The Curious Origins of Popular Sayings (Vol.II)

We're back to explore some more stories behind common proverbs, idioms and sayings! There are so many interesting sayings out there that I wished to include from last week that I had to make a follow up. Even still, there’s plenty more in the tank. If you can think of interesting an unusual saying you’d like to see investigated, write it down below in the comments.

We'll be looking at:
- Going cold turkey
- Give a man a fish...
- Raining cats and dogs
- With great power comes great responsibility
- Go berzerk
- Run amok
- Avoid like the plague
- Out of the frying pan, into the fire

I had lots of fun making this, I hope you enjoyed watching this one. I'm settling into a routine, so hopefully more regular videos down the pipeline. Take care all.

H.

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Watch some of my other videos:

The Curious Origins of Popular Sayings

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Music:

Intro - Epic of Gilgamesh in Sumerian by Peter Pringle

Fox Tale Waltz Part 1 Instrumental by Kevin MacLeod

Guzheng City by Kevin MacLeod

Western Streets by Kevin MacLeod

Study And Relax by Kevin MacLeod

Waltz of Treachery by Kevin MacLeod

Thinking Music by Kevin MacLeod

The Ulgonsah Witches: Will it End - CO.AG

Outro - Peaceful Ambient Music by CO.AG

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Further Reading:

Proverbial Phrases - Wiki:

A list of 680 English Proverbs:

Idiom Dictionary:

"Dictionary of idioms and their Origins" by Linda & Roger Flavell

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Find me on Social Media:

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Instagram:

Discord:

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Email me:

#sayings #origins

[Kom]

The reason that the "give a man a fish" proverb had the misconception of it coming from ancient China is because there's a saying that was really similar to it in an ancient Chinese book named 淮南子·说林训. The saying is "临河而羡鱼，不如归家织网". Rough translation of the meaning being "Instead of standing next to the river and being jealous of other people's fish, you should go home and make your own fishing net."

[manieify]

As a Dane, I have never in my 30+ year life heard the fraise(phrase) about 'Shoemakers apprentice' 🤣 After looking it up, it seems too be a fairly old and outdated term... But non the less, I learned something from YouTube again 👏

[Superwazop]

I've never seen a sequel coming out so close to its first volume but this is definitively a bop

[agent_w.]

Who else genuinely loves this channel so much?

[OZefiroMusica]

As a non native english speaker, I always thought "running amok" meant that someone was running around unchecked and doing whatever they pleased (good or bad), but never correlated it to violence or rage.
I love learning the origin of things we do and say in our everyday life. Thanks, Hochelaga!

[johndoeanon]

As a Swede; I've never heard anyone say "Det regnar småjävlar" (It's raining little devils).

I have however both used and heard the phrase "Det regnar småspik" (It's raining small nails).
I presume that this saying is more literal in the sense that particularly extreme rain feels like being pelted with small nails.

[djv]

I heard a different origin about “it’s raining cats and dogs”, I came across it again and this is what they said,

“The most common one says that in olden times, homes had thatched roofs in which domestic animals such as cats and dogs would like to hide. In heavy rain, the animals would either be washed out of the thatch, or rapidly abandon it for better shelter, so it would seem to be raining cats and dogs”

[agent_w.]

4:06
“It’s raining Shoe-Makers’ apprentices”
So oddly specific…

[PatrickRsGhost]

As for the "raining cats and dogs", I read somewhere that it was believed to be derived from the fact that during the Dark Ages, many cats and dogs lived in the streets, never really having a home. People didn't let them sleep indoors as much as we do today; they just let them roam around. If there was a heavy storm, especially one that caused flooding, it would have flushed out any cats, dogs, or other animals trying to take shelter outside, drowning and killing them. The aftermath would be dozens of dead cats and dogs everywhere in the streets.

[chaos]

4:08 so we're just gonna ignore the finnish "It's raining like Esteri's ass." "Sataa kuin Esterin perseestä."

[Fenifiks]

In Norwegian we also have the saying "It is blowing hats and rabbits", which obviously mean that it is blowing a lot.

[purplehaze]

2:29 Fish aren’t the only example. One of the biggest pieces of nightmare fuel I’ve ever learned is that it once rained spiders in Australia. A wholeass whale also “rained” from the sky in the Amazon.

[kasperreisner]

Funny side-note: In Denmark we mistranslated 'cold turkey' into 'cold Turk' (i.e. a person from Turkey)

I hadn't heard the one about the shoemaker's apprentice before, but here is another one about windy weather: "it is blowing half a pelican"

[alicewilloughby]

1:00 - I heard that when a person is suddenly quitting drugs they will often develop goosebumps that look like the bumps on a cold, freshly plucked turkey.

[DigiNeko]

Hi ! Fellow Indonesian here "amok" in our language means "angry" and we use it on daily basis like "ngamuk or ngamok". Ng-amok the word "ng" just have the same meaning as "-ing" in english. So yeah. Amok means angry like super angry similiar to going berserk.

[Linnzy]

Never heard Raining Little devils, however we do have a saying "Raining small-nails" (the kind younput in walls) when we have sharp fast raindrops.

[Elderos]

I have two sayings for you. The first is "The whole nine yards". It's often mistaken as a sports reference. The true meaning of it comes from WWI trench warfare. The Vickor machine gun fires a nine yard belt of 7.62 ammo. As the Germans would charge in mass the phrase would go out to "give them the whole nine yards."

The second phrase is "Balls to the wall". This has nothing to do with anatomy. In WWII the throttles of the air craft had little knobs on the ends of them. When the pilot was at full throttle the knobs being would be pushed all the way to the wall of the bulk head.

[andysanders]

Cold turkey, as it applies to addicts, comes from the goose bumps that appear all over your skin from the frequent chills that occur as the person goes through the withdrawal. Being a former addict myself, I can attest to this LOL!

[L_Train]

I generally don't trust quotes either. Most of the things we think Einstein, Ben Franklin, and Washington said ...they never did. I've also seen the same quote attributed to ancient china, a Cherokee medicine man, and Sitting Bull (who wasn't Cherokee). None of them were the actual speaker.

[kex]

Yeah no, Scandinavia does not disappoint.
"I suspect there are owls in the bog" is an especially absurd saying that is still popular in Sweden today.