The Culture and Language of the British Isles is our Genesis. The countless phrases, idioms and expressions freely spoken today that convey ideas, concepts and imaginations are universally grounded in a thought consciousness that accepts the meanings behind these spoken words.

The following phrases are ones that I have heard from time to time and have also personally used.

1. What's your Nut?

Modern Usage: What do you owe monthly? What are your expenses?

Origination: Before the era of motorized vehicles, the circus troupes traveled from town to town in their wagon trains and would set up camp for a week or two in each locale, then move on. While in town they would set up accounts with the local merchants who would extend them credit until the time of their intended departure. As you can imagine, many of the circuses would leave town under cover of darkness before paying their bills. So, it became common practice for the sheriffs to protect the shopkeepers by taking the wheel lugs or nuts off the wagon wheels of the circus wagons and keep them under lock and key. After the last night of the circus, the circus owner would then go to the sheriff to buy back the wagon wheel nuts so that the circus could then leave town. He would have to pay the sheriff for all the outstanding bills he and his employees owed the shopkeepers during their stay in town. He would ask the sheriff, "How much is the nut?".

2. Saved by the Bell.

Modern Usage: Any situation where at the last minute something happens to save the day.

Origination: Contrary to popular belief this is not a reference to boxing. This saying is linked to a few others that will follow. This goes back in time to the 1600's when England was being devastated by the Plague. The cemeteries were full and overflowing. The medical and political authorities were at wit's end as to what to do about not having enough space to bury the dead. So they started to dig up the older coffins to make more room. They would take out the skeletons and put them into the bone house, thus leaving room for new corpses in the grave site. What they found out was something very disturbing. Upon opening the coffins, they found claw marks on the lids and sides of the coffins where the persons having been buried alive had tried to claw their way out. Modern medicine being what it was would often decide that one was dead when in fact the body was only in a coma or a coma like state.

So, a new technology was instituted to save those who might be buried alive in the future, a way out. After all, modern medicine at the time was severely lacking in diagnostic tools and prognosis. Each person who was considered a corpse and buried, had a string attached to their wrist which was then strung up through the coffin and up out of the grave and attached to a bell that was sitting on top of their grave. In the event that one woke up in their coffin, the panic attack would undoubtedly cause them to move their wrists enough to ring the bell and thus be saved from a horrible death, which brings us to the next phrase.

3. The Graveyard Shift.

Modern Usage: Working the shift between Midnight and 8:00 AM.

Origination: People were hired by the families of those whom had recently been buried to sit close to the graves in the cemeteries and wait and listen for the bells to ring. And, of course, take action and dig up the coffins of those for whom the bells were ringing.

4. He's a Dead Ringer.

Modern Usage: Someone who is identical to someone else.

Origination: One who was buried alive and was equipped with the new technology (string tied to the wrist)and who woke up in their coffin and survived by ringing the coffin bell and getting dug out of their grave by the person on the graveyard shift.

5. Once in a Blue Moon.

Modern Usage: So unusual, it will never happen.

Origination: A Blue Moon is the second full moon in a month. It's not that unusual, because a full moon happens every 29.5 days, so the only month where it doesn't really happen is February. A Blue Moon happens every 32nd month, without fail. And, occasionally a Blue Moon will show up consecutively. The term Blue Moon has been attributed to the Maine Farmer's Almanac where the first full moon of the month was printed in red ink and the second full moon of the month was printed in blue ink.

6. The Whole Nine Yards.

Modern Usage: I'm going to give it everything I've got.

Origination: This saying came about from the military air force. The length of 50 caliber machine gun ammunition belts that fighter pilots used in World War II was nine yards. If the pilots fired all of their ammunition, it was said that their target, "got the whole nine yards".

7. Dressed to the Nines.

Modern Usage: Wearing the best of the best clothing.

Origination: Tailors will use nine full yards of fabric to make a matching suit of gentleman's clothing. Quite a bit of the cloth is wasted as the tailor will only cut cloth that matches the warp not the weft of the woven cloth. So, the client pays as much for the wastage as for the usage and thus is dressed to the nines. As you may imagine, "the whole nine yards" has crossed over into this phrase.

8. Don't Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth.

Modern Usage: Judge a gift on the thought behind it rather than its usefulness or price.

Origination: When horses were our mode of transportation, the horse trader was the one, one went to see to buy, sell or trade. Quite often what came out of the horse trader's mouth was a load of malarkey or even worse, palaver. All one had to do to get the gist of the matter was look in the horse's mouth and inspect the teeth. The teeth would tell the age, health and ultimately the value of the animal.

9. Read Between the Lines.

Modern Usage: Listen for the hidden meaning. Look for what is not obvious.

Origination: In the early days of sending secret messages people would write in substances that could be revealed on plain paper, only with the use of a reactive agent. Lemon juice, for example, is normally transparent on paper, but when heated over a candle flame, reacts and becomes discolored. Secret messages were written in the spaces between the lines of a normal letter and then reactivated by its recipient.

10. Skeletons in the Closet.

Modern Usage: Something in your past that is being hidden.

Origination: This saying comes from a story about the pirate Blue Beard. Before he sailed away on one of his many voyages, he gave all the keys of his house to his newest wife. He gave her permission to open every door except one, which was a closet at the end of a long corridor. Of course, she opened it and there inside she found the bodies and skeletons of his previous wives.

11. Mind Your Own Bee's Wax.

Modern Usage: Stay out of my business and keep your comments to yourself.

Origination: Before the advent of modern medicine, smallpox, a common disease, caused the wide spread death and disfigurement of millions of people for hundreds of years. Those who survived the disease were left with pock marks from the scars of the infectious rash that covered their bodies and faces. Before modern makeup, ladies would fill in the pock marks with beeswax. Sometimes under very hot weather and combined with the normal temperature of the skin, the wax would tend to get greasy and appear to be melting. It certainly wasn't proper for one lady to tell another that her face was melting. Smallpox was finally eradicated in 1977.

12. Pull Out All the Stops.

Modern Usage: Don't hold back. Go for it!

Origination: This phrase comes from the classic pipe organs played in churches throughout the world. Each pipe has a "stop" that acts as a baffle that controls the amount of airflow. The volume of the organ can be adjusted by adding or removing the stops. By pulling out all the stops, all pipes are playing at their loudest.

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