Arizona weekly enterprise., 1889-11-09
ORIGIN OF PHRASES.
The Sources from Whence Was Deriv

Some of Our Everyday Expressions.
 The common phrase, Catching Tar tar" says Grose, the antiquarian, arose out of the adventure of an Irish soldier in the imperial service. During battle ! with the Turks he called out to con- rade .hat he had caught Tartar. Bring him along,' was the reply. He won't come," declared Paddy. "Then come yourself" reioined his comrade. "Ah, but he won't let me" replied Pad dy. Instead of capturing the Tartar the Tartar had captured him. Putting the cart before the horse" means to begin to do thing at the wrong end. The phrase is very old and is quot ed by Lucian, a great Greek writer, who lived almost LOO years ago. It is sur prisirg how frequently a search for the origin of phrases lands us among the an- cient Greek or Latin writers. For in stance, the couplet,
 He who fights and runs away
 May live to fight another day,
 is almost invariably declared to have originated with Butler, the author of ''IIudibras" It is really Greek proverb, and mention is made of it by Tertullian. As early as the beginning of the Second century a Latin writer, Aulus Gellius. puts it into the mouth of Desmosthenes as an excuse for his cowardice at Chero- nea.
 Begging the question" is supposed to be a modern phrase born of the many political discussions which occur in con gress It is known in logical disputa- tions as "the petition of the principle" almost a literal translation of Latin phrase. Begging the question" was frst used by Aristotle. "Birds of feather flock together" is also from the Latin. Translate this sentence from Plautus, Fares cum paribus facilime congregantes, and you'll have it almost literally.
 The expression 'Mind your Ps and Q's'' is said to have various derivations. In old times the score of the ale house customer was kept on a slate, or was chaiked on the door of a cupboard, tt g P and Q standing for pint and quart. The score was settled for and wiped out every Saturday night. If the customer was dilatory in making settlement, he was V inferred that the word tick, equivalent to credit, arose from the tick or mark which indicated each glass of ale. Others ] date the phrase to the time when perukes were in fashion. The toupee was the ar tificial lock of hair, and the queue the pigtail. The phrase was "AIind your toupees and your queues" An old riddle l gives color to this explanation. "Who is the best person to keep the alphabet in order?" was the conundrum. The answer was ga barber, because he ties up the queues and puts toupees in order" It may be that this old riddle suggested the more modern one of ''When does black smith set the letters of the alphabet to quarreling:" "When he makes a poker Ca poke r) and shovel Shove D."
 "Blind as beetle is a phrase as ia miliar as it is false. The insect, in its rapid flight in summer, often strikes the faces of those that are walking, which led to the erroneous impression that it i: blind. Collins refers to this freak of the beetle in his code to Evenings"
 And oft he rises in the twilight path,
 Against the pilgrim borne in needless hum
 
 entomologist to impute blindness to the insect.
 Carrying the war into Africa mean! to retaliate upon an enemy by adopting his own tactics. It grew out of the bat tie of wits between Scipio and Hannibal The latter, Carthaginian leader, led hi army into Italy, and for several year continued to threaten Rome and -lay waste tie surrounding country. Scipio the Roman general, saw the necessity 0 getting rid of Hannibal and his forces . So he led an army into Africa and threat ened Carthage, thus making it necessary for Hannibal to return home for its de fense.
 'Cimmerian darkness" is derived iron the traditions concerning the Cimmerii . people of Italy who lived in caves nea Lake Averno From those gloomy hab itations, so inaccessible to the rays of tn sun, the Sybils gave out their oracles.
 The old proverbial expression, ''DeaC as a door nail, had a very simple origin In olden times the doors were supplie, with knockers instead of bells. Tn knocker itself, in order to make tn necessary noise, was made to strike on piece of iron inserted in the door, an, this piece of iron was called the ''nail. So many blows rendered the nail ''mult morte," as Virgil says, ''abundantl dead," "very deadr' In Shakespeare "Henry w. Falstaff says: 'What! the old king dead?" Pistol replies: "A nail in door,"
 Escaped with the skin of his teeth, is from the twentieth verse of the nine teenth chapter of Job.
 According to the historian Macaulay the expression, ''The gray mare is tn better horse" originated in the prefer ence given to the gray mare of Flander { over the fine coach horse of England Frank H. Stauffer in Detroit Free Press z NIan's Condition and Dependence. C As to his inventions, there is no crea ture more dependent than man. In ever single thing we attempt there is eel tain degree of imperfection which hir il ders its accomplishment. Our power are not sufficient to attain the perfectio Q we desire Man is ever falling" it ha , been said, and God is ever raising hil T.