If you've ever shot the breeze, had a heart-to-heart, or bent somebody's ear — in fact, if you've ever talked at all — odds are you've used an idiom. These sometimes bizarre phrases are a staple of conversation, and more than 10,000 of them are collected in the latest edition of The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, which came out this week.
The new volume contains hundreds of new entries. Author Christine Ammer tells NPR's Renee Montagne that idioms are added to the book based on how commonly they're used. "I usually go by the frequency with which I hear them used and where I see them used in print," she says. "There are some that simply jump out at you because they're used so often, even though they may be of very early provenance."
More Idiom Backstories
Birthday suit
In 18th-century England, this term referred to the clothes one wore on the king's birthday. Later the phrase was jocularly used to refer to the clothing a baby wore on the day of its own birth — that is, nakedness.
Mind one's p's and q's
This term for "practicing good manners" was first recorded in 1779, but its origin is disputed. One theory cites bartenders who kept track of a customer's bill in terms of pints and quarts, so a conscientious barkeep would "mind" them; in another, children had to be careful to distinguish the mirror-image letters "p" and "q"; in yet another, French dancing masters cautioned pupils to correctly perform the figures "pieds" and "queues," abbreviated or mispronounced into the English letters "p" and "q."
Get on the bandwagon
In the second half of the 1800s, a bandwagon, or horse-drawn wagon carrying a brass band, would accompany candidates on their campaign tours. Eventually the term was extended so that "getting on the bandwagon" meant supporting a campaign or joining a cause.
Dead cat bounce
This term for a quick but short-lived recovery originated in the 1980s. It referred to stock that would rapidly increase in price, but then return to its low price after speculators resold it. Why a "dead cat"? Because if you throw a dead cat at a wall, it will bounce, all right — but it will still be dead.
Pass the buck
This poker-related idiom refers to shifting responsibility or blame. It originated in the mid-1800s practice of passing around a piece of buckshot, or another object, to remind a player that he would be dealing next. The current meaning was established around 1900.
Steal someone's thunder
This idiom for appropriating someone else's idea comes from an actual incident in the early 18th century. Playwright John Dennis rattled a sheet of tin to create a "thunder machine" for his play Appius and Virginia. A few days later, he heard the device used during a performance of Macbeth, leading him to exclaim, "They steal my thunder!"
Adapted from The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, Second Edition.