Where did that come from?
Have you ever wondered where some of these sayings we use got its start? Below are a few I’m sure you have used before.
1. A-1 Why do we use A-1 to mean the very best? Because when the Marine insurance firms of London started the associations later to become known as “Lloyds,” they also started a register of ships and shipping in which the condition of the ships and their cargo was noted. The ships were graded by letter; the cargoes by number. “A” meant the ship itself was perfect; ‘1” that the cargo was likewise perfect.
2. Clodhopper: Where did the dullard get the name clodhopper? In early England the peasants were uneducated; it was therefore assumed they were unintelligent. The gentry rode horses across the fields, while the peasantry walked afoot, hopping over the clods of earth turned up by the plow. They were literally ”clodhoppers.”
3. Flash in the Pan. How did we get the expression “flash in the pan” The old flintlock type of gun had a “pan” on which a little trail of powder led from the charge in the gun to the flint. When the hammer struck the flint and ignited this trail of powder but the gun did not go off-then it was just a “flash in the pan.”
4. Neat as a Pin. What is the reason “neat as a pin means extremely neat? In the days before pins were made of brass or tin coated, they were made of iron wire and rusted quickly. Only a new pin was without blemish.
5. Real Estate: Where did land get the name “real estate?” From England where the term originally meant a royal grant. All land once belonged to the king in England, and the only way a person could get any of it was by royal grant.
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