06/27/17 Grif.Net - Clichés and Idioms
Robert Griffin
Where do clichés come from? My grandfather always said, "You just do your job, please the boss, everyone is happy and soon enough you're riding the gravy train." What is a gravy train? I didn't know they were actually hauling gravy by rail. Do people gather around big mounds of mashed potatoes and wait for the 5:15 gravy tanker car to show up?
Am working on a sermon about Moses and the Israelis leaving Egypt in the Exodus and stopped by the Red Sea. Real dilemma, with no obvious way out. Of course, WE know what happened, but I immediately had a BUNCH of clichés race past my feeble brain. And wondered WHERE these came from.
Moses was “in a pickle”. (from Shakespeare, in ‘The Tempest’, referring to a bitter dilemma like brine)
Moses was “between a rock and hard place”. (from Odysseus' dilemma of passing between Scylla and Charybdis - Scylla was a monster on the cliffs and Charybdis was a dangerous whirlpool below)
Moses was “up the creek without a paddle”. (from World War II GI slang, gentrified version for family viewing)
Moses was “between the devil and deep blue sea”. (from 1637 book on a Scottish regiment’s nautical experience. The ‘devil’ is a seam between the deck planking and the topmost plank of the ship's side. Precarious position of men crouching for protection from enemy fire in that 20 inches of wood)
Moses was caught in a “sticky wicket”. (from the sport of cricket, caused by a damp and soft pitch)
From the kitchen - Moses was “in hot water”. Moses was “in the soup”. Moses was “in a stew”. Moses was “in a jam”.
From nature - Moses was “up a tree”. Moses was “in heavy seas”. Moses was “out of his depths”.
From work - Moses was “hard pressed”. Moses was facing a “hard row to hoe”. Moses was “painted into a corner”. Moses had “the cards stacked against him”.
And so it goes. I’ve come up with a few more common ones, but maybe the Grif.Net readers can share YOUR region’s expression and its origin?
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Dr Bob Griffin
"Jesus Knows Me, This I Love!"