 Legion 4  | 14 Mar 2025 9:14 a.m. PST |
We probably know most if not all of these … But many today use them and have no idea what they are or where they came from.
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| DeRuyter | 14 Mar 2025 9:46 a.m. PST |
Interesting. Some of these phrases originated before the ACW. For example, Jonah was used in the navy well before that time. |
| John the OFM | 14 Mar 2025 9:51 a.m. PST |
How about "Don't go off half-cocked!" |
| I Deal In Lead Mister | 14 Mar 2025 10:09 a.m. PST |
"You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."… |
 ColCampbell | 14 Mar 2025 11:39 a.m. PST |
I think the "half-cocked" phrase probably originated earlier than the ACW. Weren't earlier muskets equipped with a half-cock setting? Jim |
| Shagnasty | 14 Mar 2025 1:31 p.m. PST |
I think several of these predated The Late Unpleasantness Between The States. |
 20thmaine | 14 Mar 2025 1:53 p.m. PST |
They missed a few…. …"argh, argh, I've been hit argh, argh it hurts so much, argh" |
 Dal Gavan | 14 Mar 2025 2:25 p.m. PST |
I think the "half-cocked" phrase probably originated earlier than the ACW. Weren't earlier muskets equipped with a half-cock setting? They were, at least as early as the WAS. It's supposed to lock the mechanism, acting like a safety during loading, and is one of the things I check when I get mine out for firing. If a weapon could be fired, or did fire when at half-cock (eg when the butt was put on the ground for loading) then it was dangerously faulty. |
| d88mm1940 | 15 Mar 2025 10:34 a.m. PST |
"Where's the beef?"
Grant, trying a little humor on Lee as he greats him at Appomattox Courthouse… |
| Fat Wally | 16 Mar 2025 8:12 a.m. PST |
'They couldn't hit an Elephant' |
| 42flanker | 16 Mar 2025 2:05 p.m. PST |
Ironclad: The first ironclad battleship was French: La Gloire,launched in November 1859. Skedaddle: Perhaps alteration British dialect scaddle to run off in a fright, from scaddle, adjective, wild, timid, skittish First use 1859 (Merriam Webster) Upper hand: First known use- C15th (Merriam Webster) Bite the bullet: A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd edition – London, 1788):
Red handed: First known use- 1819 (Merriam Webster) "Hold the fort", "Jonah", "Fit to be tied", "Horse sense"-
questionable |
