the phrase implies now). The expression has been around since at least the late 1500s and is likely to continue until … well, you know. Check out these 15 everyday words that have completely changed their meanings.