Strange phrases and their origins.

[Dave7]

This one intrigued me.
"Colder than a witches tit".
Apparently dates back to the 1600s in Salem (America) and the 'witch trials' during which 20 people were found guilty of being witches and executed.
The belief was that their blood was ice cold so their flesh must be cold. They were thought to suckle the devil and his cohorts......hence the phrase.

 

[Tenkaykev]

This one intrigued me.
"Colder than a witches tit".
Apparently dates back to the 1600s in Salem (America) and the 'witch trials' during which 20 people were found guilty of being witches and executed.
The belief was that their blood was ice cold so their flesh must be cold. They were thought to suckle the devil and his cohorts......hence the phrase.

The “ Something Rhymes with Purple “ podcast is excellent for snippets of information such as this. There are even a few episodes on swear words and their origin. One fact that I found fascinating was the origin of the word “ Wife “ it’s from “ Wif” a Middle English word meaning woman or lady. So the “ Wife of Bath’s tale” and “ The Merry Wives of Windsor “ take on a different meaning.

 

[Illaveago]

"I'll go to the foot of our stairs!"
Has always intrigued me . Especially if they lived in a bungalow !

 

[Ming the Merciless]

"I'll go to the foot of our stairs!"
Has always intrigued me . Especially if they lived in a bungalow !

Simply means they need a short walk to get over their surprise / amazement at what was just said / happened.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Stone the crows

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Jesus Christ!

 

[PeteXXX]

Jesus H Christ!

FTFY

 

[Alex321]

Jesus Christ!

My grandmother was moderately religious, and thought that blasphemous, so she used "Christopher Columbus!" instead.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

FTFY

Gordon Bennet!

 

[Alex321]

Gordon Bennet!

https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/a...don-bennett-scot-behind-popular-saying-856898

 

[gbb]

Gordon Bennet!

Strewth !

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Gordon Bennet!

https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/a...don-bennett-scot-behind-popular-saying-856898

I'm sure I read that (in a Bill Bryson) book, that he liked to try to perform the magicians trick of pulling a table-cloth off, whilst leaving all the crockery & cutlery still on the table
And......... invariably, he failed

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Strewth !

A corruption of 'Gods Truth'?

 

[winjim]

https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/a...don-bennett-scot-behind-popular-saying-856898

I did post a string of Gordon Bennett facts on one of the factoid threads a while ago, but I'm not sure anyone believed them. The owl mausoleum is amazing though. Shame it never got built.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Its black over Bills Mothers, a reference to Will Shakespeare I believe.