Express Yourself: Idioms and Their Origin

Whether you season your vocabulary with a pepper of proverbs or you speak in shout-outs, common expressions are an unavoidable part of your everyday vocabulary. But there’s a whole lot to be said for thinking before you speak: where do these sayings come from? Here’s our top ten favourite.

1. A friend in need is a friend indeed

Early forms of this proverb were thought to originate from the roman writer Ennius: amicus certus in re incerta cernitur ‎(a sure friend is known in unsure times) or Greek Tragedian Euripides: ἐν τοῖς κακοῖς γὰρ ἁγαθοὶ σαφέστατοι φίλοι: τὰ χρηστὰ δ᾽ αὔθ᾽ ἕκαστ᾽ ἔχει φίλους (it is in trouble’s hour that the good most clearly show their friendship; though prosperity by itself in every case finds friends). The general idea is simple: you’ll know who your real friends are when you are facing difficult times.

Why we like it: It’s the opening line to Placebo’s Pure Morning, what’s not to like?

2. A rolling stone gathers no moss

Credited to Publilius Syrus (people who are always moving, with no roots in one place, avoid responsibilities and cares) and used by English writer John Heywood (the rollyng stone neuer gatherth mosse), this one’s for all the nomads out there who don’t settle for the regular life. Not standing still long enough to accumulate responsibilities or a long-term fixed abode, we don’t choose to see such people as unproductive or whimsical. We see them as adventurers!

Why we like it: We love Lucy’s Farewell Poem towards the end of Two Weeks Notice, which opens with this proverb.

Norman: [reading his farewell poem to Lucy] A rolling stone gathers no moss / So you’re leaving with your antacids and floss / Our hair we may toss / But we are at a loss / Because you are the world’s best boss.

3. Better to have loved and lost than not to have loved at all

This one has the literal meaning of it’s better to know what love is and have lost it than to never have known love in the first place. It originates from Tennyson’s 1849 sonnet In Memoriam A. H. H. appearing as the closing couplet. The subject of the sonnet is Arthur Henry Hallam, a beloved friend of Tennyson’s who died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1833.

Why we like it: When Jay uses the quote in Men In Black, our hearts broke just a little for Kay.

Jay: You know what they say. It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
Kay: Try it.

4. Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die

This is a conflation of two sayings found in the bible: Ecclesiastes 8:15, Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry, and Isaiah 22:13, Let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die. It makes sense really: enjoy what you have now because tomorrow it could all be gone.

Why we like it: In a scene from Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, the merry men sit around a campfire and Little John says tonight we eat like kings, for tomorrow we die!, which is close enough for us.

5. Fight fire with fire

Shakespeare wrote these words in King John in 1595, but it appears the phrase was first used with its current meaning by 19th century US settlers. To control forest fires, small ‘backfires’ were deliberately set to rid the areas of flammable material and therefore starve the flames of oxygen. It means to use the same method of attack as your attacker, be it harsh words, clenched fists or hacked Facebook accounts! We do not advocate or recommend any of these, naturally.

Why we like it: Metallica’s song of the same title. No more needs to be said.

6. Physician, heal thyself

Another biblical quote here, this one is from Luke 4:23: And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. The moral of this one has two possible interpretations: either don’t forget to look after yourself as much as you look after others, or look at your own faults before finding fault in others.

Why we like it: Whovians may or may not dispute the importance of Eight (Paul McCann) in the scheme of things, but it was this Doctor who cried the words physician, heal thyself before regenerating into the War Doctor

7. Procrastination is the thief of time

This expression dates from around the mid-18th century and is from Edward Young’s poem The Complaint: or Night Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortality. Procrastination may feel like your friend when you’re putting off filling in that job application by watching Game Of Thrones, but ultimately you still need to get it done, no matter how much time you waste.

Why we like it: Terry Pratchett’s Thief Of Time is titled, we like to think, in tribute to this proverb. If you haven’t read it, shame on you, but what you need to know is that it is about a clock that can stop time itself.

8. The road to hell is paved with good intentions

There are multiple possible sources for the origins of this saying. The favourite contenders are: Saint Barnard of Clairvaux (1150) – L’enfer est plein de bonnes volontés ou désirs” (hell is full of good wishes or desires), and James Boswell (1791) – No saint, however, in the course of his religious warfare, was more sensible of the unhappy failure of pious resolves, than Johnson. He said one day, talking to an acquaintance on this subject, “Sir Hell is paved with good intentions.” This expression tells us that unless you follow through with your good intentions, inaction renders those intentions meaningless.

Why we like it: Any Supernatural fan knows that the Winchesters always set off with the best intentions of saving the world, but even with action, they tend to make things a lot worse. In the episode Dark Side Of The Moon (season 5, 2010), Sam makes reference to this phrase when they visit a number of versions of ‘heaven’.

Sam: Last I checked, it wasn’t the road to Heaven that was paved with good intentions.

9. Fine words butter no parsnips

This expression dates back to around the 17th century and can be seen in different forms with the parsnips replaced by cabbage, fish, or connie (obsolete form of the word rabbit). It means that nothing is achieved by flattery or empty words.

Why we like it: Because Mrs Patmore said it! Or rather, she said sympathy butters no parsnips when Mr Carson offered some morale support. Perhaps it’s not really a phrase you’d hear outside of Downton Abbey, but we like it nonetheless.

10. The truth will out

Shakespeare first coined this phrase in the Merchant of Venice.

Launcelot: Nay, indeed, if you had your eyes, you might fail of the knowing me: it is a wise father that knows his own child. Well, old man, I will tell you news of your son: give me your blessing: truth will come to light; murder cannot be hid long; a man’s son may, but at the length truth will out.

Put simply, it means that the truth will be known eventually.

Why we like it: Okay, so maybe we’re reaching a little bit here but as every X-Phile knows, The X Files has taught us that the truth is out there. Cue ominous music.

Paper Clip episode, season 3 (1995)

Scully: I need something to put my back up against, Mulder.
Mulder: I know. I feel the same way. I feel that we’ve lost so much… but we’ve got The X-Files, and I believe what we’re looking for is in them. I’m more certain than ever the truth is out there, Scully.
Scully: I’ve heard the truth, Mulder. Now what I want are the answers.

We’ve gone around the houses…

…To say that idiomatic phrases are so ingrained in our language that we don’t necessarily recognise them even if we do use them on a regular basis. Truth be told, there is a history lesson behind every single one of them. Language is fascinating, don’t you agree? So now, over to you. Interested in learning a little language for yourselves? Why not contact us and see what we have on offer.