Frog Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘bite’ and now look at ‘frog’.

Leapfrog refers to any number of games since at least the 16th century. The present version is first described in 1898. Of more interest are the versions found in other countries: France has ‘leapsheep’; the Dutch, Chinese and the Romanians ‘leap goats’; India it is ‘horse leap’; Italy has ‘leap small or baby horse’; Filipino version is ‘leap cow’; Koreans have ‘pile driving’; and Japanese also ‘leap horse’.

Frog in your throat, describing one with a perceived ‘croaky’ voice, is first seen in 1892; although the phrase is used from the middle of the 17th century to refer to someone with a swelling in their neck.

Frog march dates from 1871, when it referred to police officers carrying a drunken or otherwise awkward prisoner. This involved four individuals, each holding one limb, carrying the offender face down. Since the 1930s this usually refers to someone being taken away with an arm (or two) behind their backs.

Bullfrogs have only been known as such since 1738, called such because of their loud call.

Frogman is used to describe scuba divers in suits from 1945.

And with only a few commonly heard phrases, I thought it might be fun to include some, at least to my mind, some few if any will have heard before.

A Big Frog In A Small Pond, essentially uses frog instead of fish.

Frog Face, is an insult as frogs are not considered particularly attractive (so why do so many princesses kiss the things in folklore?)

A Frog Choker, is a reference to heavy rain which is enough to choke a frog.

Frog Slicing, apparently a reference to anatomy classes in school which invariably involve chopping up frogs. I was ill the day the things were brought into school to go under the knife, I don’t think I’ve suffered too much from missing out.

To Be As Cross As A Frog In A Sock, a very strange expression using ten syllables to mean ‘angry’ which has but two syllables.

Like Herding Frogs, where frogs have replaced cats. I would think it easier to herd frogs than cats, indeed I would have thought it easier to herd anything than it would be cats.

Fine As Frog Hair, sometimes Frog Fuzz, describes something as excellent.

To Eat The Frog, is to begin the day with the most difficult task and thus everything else on the agenda is easier. Perhaps this is why magistrate courts always decide to sit on the most difficult case first, thus keeping as many as possible waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and …..

As Mad As A Box Of Frogs, is the same as a bag of wet mice, and many other containers of creatures not normally found in such.

To Juggle Frogs, is to attempt to multitask to the point where nothing gets done.

A Boiling Frog, a situation which isn’t seen as bad until it’s too late to do anything about it.

To Know No More Than A Frog Knows About Bedsheets, is an odd expression suggesting the individual knows little or less about a subject.

If Frogs Had Wings They Wouldn’t Bump Their Butts When They Hop, is simply wishing for something that are simply impossible. Wishing for the moon would be a more common version.

Frog, as a derogatory term for a Frenchman, came to Britain in the First World War. Prior to that it was used by those from the Benelux countries, and earlier still by the French to describe Parisians and thought to derive from the toads once appearing on the emblem of the French capital.