Evening star., 1899-04-08
Curious Facts About Expressions in
Everyday Use.
QUAINT SAWS MANY CENTURIES Old
One Has Come Down From the
Days Of Ancient Tyre.
POSSIBLE EXPLANATIONS
From the Chicago Tribune.

| From the Chicago Tribune
Many of the phrases one uses or hears
every day have been handed down 10 us
| from generation to generation for hun
/ dreds of years. and in many cases they can
| be traced back TO a quaint and curious
origin.
One of the oldest of these familiar ex-
pressions is to cut a dido" which is said
| of person when he plays a sharp trick,
and carries us back to 500 years b. G.. when
| Dido, Queen of Tyre, after the murder Of
her husband by her brother fled to the
| northern coast of Africa and founded a
| city. She largained for as much land as
could be surrounded by a bulls hide and.
in order to claim as large a tract as pos
sible. she had the hide cut into narrow
strips, ard on the land thus surrounded she
built citadel. The natives, seeing that
they had been quietly outwitted by a wo-
man, submitted gracefully to this cutting
| of Dido
There's many slip 'twixt the cup and
| the lip is nearly as old, and is attributed
| to Ancaeus, King of the Island of Samos
! in the Grecian archipelago. This king so
runs the story. had planted vineyard, but
| ne mad treated his slaves so badly that one
| OF them predicted that his master would
never live to even taste of its wine. When
the Vints ge came. however, the king called
Tor cup of wine, and then asked the slave
What he thought of his prophecy. IL think
there's many a slip between the cup and
the lip he solemnly answered Just at
that instant a messenger in hot haste
rushed into the palace, informing the king
that a wild boar had broken into the vine
yard and was destroying it. Ancaeus put
down his wine cup untasted and hurried out
to attack the ravager, but in the chase was
killed.
An Army of Bricks.
az,
noble fellow, doubtless originated with
Agesiaus, King of Sparta, about $50 b. c.
a visitor at the Lacedaemonian capital was
surprised to find it without walls or other
visible means of defense, and asked his
royal host what they would do in case of
invasion by a foreign power
DO! replied the heroic king; why,
sparta has $1,000 soldiers and each man
is brick
Done TO turn" suggests the story of
81. Lawrence, who suffered martyrdom by
being roasted on a gridiron. During his
torture he calmly requested the attendants
TO turn him over, as he was thoroughly
roasted on one side. Hence the phrase
Done TO turn
In one of the battles between the Rus
slams and the Tartars. four hundred years
ago, a private soldier of the former cried
out: Captain, I've caught a Tartar"
Bring him along, then, answered the
ofilcer Il can't, for he won't let me" was
thc IeSpoiSt- pom lnNHSllgatlDn II was
apparent that the captured had the cantor
by the arm and ould not release him So
catching a Tartar is applicable to one
who has found an antagonist too strong for
him.
Peter and Paul.
The familiar expression "robbing Peter to
pay Paul is connected with the history Of
Westminster Abbey. In the early middle
ages II was the custom to call the abbey
Ste Peters Cathedral. At one time. the
funds of st. PauTs Cathedral being. low,
those in authority took sufficient from st.
Peters to settle the accounts much 10 the
dissatisfaction of the people, who asked
Why rob St Peter to pay St. Paul?" Some
two hundred years later the saying was
again used in regard to the same collegiate
churches. at the time of the death of the
Earl of Chatham, the city of London de-
claring that the famous statesman ought
to lie in st. Paurs Parliament. however.
insisted that Westminster Abbey was the
would be, for the second time. ''robbing ST
Peter to pay St Paul. The abbey properly
carried the day.
dying in the last ditch was according
TO Hume. first used by William of Orange
When Holland was So hotly pressed by her
enemies that complete disaster seemed inn
minent. the Duke of Buckingham impln-ed
the prince to change his tactics or the
country would be ruined. There is one
way to prevent my seeing the ruin of my
country" answered the prince; Il will die
in the last ditch.'
HE has an AK to grind" Early in the
century the story was told of lad who was
induced hy promised reward to turn the
srindstone for one who wished to sharpen
his ak. The promised payment was not
made. Since then one who disguises his
selfish aims by false promises is said TO
have an ak to grind.
From Ancient Egypt.
90. k has many alleged origins. The
most probable is the following: In 1870
when Alvah Adams organized the Adams
Express Company, young country dad ap-
piled for work He was employed TO do
all sorts of obi jobs and make himself gem
orally useful in the office. The boy had an
observant eye and saw that the shipping
clerk placed upon the managers desk each
night list of the packages marked "aH
correct" The clerk being absent one day,
the boy was asked to write the list, or,
rather, to check it, When he placed it on
the desk it bore on the outside the letters
20. K" Asked what they meant the youth
replied: 40. K. means 'all correct
Nr. Adams enjoyed hearty laugh and
adopted the striking abbreviation there
after.
Cut and run" originated in a peculiar
custom of the Egyptian embalmers. A low
caste was employed TO make the first incis-
much dislike by the people. who held him
accursed who should mutiate the dead. As
the fellow had made his cut he
had to run through storm of curses,
and had to run to his life.
The true origin of the expression ito dun
n man. is curious. In the reign of Henry
VII bailif of Lincoln named Joe Dun
was so active and clever in collecting debts
that it became a proverb, when person
tried to avoid payment, why don't you
Dun him?''
Other Familiar Phrases.
''Hobson's choice is derived from one
Hobson, who used to let out horses for hire.
and who obliged every person who wanted
one to take that next the stable door, be-
ing the one that had taken the most rest.
''Grog," a sea term for rum and water,
originated from Admiral Vernon, who first
introduced II on board ship. He was called
by the sailors "Old Grog," from his wear
ing a grogram coat in bad weather.
''Topsy tuTvy''-When things are IN con-
fusion they are said to be topsy turvy.
expression derived from the way in which
turf for fuel is placed to dry on its being
cut. The surface of the ground is pared
Dff with the heath growing upon II, and the
heath is turned downward and left some