And why do we say ……?

Bite the bullet is used to speak of how it is better to accept the painful or stressful situation rather than complaining or crying out. It is a modern version of the original ‘bite the cartridge’ dating from the Indian Rebellion of 1857 when British soldiers were subjected to medical procedures without anesthetic.

Cry over spilled milk – a warning not to linger over something which can’t be changed – possibly dates from 1659 and James Howell’s Paramoigraphy, where he speaks of ‘No weeping for the shed milk’.

Break the ice – to begin a conversation in an otherwise difficult situation – undoubtedly comes from the ship ploughing through ice fields. The first record of the metaphorical sense comes from 1678, when Samuel Butler used it in his poem Hudibras when he writes ‘The Oratour, at last broke the silence and the ice’.

A bite at the cherry – a second chance, especially after a missed opportunity – comes from the UK in the early 20th century, likely a reference to those who picked the cherries and the number which were eaten when the opportunity arose.

Cutting corners – not fully completing a task – dates from the horse-drawn vehicles of the early 19th century, and when a sharp turn involved negotiating a kerb the driver would clip it with the rear wheel of his vehicle.

Actions speak louder than words – or get on with it instead of just talking about it – came into general use following John Pym’s writings about the English Civil War in 1628; although the phrase was around earlier and even appears in the New Testament – John 3:18.

At the drop of a hat – to begin something – dates from the 19th century when dropping a hat signaled the start of many a sporting contest: a fight, or race, for example.

Hit the sack – to take to one’s bed – comes from the time when beds were often sacks stuffed with hay, ‘hit the hay’ would also be from the same time, around the late 18th century.

Go back to the drawing board – a comment on a failed design which needs to be rethought – it can be dated to a cartoon by Peter Arno in New Yorker Magazine published on 1st March 1941. A engineer walks away from a crashed aeroplane and utters the now very familiar line.

Call it a day – let’s stop work – first recorded in 1919 as the end of the day’s work (in 1938 we see ‘call it a night’ for the first time); but we also see it in 1838 when ‘call it half a day’ spoke of leaving work early.

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?)