Ice Idioms

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

Putting something ‘on ice’, as in keeping it out of the way until required, is first seen in 1890.

Thin ice, used in the figurative sense, appears in print as early as 1884.

To break the ice, as in making the first attempt (usually socially in the modern era), is used as early as 1580. Yet these early usages would invariably be speaking of breaking the ice on the water to permit boats to pass and allow trade to continue.

Ice fishing, and for those who wonder why anyone would be catching ice, it refers to fishing through a hole in the ice, is not described as such before 1869, although undoubtedly the method has been used since pre-history.

Ice-scrapers are first described in 1789, not in reference to clearing a car’s windscreen or defrosting the freezer, it was a tool used in cookery.

Icing, that dreadfully sickly sweet stuff people will insist on coating cakes with, has been seen since 1769. Earlier, and at least from 1723, it was simply described as ‘ice’. Not until 1881 did the alternative ‘frosting’ come into use – and if you think that’s purely a US term, it’s becoming increasingly common in the UK, too.

Nobody used, or at least described, ice-skates until 1690.

Ice as a slang term for diamonds first appears in print in 1906.

Ice cubes, now normally simply said to be ‘ice’, were not described prior to 1902, although there is an advertisement from 1894 which tempts us into buying ‘Artificial Ice in Cubes’ – artificial in the sense of being man-made rather than gathered from natural formations.

The last Ice Age may have ended some eight thousand years ago, but nobody referred to the great freeze as such until 1855.

Ice box was once a storage device for ice, first described in 1839, although today it would be that small freezer area in the refrigerator where trays were once kept to produce ice and which could not be named prior to the invention of the fridge for the home in 1913.

Ice picks are first described in 1858, one wonders what they were called prior to that.

Ice cream has been known as such since 1744, and since 1680 as ‘iced cream’. Note the ice cream cone was not named until 1909.

No vessel was ice bound before 1650.

Ice caps didn’t exist before 1859.

Icicles are first described in the early 14th century.

Icebergs are first known as such in 1820, prior to that the iceberg was a lumpy portion of a glacier. Before that there were other terms used for that which sank the Titanic, sea-hill (1690s), or island of ice (1610s).

Iceberg lettuce, which has never been known to sink any vessel in recorded history, is first named in 1893. (I wonder if they served iceberg lettuce aboard the Titanic?)

Sand Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘stone’ and now look at ‘sand’. Note, historically there has never been a distinction between sand and gravel, both were described as being abrasive for each came from the Proto-Indo-European meaning ‘to rub’.

Sandhill may mean ‘dune’ in the UK – and a Sandhiller was one from Sandhill in Newcastle - but in the US a Sandhiller was one seen as a blackguard, one who used coarse language since 1813.

Sand-trap might be a golfing term since 1906, but psince 1838 referred to a device for removing impurities in a hydraulic system.

Nobody made a sandcastle until 1838, probably because beach holidays were not popular until the coming of the railways around the same time.

Nothing was sandblasted until 1878, at least it was not written as such until then.

Sandbanks have been described as such since at least the 1580s.

Sandflies were first described in 1748.

Sand fleas first appears in print in 1798.

Sandbox has been a place for children to play since 1891; from 1849 it described the device on railway locomotives used to improve grip on a wet rail; and from 1570 had been a box used to sprinkle sand.

Surprisingly, quicksand has been used in the modern sense since at least the late 13th century.

Sandpaper has been described as such since 1788.

Sandstone was first described in the 1660s.

Sandman, that mythological figure who sprinkles sand in your eyes to make you sleep, is first seen in 1861. More often associated with the US, it was more often said to be the dustman until around 1821.

Sanderlings are wading birds, first described as such around 1600.

Sandpipers are smaller wading birds, these described as such for the first time in 1670.

Stone Idioms

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

Stone fruit is first seen in the 1520s.

Stone’s throw is first seen in writing in 1580, although at the same time stone’s cast was as common, with the same meaning.

Nobody lived in the Stone Age when it was the Stone Age (ie when stone tools were employed), indeed they had to wait until 1864; and the phrase had not been used to describe something outdated until 1927.

Killing two birds with one stone is recorded by 1540.

Describing someone has having a heart of stone is seen in print by the late 14th century.

Stone deaf is recorded in the 1590s

Also in the 1590s is stone cold, and stone cold sober is from 1937.

Stone blind is recorded in the late 14th century, although it has fallen out of use today.

Stone dead, as in ‘lifeless’ rather than actually dead, is first seen around 1300.

Rosetta stone, as used to describe the key to unlock something, is first seen in 1902. The stone itself, now controversially in the British Museum, is a misnomer. This is a European rendition of Rashid, a place named because it was founded by Caliph Harun ar-Rashid around 800AD.

Soapstone has been known as such since 1680.

Stonemasons will have been among the earliest of truly skilled and highly valued workers. But the term did not exist until as recently as 1760. Prior to that they were stone-cutters from 1530, hard-hewers from the 15th century, and in Saxon times stone-wrights or stanwyrhta.

Stonehenge is first recorded as such in the early 12th century, prior to that it was known by many names including Giant’s Dance.

Nobody had a tombstone until 1560, and headstone and gravestone are first used in 1771.

Nobody worked hard by putting their nose to the grindstone until 1828, prior to that the phrase was used to treat another harshly (especially when making them toil) and seen from around 1530.

Milestones were first described as such in 1746.

Cobblestones have been used for paving since the late 14th century; prior to that the same term described the stone in a cherry.

Wood Idioms

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

Can’t see the wood for the trees is said to have first appeared in print in 1546, used in John Heywood’s Prouerbes in the English Tongue.

Out of the woods, a way to say ‘safe’, is most often used when describing a patient who is on the road to recovery. I found it surprising to learn it appears in print as early as 1792.

Matchwood, first seen around 1390 to describe small pieces of wood used as kindling, took on the use of small fragments of wood in 1791.

Heartwood, that central portion of the tree, is found as late as 1400.

Deadwood, as used to refer to something useless, is found from 1887.

Nobody collected driftwood before 1660 – at least they certainly collected it but did not refer to it as such.

Similarly firewood is not found in writings until the late 14th century, and yet humans must have been burning the stuff from the time when they first tamed fire.

Woodpeckers have only been known as such since 1520 – prior to that a variety of dialect terms were used including laughing Betsey, taffingale, yappingale, Jack Eikle, rainbird, weather cock, wet bird, and (as featured in that well-liked BBC series for children named Bagpuss) yaffle.

Nobody played a woodwind instrument until 1876, again used prior to that but not referred to as such.

Knock on wood is in print from the 19th century, but is believed to originate with the Druids more than two thousand years ago.

Put wood in the hole (or shut the door) is a phrase of uncertain origins, although I can guarantee it was not used before doors were used.

Come out of the woodwork – something long-lost relatives did on American soap operas -

Wooden spoon, is to come last in a competition, is said to have originated in the early 19th century at Cambridge University and an award given to the student coming last in the mathematics tripos – a course taught specifically at Cambridge.

And I could not resist putting in ‘shiver me timbers’, a phrase synonymous with Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island - although he also uses ‘shiver me sides’ and ‘shake up me timbers’ – yet the first appearance in print is in 1834 when Captain Frederick Marryat published Jacob Faithful.

Blue Idioms

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

Blue blood is first seen to describe those of noble birth in 1809. It is not an English reference but one describing the old aristocrats of Castile in Spain.

Out of the blue, or a bolt from the blue, is first used in Thomas Carlyle’s writing entitled The French Revolution.

Blue, when referring to something risqué, is not recorded until 1840 and there is little evidence to explain why the colour was chosen. Several theories have been put forward, most often the colour of choice worn by ladies of the night.

Blue in the face, used to describe someone who is frustrated, is first recorded in 1864. Yet earlier it was said to be black and blue in the face, the earlier form seen from 1829.

Once in a blue moon is first used in the modern sense to describe a very long time in an anti-cleric flyer in 1528. But a blue moon is a real astronomical event and occurs, on average, every 33 months. As the lunar month is slightly shorter than a calendar month, the blue moon is simply a second full moon in a calendar month.

Monday blues originated in the US press in the 1830s, used to describe the hung over workforce returning to work after the weekend. More recently Blue Monday is the third Monday in January, said to be the most depressing day of the year.

Blue collar is first used in 1924, another of US origins, describing manual workers as opposed to white collar office workers.

Blue-eyed boy is first used in print in the novels of P.G. Wodehouse in 1919.

Blue ribbon is a misnomer used solely in the USA for many years. It was a mis-hearing of ‘blue riband’ and resulted in blue ribbons being awarded as prizes. Blue Riband had been awarded to the vessel making the fastest trans-Atlantic crossing when it was the only way to travel between the two continents. Blue Riband was borrowed in the early 20th century from the prize awarded in horse racing.

True blue has been used for centuries, certainly appearing in Chaucer, and likely only through the obvious rhyme. Yet it has not always had the same meaning. In the 15th century it was used to mean ‘sorrowful’; by 1788 it described women as either ‘pedantic’ or ‘learned’ depending upon context; while latterly it is a song by Madonna.

Feeling blue is simply the modern version of the earliest use of ‘true blue’, although there are records of ‘the blues’ from as early as the 16th century.

Blues and twos is a police reference to the blue flashing lights and the two tone siren used when attending an emergency.

Blue sky thinking seems to date from the 1940s and is based on the idea that the best work is done when the weather is fine or, possibly, the weather is perceived as better when working well.

Blue sky research is exactly the same as ‘blue sky thinking’ and seems to have developed at the same time.

Blue chip stocks are those which are a fairly safe bet and usually a buy-in to major companies.

Nobody had baby blues before 1892, when it first appeared in the Magazine of Poetry

Scream blue murder first appears around the late 19th and early 20th centuries. My research has often seen me reading old newspaper reports and I have often read of someone giving evidence at a trial or inquest and relating how they were first aware of the victim’s distress when they called out ‘you have murdered me’. I always wonder whether that was accepted as evidence as for surely you can’t be guilty of murder, while the victim is still breathing and screaming blue murder.