Friday, April 11, 2008

Wrong Blog, Origin of Phrases

HAHAHA! I see that I posted my Disneyland Family Vacation post on this blog (see below). How is that for cross-advertising? I have now posted it on the correct blog, but wanted to keep it here, too, since there were comments.

Hey folks - can you believe we are really getting down to the wire with this semester? I am working on what one professor called "the penultimate question set." Our last of three papers in one of my classes will be assigned sometime today and is due by the 28th. I will only have two finals, which is nice. The other two classes are a paper class and my internship/seminar class. Nice...

The phrase above, "down to the wire", reminds me of something. What is the origin of the phrase "knock on wood" and also, now, "down to the wire"? There are so many of this little cliche-like sayings that often have their roots in an interesting place. I learned in Con Law (I believe) that "the whole 9 yards" is a reference to WWII ammunition...something about a belt of ammo being 27 feet. Guess it would be easy enough to Google any of this. (Notice how Google has been adopted as the term for doing a search? IP person - quick - tell me what this is called when the brand name looses its distinction...like Kleenex and Band Aid?)

Here is an interesting site on this topic:
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~genepool/meanings.htm I'd say it is not definitive, but there are some great theories.

Have a fun weekend! I will be mowing and cleaning the carpet in preparation of Boy Wonder's 6th Birthday party! (I'm sure there will need to be some studying in there, too. See above regarding penultimate question set....)

3 comments:

Lynilu said...

I'm *guessing* that "down to the wire" might have something to do with racing, the finish line. Just a guess. Now I gotta go google it!! LOL!! :D

Let's see. I say "tissue," not "Kleenex." I say "soft drink," not "Coke." But I usually say "Band Aid," although some times I do say "bandage."

And, excuse me, but you're going to clean the carpet *before* the party of a six year old???? Leave the lights low and clean it *after* the party!! Just kidding! For the record, I'd be doing the same thing.

Y'all have a good weekend!

Anonymous said...

Didn't you take IP?

The term you are looking for is "genericide."

Dakota said...

I did take IP.
Just couldn't seem to see that word that was on the tip of my tongue. I tried, but it made my eyes cross, which gave me a headache and I was already in the midst of a 40 page Public Lands reading assignment....You get the picture, right?