Here are the derivations of certain expressions - I think you'll find them interesting...

In George Washington's days, there were no cameras. One's image was either sculpted or painted. Some paintings of George Washington showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back while others showed both legs and both arms. Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted, but by how many limbs were to be painted. Arms and legs are "limbs;" therefore, painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence, the expression, "Okay, but it'll cost you an arm and a leg."

**********************************************************************
As incredible as it sounds, men and women took baths only twice a year! (May &October) Women always kept their hair covered while men shaved their heads (because of lice and bugs) and wore wigs. Wealthy men could afford good wigs. The wigs couldn't be washed so to clean them, they could carve out a loaf of bread, put the wig in the shell and bake it for 30 minutes. The heat would make the wig big and fluffy, hence the term "big wig." Today we often use the expression "Here comes the Big Wig" because someone appears to be or is powerful and wealthy.

**********************************************************************
In the late 1700's, many houses consisted of a large room with only one chair.
Commonly, a long wide board was folded down from the wall and used for dining. The "head of the household" always sat in the chair while everyone else ate sitting on the floor. Once in a while an invited guest would be offered to sit in this chair during a meal; he was almost always a man. To sit in the chair meant you were important and in charge. Sitting in the chair, one was called the "chair man." Today, in business, we use the expression/title "Chairman."

**********************************************************************
Needless to say, personal hygiene left much room for improvement. As a result, many women and men had developed acne scars by adulthood. The women would spread bee's wax over their facial skin to smooth out their complexions. When they were speaking to each other, if a woman began to stare at another woman's face she was told "mind your own bee's wax." Should the woman smile, the wax would crack, hence the term "crack a smile." Also, when they sat too close to the fire, the wax would melt, and therefore, the expression "losing face."

**********************************************************************
Ladies wore corsets which would lace up in the front. A tightly tied lace was worn by a proper and dignified lady as in "straight laced".

**********************************************************************
Common entertainment included playing cards. However, there was a tax levied when purchasing playing cards but only applicable to the "ace of spades." To avoid paying the tax, people would purchase 51 cards instead. Yet, since most games require 52 cards, these people were thought to be stupid or dumb because they weren't "playing with a full deck."

**********************************************************************
Early politicians required feedback from the public to determine what was considered important to the people. Since there were no telephones, TV's or radios, the politicians sent their assistants to local taverns, pubs and bars and they were told to "go sip some ale" and listen to people's conversations and political concerns. Many assistants were dispatched at different times. "You go sip here" and "You go sip there." The two words "go sip" were eventually combined when referring to the local opinion and thus, we have the term "gossip."

********************************************************************
At local taverns, pubs and bars, people drank from pint- and quart-sized containers. A bar maid's job was to keep an eye on the customers and keep the drinks coming. She had to pay close attention and remember who was drinking in "pints" and who was drinking in "quarts." Hence, the term "minding your P's and Q's."

Oh my goodness Texan, all those are very interesting. I read them twice.

An interesting and amusing post, Tex.

But there is a lot of codswallop written about the origins of expressions. (Not that you want to write codswallop, I'm sure you have a source for what you posted.)

People love to make up likely stories about the origin of colorful expressions. But most of the real origins are irretrievably lost in the mists of time.

Often one will find two or more 'likely' origins for the same expression. For example, p's and q's. One folk etymolgy is that in the old days before keyboarding, legal clerks had to wite very legibly; and 'p' and 'q' tended to look very similar. So the legal clerk was scolded and told to 'watch your p's and q's', to encourage good penmanship.

Similarly, 'not playing with a full deck' is said by some to mean that the player has palmed an act, or slipped it up his sleeve. So the expression used to mean someone is shifty, and needs to be carefully watched. Then later it began to mean someone is not quite 'all there'.

'Gossip' is from the Old English 'God's sib' and means 'related through God' -- a godfather or godmother. The use drifted from its original meaning later, and began to mean a sponsor. Later yet it began to mean a friend, a chum, and then it began to mean someone with whom you chat.

The use of 'gossip' as a verb dates from about 1590, and means 'to chat idly, usually with a chum'. The modern use, to chat idly about other people's affairs, goes back to about 1627.

Still, it's fun to speculate about the origins of phrases.

A famous example of made-up etymology is the 'three on a match is unlucky' story. It used to be thought unlucky to accept a light for your cigarette if two others had already been lit from that match. Then some one explained that in World War One, soldiers in the trenches invented the phrase because you could hold a lit match long enough to light two cigarettes; but if you dared to light a third one, that gave the enemy snipers and artillerymen time to sight on the light, and you would be shot or shelled. 'two lights O.K., three is unlucky because you'd be dead.'

Some soldiers even declared they'd been present when the observation was first made, and had seen it pass into common use in the trenches.

Now there are a couple of problems with this explanation, even though at first glance it may seem quite sensible.

(1) If you were a soldier in the trenches, under constant bombardment from shells and snipers, a far better rule than 'avoid three on a match' would be 'hunker down in the trench to smoke and cup your hands around the flame', or even 'don't smoke'.

(2) It's most unlikely that anyone would ever get to make enough observations (that it was only after a third cigarette was lit that the shell landed or the sniper's bullet struck) to form a general rule.

Then other references to the rule were found that pre-dated World War One, including lots of references to unlucky three (and sometimes lucky three) having nothing to do with matches.

One other explanation: During the Crimean War, British troops learned from Russian captives that in the Orthodox Church the three candles on the altar were not to be lit from a single taper; therefore it brought bad luck to light three cigarettes on a single match.

But that's probably codswallop too.

Bab -

My source was an e-mail.
I realize that the origins of most expressions are obscure, but I thought it would be interesting food for thought.

However - Since many origins ARE uncertain, the ones in my e-mail may have just as good a chance of being accurate as any others, hmmm...?

Absolutely, Texan.