<strong>5 everyday phrases that have surprisingly dark origins</strong>
Most of the phrases that we use in our day-to-day life have quirky and intriguing back stories. Some of them have shockingly dark origins, steeped in history. Here’s a list of 5 such phrases.
Mad as a hatter
We often associate the phrase “mad as a hatter” with Lewis Carroll’s famous children’s fiction “Alice in Wonderland.” While Carroll had made the character quite dark, the real story is that she was influenced by the Victorian society. During that era, men who worked at hat factories suffered from mental health issues due to over exposure to mercury, used to make felt hats more flexible. This is where the phrase originates from.
Meet a deadline
This phrase is a truth in the lives of everyone, including students. While the ability to adhere to deadlines is considered to be a good trait, the real origin story is really dark and tragic. A deadline was an actual line drawn on Civil War prisons spread across Europe. If a prisoner ever tried to escape by crossing that line, he would be killed right there. This line was known as deadline.
Diehard
Diehard is one of the classic films of all times, but the movie has nothing to do with the phrase “diehard.” In the present context, it is used to describe a fan of a someone or something. But, way back in the 1700s it was used to describe convicts who struggled for the longest time while being hanged. More than a century later, the term also became an official slogan for the British army during the Battle of Albuera (1811) when the commander-in-chief William Inglis had supposedly told this to his men, “Stand your ground and die hard; make the enemy pay dear for each one of us.”
God bless you
The phrase “god bless you” is always associated with something positive. In fact, we repeat it time and again when others sneeze in front of us. However, the real story behind the phrase traces back to the times of plague when it was used to express a wish for the soul to not leave the body even after death. This is because, people feared that a negative version of it called the Black Death would take it.
Pulling my leg
We commonly use the phrase “pulling my leg” to imply that someone is trying to make a fool of us or playing a prank on us. But it originated in Victorian London when robbers actually dragged people by their legs to get their hands on their possessions.