Achilles' Heel
When something is your
"Achilles' heel," it's a fault or weakness you have, despite overall
strength, that can potentially cause failure. The weakness may be physical:
"He is a star quarterback, but his injury-prone throwing arm is his
Achilles' heel."Or it might be emotional or mental: "She was a good
writer, but her Achilles' heel was that she was a terrible speller."
This expression comes from Greek
mythology, specifically a guy named Achilles. Achilles' mother dipped him in
the river Styx as an infant, an act that bestowed upon him extreme strength and
immortality. He became a great champion — the best Greek fighter during the Trojan
War — until the fateful day when Trojan prince Paris took aim and speared
him in the heel with an arrow, causing him to bleed to death. But wasn't he
immortal? Make that almost. When his mother dipped him in the river as a baby,
she held him by one heel, which thus wasn't bathed in the river's magical
waters and became the only part of his body that was unprotected [sources: Mythagora]. Oops!
Crying Wolf
Today, we use the phrase to mean
someone is complaining when nothing's really wrong. It's also used when a
person asks for help when he doesn't need it. For example: "The governor
says if our taxes aren't doubled, he'll have to close all of our schools. But
he's just crying wolf."
So, who is this wolf we speak of?
It comes from an Aesop fable. Aesop was a former Greek slave in the late to
mid-sixth century B.C.E. when he allegedly penned (or related) hundreds of
morality tales, collectively known as known as "Aesop's Fables"
[source: Horgan].
One was about a young shepherd
boy who was bored while tending the sheep all day. So to drum up a little
excitement and have some company, he ran toward the village screaming,
"Wolf! Wolf!" The villagers ran out to meet him, and some stayed a
while. Score! The boy was so happy that he repeated his trick a few days later.
Once again, the villagers ran out to him, only to find, once again, that there
was no wolf. Then, disaster struck — a real wolf trotted out of the forest and
threatened the boy's flock. He cried, "Wolf! Wolf!" a third time, but
no one ran out. The villagers were tired of his tricks. The moral, says
Aesop, is that "A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the
truth."
All Roads Lead to Rome
In the ancient world, this was
literally true. The Romans built some 50,000 miles (80,000 kilometers) of roads
stretching from Britain, through Spain and Northern Africa, and east to the
Danube River and Tigris-Euphrates River System. The first great road, the
Appian Way, was built in 312 B.C.E. [source: Encyclopaedia
Brittanica]. Emperor
Caesar Augustus erected a monument called the Milliarium Aureum (golden
milestone) in Rome's central forum, and the distances along all of those 50,000
miles were measured from this point, which was also the point at which all of
the main Roman roads diverged [source: University
of Notre Dame].
Nowadays, we use the expression
to mean that there's more than one way to achieve an outcome. This metaphor was
already in place as early as the 1100s [source: American
Heritage Dictionary].
Caught Between Scylla and
Charybdis
You might remember this as a
lyric from the '80s Police song, "Wrapped Around Your Finger." It
means being caught between a rock and a hard place, or two equally unattractive
options.
In Greek mythology, the hero
Odysseus was sailing home from the Trojan War through the Strait of Messina
(which separates Italy from Sicily) where he was beset by two monsters on
either side. Scylla was a giant with six heads, each having three rows of
shark-like teeth, who devoured whatever came her way. (It was a personification
of a reef.) Charybdis was a whirlpool on the opposite shore that sucked in
ships that sailed near her. Avoiding one conflict meant coming too close to the
other [source: Encyclopaedia
Brittanica].
Odysseus had to figure out which
was the lesser of the two evils as he had to pass through this strait to reach
home. He chose to sail closer to Scylla since he risked losing only a few men
as opposed to losing the whole ship if he went closer to Charybdis.
Pandora's Box
When someone talks about opening
Pandora's box, it's not a good thing. Pandora's box is a source of troubles.
For example, if you start dating your boss, your friends might say you're
opening a Pandora's box.
This expression comes from the
story of Pandora, the first woman on earth according to Greek mythology. In the
tale, Zeus, the father of the gods, created Pandora as a punishment because his
cousin Prometheus gave fire to man against Zeus' orders. While the gods and
goddesses gave Pandora positive gifts, like beauty and charm, she was also
given qualities that could be used for either good or evil, such as curiosity
and persuasion. Pandora was also presented with a jar that Zeus told her not to
open. But her curiosity got the best of her and she opened it, whereupon out
flew all the troubles of mankind – war, famine and so on. In some versions of
the story, Pandora hastily tried to close the jar but the only thing she
managed to preserve was "hope."
The tale of Pandora is an origin myth, an
attempt to explain the start of something — in this case, why bad things happen
in the world. Much like Eve's experience in the Garden of Eden, the world was a
perfect place before Pandora opened her jar. Pandora's jar became a box in the
16th century due to a translation error [source: Myths
and Legends].
Carpe Diem (Seize the Day)
Robin Williams is well-known for
making this motivational Latin phrase the motto for his English class in the
1989 flick "Dead Poets Society." But that was certainly not the start
of its popularity. The phrase was penned by Quintus Horatius Flaccus, aka the
lyric poet Horace, in the first century B.C.E. Horace wrote in his "Odes
Book 1":
Dum loquimur, fugerit invida
Aetas: carpe diem, quam minimum
credula postero
This means, "While we're
talking, envious time is fleeing; pluck the day, put no trust in the
future." When you read the entire sentence, the full meaning becomes
clear. Make the most of today, because there's no guarantee you'll be around
tomorrow. And even if you are, who knows what tomorrow will hold?
While this expression has been
uttered for millennia, it first wormed its way into the English language in the
early 19th century, when the poet Lord Byron used it (he was an admirer of Horace)
[source: Martin].
Many English proverbs, incidentally, lecture us to be wise with our time, such
as, "Strike while the iron is hot" and "The early bird catches
the worm."
The Writing is on the Wall
We can thank the biblical Book of
Daniel for this phrase, which means doom or misfortune is about to occur. For
example, if two people are discussing the layoffs occurring in their company
and one says to the other, "The writing is on the wall for all of
us," she means their jobs are likely to be eliminated, too.
In the Book of Daniel,
chapter 5, King Belshazzar of Babylon and his court are enjoying a decadent
feast, drinking wine from goblets taken from the sacred temple in Jerusalem.
Suddenly, a disembodied hand appears and writes these words on a plaster wall: Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin.
Terrified, the king brings in the prophet Daniel to interpret what they mean.
Daniel tells him God is angry at Belshazzar for worshipping false idols rather
than God. (Literally, the words mean "number," "weigh" and
"divide" so the implication is that God has weighed or judged
Belshazzar and his days are numbered [source: Wilson].)
As punishment, his kingdom will be taken away from him and divided. That night the
king is murdered and his lands are taken over by an invading tribe.
Sour Grapes
When we use the phrase "sour
grapes," we're indicating someone is disparaging something just because
they can't have it. For example: "It's just as well they didn't have that
dress in my size. It's actually quite gaudy."
This expression comes from the
fable "The Fox and the Grapes," attributed to our old friend Aesop.
Many of his stories consisted of animals displaying humanlike qualities.In this
tale, a starving fox tries several times to reach a bunch of juicy grapes
dangling just out of reach but is unsuccessful. To assuage its disappointment,
it says to itself, "I'm sure they were sour." Although Aesop is given
credit for this story, its first known English usage wasn't until 1760 [source:
Martin].
Interestingly, some scholars say
a better translation of the fable from Greek to English would result in the
phrase "unripe grapes" [source: Martin]. But,
"Those must be unripe grapes" just doesn't have the same ring to it.
Butter Someone Up
A common food-related expression
with links to the ancient past is "butter someone up." It's used to mean
excessively flattering someone, usually so that they'll do something for you.
For example, you say to your friend: "Cathy, that dress is beautiful and
fits you so well! And your hair looks lovely, too!" Cathy might well
reply, "Why are you buttering me up?" Because you need a favor,
naturally.
Many claim this phrase has its
origins in ancient India, when people used to lob little balls of ghee butter
at the statues of various gods when they were asking them for favors. In Tibet,
there's an even older custom of crafting butter sculptures when the new year
rolls around; the sculptures were viewed as a means of bringing happiness and
peace in the coming year [source: Frederick].
However, some argue that the
phrase has nothing to do with the Indian tradition. Instead, they say, it
originated because of the imagery — spreading smooth butter on a piece of bread
is like spreading nice words on someone. Let's go with the butter-ball theory.
It's a lot more fun.
By the Skin of Your Teeth
This can be a bit perplexing.
After all, no one has skin on their teeth. So what does it mean? It means you
escaped or achieved something — death, a bad date, a top grade — by a very slim
margin.
We have the Bible to thank for
this phrase, and specifically the Book of Job. Job is a character who undergoes
innumerable tragedies, and sighs, complains and rails against God because of
this. In
Job 19:20, Job says, "I am nothing but skin and bones; I have escaped
only by the skin of my teeth." He's saying he's narrowly escaped death —
that he escaped death by a margin so slim, it's as thin as the skin on your
teeth. No one has skin on their teeth; that's the point, and it's why it
indicates such a minute amount [sources: Addis].
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