An Idiom By Any Other Name 3 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Fit as a fiddle

The earliest known written reference to this saying dates back to a 1603 work, "The Batchelars Banquet" by Thomas Dekker. In this he states of a character that "Then comes downe mistresse Nurse as fine as a farthing fiddle, in her petticoate and kertle." Today we take this expression to mean someone who is in the prime of health and ready to take on the world.

However, its original meaning back then was more to do with propriety than health, as in any action being looked upon as seemly and proper.

Answer: Hit the hay

To hit the hay - or the sack - means that one is about to go to bed, and hopefully have a good night's sleep. This saying appears to have originated in the early twentieth century. In the 1902 book "People You Know" by American writer George Ade, for example, he states that "After Dinner he smoked one Perfecto and then, when he had put in a frolicsome Hour or so with the North American Review, he crawled into the Hay at 9.30 P.M".

It is thought that the saying arose from the fact that many early mattresses were stuffed with hay or straw.

Answer: Let the cat out of the bag

Today this saying means to give away a secret, but originally it came about during the days when goods were once carted to market by the people who produced them. It was a common piece of deception by tricksters, that after selling a pig to a buyer, the pig was put in a bag for the buyer to take home.

However, a cat was often substituted for the pig at the last moment instead. If the bag was opened and the cat disclosed, pussy was well and truly let out of the bag, and a rather heated argument probably ensued.

Some insist the saying is related to getting the cat of nine tails out of its bag preparatory to a flogging, but the general consensus is that it's all to do about avoiding buying a pig in a poke and demanding to see the contents of the bag instead.

Answer: Kicked the bucket

To kick the bucket means that someone has died, and hopefully peacefully at that. The origin of the saying has a rather darker meaning that dates back at least to Grose's "Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue" which was published in 1785. Though still to do with death, it was believed by then to refer to dying by hanging, when a bucket on which one stood was kicked out from under that person.

However an older interpretation is that a bucket was an old word that meant a beam or a yoke, upon which animals about to be slaughtered were hung up by their legs.

In their struggles to escape, the poor creatures often kicked the device from which they dangled.

Answer: Pull his leg

To pull someone's leg is to play a playful trick on them in some way. There are two possible origins to this phrase. The first belongs to people who were once hired at public executions to tug down on the victim's legs in order to hasten his or her death.

The second belongs to thieves in previous times who were said to pull at the legs of targets to make those people fall over, and then, in their momentary confusion, quickly rob them.

Answer: The spitting image

A spitting image, when applied to any two of a kind, are two things or people so identical that it is very hard to tell the difference. Those two little girls are twins and even fight with one another in identical ways. It's highly entertaining. Some believe this term was originally "the splitting image" and used to refer to a plank of wood that has been hewn exactly down the middle, so that the resulting two pieces are identical.

Others say the term dates back to the 17th century, when, if a child was so like a parent, the parent was said to have spat that child out of his or her mouth.

Answer: A skeleton in the closet

A skeleton in the closet is an expression dating back to 19th century England. This term refers to anyone who, appearing to be of impeccable character, and spoken highly of by everyone, secretly has a dark and disturbing secret that hasn't been revealed.

It could be an actual skeleton of a murder victim who has been hidden, or some unhealthy personality trait, or the woeful state of one's finances and so on. Anything, in fact, that would reflect very badly on that person, or a family, group or business if disclosed.

Answer: Thirteen loaves of bread from a baker

Known as a baker's dozen, this term means that you have received thirteen products instead of the twelve you ordered. Free of charge of course. The expression dates back to medieval England. If bakers sold underweight goods during that era, they could be penalised quite heavily. Such penalties included fining or flogging. So to be on the safe side, they frequently put in one more product than ordered to ensure those penalties didn't occur. Bakers at that time in history were still subject to the regulations of a guild known as the Worshipful Company of Bakers, an organisation dating back to the reign of King Henry II who was the monarch of that country from 1154 until 1189.

Answer: It was like a kettle of fish

This term, which we understand today to mean a situation that has turned very awkward or uncomfortable, is found in several works dating back to the first part of the 18th century. However, the kettle referred to in those times was not one that we commonly use to make boiling water for a cup of tea, but a narrow rectangular dish used for frying fish.

In Thomas Newte's later work called "A Tour of England and Scotland in 1785", he states that "It is customary for the gentlemen who live near the Tweed to entertain their neighbours and friends with a (rural feast)...which they call giving a 'kettle of fish'. Tents or marquees are pitched near the flowery banks of the river... a fire is kindled, and live salmon thrown into boiling kettles."

Answer: Play fast and loose

Today this term means to be unfaithful, unreliable or inconstant in any matter or relationship. Its origins can be found dating back to the 14th century where it was a game of cheating or deception in which one tried to make it seem as though something which appeared to be solidly in place, fell apart instead. Much later, in 1847, it is described in James Halliwell's work, "A dictionary of archaic and provincial words, obsolete phrases, proverbs and ancient customs, from the fourteenth century" as the following:

"Fast-and-loose, a cheating game played with a stick and a belt or string, so arranged that a spectator would think he could make the latter fast by placing a stick through its intricate folds, whereas the operator could detach it at once."