Old Sayings and Where They Came From: The Bizarre Origins of Everyday Phrases Part 1 | The Strange History Podcast

0:00 Speaker 1: Welcome back, dear listeners to the Strange History Podcast, where

0:03 Speaker 1: words never die, they just get weird. Tonight we're diving

0:06 Speaker 1: into the world of old sayings, not superstitions, not curses,

0:11 Speaker 1: just the wise, witty, and occasionally nonsensical phrases our ancestors

0:16 Speaker 1: left us like dusty heirlooms. We use these phrases all

0:20 Speaker 1: the time without realizing they've been around longer than indoor plumbing.

0:24 Speaker 1: So tonight we'll explore their origins, their hidden meanings, and

0:28 Speaker 1: the historical hilarity behind them. So pull up your metaphorical

0:32 Speaker 1: armchair or your literal one if you're fancy, and let's

0:36 Speaker 1: decode the wisdom of the ages, one proverb at a time.

0:41 Speaker 2: A stitch in time saves nine.

0:44 Speaker 1: Our first gem of wisdom sounds like something you'd hear

0:47 Speaker 1: from a grandmother armed with a needle and unstoppable moral authority.

0:52 Speaker 1: A stitch in time saves nine. It's old, first recorded

0:56 Speaker 1: in the early seventeen hundreds, and it means exactly what

1:00 Speaker 1: it sounds like. Fix small problems before they become big ones.

1:04 Speaker 1: In a world where people actually repaired their clothes instead

1:08 Speaker 1: of buying new ones, this wasn't metaphorical advice. It was survival.

1:13 Speaker 1: If you caught a tear early and stitched it, it

1:16 Speaker 1: saved you nine more stitches later. Nine Apparently ancient tailors

1:22 Speaker 1: were keeping score. In modern terms, this is update your

1:25 Speaker 1: software before it crashes, or don't ignore that weird noise

1:28 Speaker 1: in your car until it's screaming like a bansheet.

1:31 Speaker 3: This bit of old school practicality is brought to you

1:35 Speaker 3: by So What emergency sewing kits for life's little tears

1:39 Speaker 3: and meltdowns, because sometimes your patience unravels faster than your pants.

1:45 Speaker 2: Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

1:48 Speaker 1: Now, this one comes galloping in from medieval Europe. Don't

1:52 Speaker 1: look a gift horse in the mouth sounds bizarre until

1:55 Speaker 1: you know that back then people checked a horse's teeth

1:58 Speaker 1: to judge its age and health. So if someone gave

2:01 Speaker 1: you a horse and the first thing you did was

2:03 Speaker 1: pry open its mouth, you were being rude. It was

2:07 Speaker 1: the thirteenth century equivalent of saying thanks for the new iPhone,

2:12 Speaker 1: I'm just going to check the warranty. The phrase became

2:15 Speaker 1: a reminder to accept gifts graciously, even if they come

2:18 Speaker 1: with horse breath, and considering that a horse was basically

2:22 Speaker 1: a car, a tractor, and a best friend all in one. Yeah,

2:25 Speaker 1: gratitude was expected.

2:27 Speaker 2: The early bird catches the worm.

2:30 Speaker 1: You know this one the motivational poster of all proverbs.

2:34 Speaker 1: The earliest known use dates to the sixteen hundreds, and

2:38 Speaker 1: it's exactly what you think. Those who start early reap

2:41 Speaker 1: the rewards. It was particularly popular among farmers and merchants.

2:46 Speaker 1: The morning hours were crucial, not because worms were delicious

2:51 Speaker 1: for them anyway, but because the day's trade and chores

2:54 Speaker 1: began at dawn. Of course, today the early bird gets

2:59 Speaker 1: a parking spot and an email inbox full of regrets.

3:03 Speaker 3: Brought to you by rise and grind coffee the only

3:06 Speaker 3: roast strong enough to make you feel like an early bird,

3:09 Speaker 3: even if you're more of a nocturnal pigeon.

3:12 Speaker 2: Curiosity killed the cat.

3:14 Speaker 1: Here's one that's been unfairly used to shame every inquisitive soul.

3:18 Speaker 1: Curiosity killed the cat. The original one, five hundred and

3:22 Speaker 1: ninety eight version actually said care killed the cat, meaning

3:27 Speaker 1: too much worry, not curiosity. Over time, care got replaced

3:31 Speaker 1: by curiosity, and the phrase evolved into a warning against nosiness.

3:36 Speaker 1: But there's a forgotten sequel. Curiosity killed the cat, but

3:40 Speaker 1: satisfaction brought it back. That part got dropped somewhere along

3:44 Speaker 1: the way, probably by the same people who hated fun.

3:48 Speaker 1: So really, this old saying isn't about killing curiosity. It's

3:53 Speaker 1: about revival, about how learning something new can bring you

3:56 Speaker 1: back to life.

3:58 Speaker 3: This philosophical mealment is brought to you by Whisker Wisdom,

4:02 Speaker 3: the only cat toy designed to answer life's deepest questions.

4:06 Speaker 2: Curiosity encouraged A penny for your thoughts.

4:11 Speaker 1: A penny for your thoughts. It's what people say when

4:14 Speaker 1: someone looks pensive, or when you're clearly zoning out thinking

4:17 Speaker 1: about pizza. The phrase goes back to fifteen twenty two,

4:21 Speaker 1: when Sir Thomas Moore used it in his writings. Back then,

4:25 Speaker 1: a penny could actually buy something, a loaf of bread,

4:29 Speaker 1: maybe a pint of ale, so offering one for someone's

4:32 Speaker 1: thoughts was generous. It was a way of saying, I

4:35 Speaker 1: value your silence, but I'd like to know what's going

4:38 Speaker 1: on in there. Today. A penny won't even buy gum,

4:41 Speaker 1: but emotionally still works.

4:44 Speaker 3: This thoughtful pause is brought to you by mindment, the

4:47 Speaker 3: gum that freshens your breath. And your opinions, because deep

4:51 Speaker 3: thoughts deserve clean air.

4:53 Speaker 2: Don't count your chickens before they hatch.

4:56 Speaker 1: This bit of barnyard wisdom dates back to Esop's fable

5:00 Speaker 1: The Milkmaid and her Pale. In the story, a young

5:03 Speaker 1: milkmaid dreams of selling her milk, buying chickens, and becoming rich.

5:08 Speaker 1: Then trips and spills the milk. Dream over moral, don't

5:13 Speaker 1: get ahead of yourself. The saying became a favorite among

5:16 Speaker 1: farmers and financiers alike. It's a reminder that plans aren't

5:21 Speaker 1: profits until they're real, or, as modern podcasters would say,

5:25 Speaker 1: don't spend your ad revenue before the check clears.

5:29 Speaker 3: This rural reality check brought to you by cluck Coin,

5:32 Speaker 3: the only cryptocurrency backed entirely by chickens that may or

5:36 Speaker 3: may not exist yet.

5:38 Speaker 2: You can't have your cake and eat it too.

5:41 Speaker 1: This one sounds confusing, I mean, what else are you

5:44 Speaker 1: supposed to do with cake? But it's about wanting to

5:47 Speaker 1: enjoy two mutually exclusive things. The phrase shows up as

5:51 Speaker 1: early as fifteen thirty eight in a letter from Thomas,

5:55 Speaker 1: Duke of Norfolk to Thomas Cromwell. It means you can't

5:59 Speaker 1: posses something and consume it at the same time. In

6:03 Speaker 1: modern terms, you can't binge Netflix and brag about productivity. Ironically,

6:09 Speaker 1: the duke who wrote it later lost his head for

6:11 Speaker 1: political scheming, proving that you also can't have your cake

6:15 Speaker 1: and keep your neck.

6:17 Speaker 3: Sponsored by cake logic for when you want your cake,

6:20 Speaker 3: eat it too, and maybe freeze a slice for the apocalypse.

6:24 Speaker 2: Let the cat out of the bag.

6:26 Speaker 1: This one's pure medieval mischief. In market towns, dishonest traders

6:31 Speaker 1: sold piglets and sacks. A buyer who didn't check before

6:34 Speaker 1: paying might find a cat instead. When the cat escaped,

6:37 Speaker 1: poof the trick was revealed. Thus, letting the cat out

6:41 Speaker 1: of the bag meant exposing a secret, a scam, or

6:45 Speaker 1: an embarrassing truth, and somewhere a very annoyed cat started

6:49 Speaker 1: the world's first consumer protection movement.

6:53 Speaker 3: This confession is brought to you by Cats Out, the

6:56 Speaker 3: new reality show where secret spill, tails twitch, and honesty

7:00 Speaker 3: always lands on its feet.

7:02 Speaker 2: Bite the bullet.

7:04 Speaker 1: Before anesthesia, soldiers undergoing surgery were given a bullet to bite.

7:09 Speaker 1: It was something to clench their jaws on while doctors

7:12 Speaker 1: sawed and stitched. Bite the bullet became shorthand for facing

7:17 Speaker 1: something painful with bravery. Rudyard Kipling later used it metaphorically

7:22 Speaker 1: in his writings, cementing it into our language. So the

7:26 Speaker 1: next time you say it, remember it originally involved fewer

7:30 Speaker 1: metaphors and more screaming.

7:32 Speaker 3: This painful truth brought to you by numb now the

7:35 Speaker 3: only herbal tincture guaranteed to dull the sting of Monday's

7:39 Speaker 3: meetings and emotional surgery.

7:42 Speaker 2: Birds of a feather flock together.

7:45 Speaker 1: People have been observing this since ancient Greece. Birds of

7:48 Speaker 1: the same kind fly in groups. The phrase itself dates

7:52 Speaker 1: to the sixteenth century and was used by William Turner

7:55 Speaker 1: in fifteen forty five. It simply means like attracts, like,

7:59 Speaker 1: whether it's spare scholars or people who owned too many crystals.

8:03 Speaker 1: It's also the reason why all strange history fans seem

8:08 Speaker 1: to find each other on the Internet. Welcome to the flock.

8:13 Speaker 3: This social observation is sponsored by feather Friends, the dating

8:17 Speaker 3: app for people who flocked to the same nonsense.

8:20 Speaker 2: Burning the midnight oil.

8:22 Speaker 1: Before electricity, oil lamps were the only light source for

8:26 Speaker 1: studying or working after dark, so if someone was burning

8:29 Speaker 1: the midnight oil. It meant they were up late working,

8:33 Speaker 1: usually scholars, writers, or insomniacs with the deadline. The phrase

8:38 Speaker 1: symbolized diligence, effort, and exhaustion, the noble struggle of getting

8:43 Speaker 1: stuff done. Basically, this podcast exists because I've been burning

8:48 Speaker 1: the midnight oil for well over one hundred episodes.

8:51 Speaker 3: This sleepless tale is brought to you by caffeine and Consequences,

8:55 Speaker 3: the official energy drink of bad ideas, executed brilliantly.

9:00 Speaker 1: Pot Calling the kettle black ah hypocrisy. It's timeless. In

9:05 Speaker 1: the sixteen hundreds, pots and kettles were made of cast

9:08 Speaker 1: iron and blackened by soot over the fire, so when

9:12 Speaker 1: one called the other black, it was like saying you're

9:15 Speaker 1: dirty when they both were. It first appeared in Thomas

9:20 Speaker 1: Shelton's sixteen twenty translation of Don Quixote, and it's been

9:24 Speaker 1: roasting hypocrites ever since. So next time you criticize someone

9:28 Speaker 1: for oversharing on social media, check your own story first.

9:32 Speaker 3: This steamy moral is brought to you by clean Kettle,

9:35 Speaker 3: the self scrubbing cookware that keeps your conscience spotless.

9:38 Speaker 1: And there you have it, dear listeners. Twelve sayings that stitched, sipped,

9:43 Speaker 1: and bit their way through history into our modern mouths.

9:47 Speaker 1: Each one holds a piece of the past, wisdom born

9:50 Speaker 1: from war work, and the everyday weirdness of being human.

9:55 Speaker 1: Join me next for part two, where we'll dig into

9:58 Speaker 1: thirteen more saying about spilled milk, rotten apples, flying pigs,

10:04 Speaker 1: and why you should never cry wolf unless you mean it.

10:07 Speaker 1: Until then, remember, don't count your chickens, don't let any

10:10 Speaker 1: cats out of any bags. And please, for the love

10:14 Speaker 1: of all that's idiomatic, be kind to your kettle. Good night,

10:17 Speaker 1: and good history.