Without Further Ado . . . More Cliches! Quiz

Answer: decreased or suspended breathing

Many misspell the word "bated" as "baited" so as to write "wait with baited breath". However, "bate" is an abbreviated or contracted form of "abate", which means "to become less intense of widespread" or "to decrease, diminish, or halt". Thus, to "wait with bated breath" refers to the typical physical reaction of those who are waiting with anticipation or suspense. People in this situation tend to stand or sit very still while their breathing becomes less intense or shallow if it doesn't, in fact, momentarily cease. William Shakespeare wrote the following lines in "The Merchant of Venice": "Shall I bend low and in a bondman's key, / With bated breath and whispering humbleness, Say this . . .".

Much later, George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) wrote in "Adam Bede", "To his dying day he bated his breath a little when he told the story". Through examples such as these, one can see that "bate" refers to decreasing or restraining the breath in some fashion.

Answer: Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin wrote, "A watched pot is slow to boil", in a report about Franz Mesmer's theory of "animal magnetism". Immediately following his bit of wisdom, Franklin attributed the aphorism to Poor Richard, the pseudonym Franklin used in his earlier days when he annually published his "Almanack". However, if one were to read every issue of "Poor Richard's Almanack", he or she would never find this expression. Obviously, Franklin was being facetious, as he often was in several of his writings.

Again, the meaning behind the poetic expression is that time always seems to pass by very slowly, if at all, when one is waiting for something to happen, particularly when one is in an impatient frame of mind or in a desperate circumstance. The whole idea of the passage of time is, of course, relative, for "time flies when one is having fun", right?

Answer: wears his heart on his sleeve

To "wear your heart on your sleeve" is to show your emotions plainly and openly so that you are not hiding what you are feeling. Some people do this occasionally while others seem to do this habitually as if being open is part of their personalities.

The origin of this expression is not as openly apparent, however. Some claim the phrase is from a practice created during the reign of Roman Emperor Claudius II. Believing that unmarried men made more efficient soldiers, he forbid them to marry and encouraged temporary coupling instead. During a particular festival, the soldiers would draw names to determine which females with whom they'd paired for the year and then wear those names on their sleeves during the remainder of that festival. Another group hold that the expression's origin stems from the Medieval practice of jousting knights, who would wear tied around their arms something of the women to whom they dedicated their performances in those tournaments.

In both these cases, the name or item worn on the sleeves became a symbolic representation, and figuratively the men might refer to these women as their "hearts". Still, there are others who credit William Shakespeare with the origin of this expression.

In the play "Othello", Act I, Scene I, Iago explains to Roderigo, "I will wear my heart upon my sleeve" while he openly fawns over Othello and pretends to be his loyal friend. However, whether Shakespeare composed this phrase on his own or borrowed it from an already established use is unclear.

Answer: weasel words

"Weasel words" is a term for ambiguous words used intentionally by their speaker or writer for the purpose of manipulation. A person might use weasel words when trying to escape a difficult situation, trying to avoid making a commitment, or trying to convince someone of a point when he or she lacks sufficient evidence.

In 1916, Theodore Roosevelt helped to explain and popularize the expression "weasel words" while criticizing Woodrow Wilson's use of the phrase "universal voluntary training": "In connection with the word 'training,' the words 'universal voluntary' have exactly the same effect as an acid has on an alkali--a neutralizing effect. One of our defects as a nation has been a tendency to use what have been called 'weasel words' . . . . If you use a 'weasel word' after another there is nothing left of the other." Roosevelt claimed that he had come across the term earlier in his life, sometime during the 1870s. A writer in a 1900 edition of "Century Magazine" explained the origin and meaning of the expression like this: "Why, weasel words are words that suck the life out of the words next to them, just as a weasel sucks the eggs and leaves the shell".

Answer: The physical condition of animals after they are born

The expression "wet behind the ears" is an allusion to a newborn animal with earlobes. Mammal babies are born wet, having been surrounded by amniotic fluid during its existence before birth. Many of these animals, particularly domesticated ones, have earlobes that create a crease or indentation where they attach to the animals' heads. Creases or folds in the skin would be some of the last places to dry. Thus, a newly born calf, colt, or piglet might still be wet behind the ears even after much of its hair and skin was dry. Essentially, to say an adult person is "wet behind the ears" is to suggest that he or she is as experienced as a newborn, which is not to be experienced at all really.

The phrase seems to have arisen in the United States during the early twentieth century along with a lesser used expression, "dry back of the ears", which means the exact opposite--to be mature, wise, and experienced.

Answer: a white elephant

A "white elephant" is either a possession, usually a valuable one, that is more of a problem or a burden than it is a pleasure, yet the possession is not easily gotten rid of.

According to the same legend mentioned in the question, this king of Siam became the automatic owner of any albino elephant discovered in the wild or born in captivity, so he apparently often had a few of them on hand. Only he would be wealthy enough to feed and maintain such huge creatures as elephants, which eat an average of 400 pounds of food and drink around 50 gallons of water every day. Therefore, passing this burden off onto another less fortunate individual would be cruel indeed--particularly when he could not simply kill the elephant or let the elephant starve as doing so would be equivalent to a heresy within their faith.

Answer: One of Aesop's fables

The King James Version of the Bible, published in 1611, translates Matthew 7:15 as follows: "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves". However, it appears the translator of the gospel written in Greek borrowed the expression from the earlier source of one of Aesop's fables: the eponymous "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing". An 1867 translation by George Townsend reads like this:
Once upon a time a Wolf resolved to disguise his appearance in
order to secure food more easily. Encased in the skin of a sheep,
he pastured with the flock deceiving the shepherd by his costume.
In the evening he was shut up by the shepherd in the fold; the
gate was closed, and the entrance made thoroughly secure. But the
shepherd, returning to the fold during the night to obtain meat
for the next day, mistakenly caught up the Wolf instead of a
sheep, and killed him instantly.
Aesop's fables were composed in the sixth century BC--literally Before Christ.

Answer: The world's my oyster.

"The world's my oyster" is a statement suggesting that life is going very well and that the speaker has a number of favorable opportunities. The meaning of the expression is based on the fact that pearls are found within oysters and on the metaphorical comparison of the earth to an oyster. In other words, the person who says, "The world is my oyster," feels so optimistic and fortunate, that he or she believes the world to be in the palm of his or her hand--in control of life. It's as if he or she is saying, "I can open up the world, as I'd open up an oyster, and take whatever I'd like from it".

The expression was popularized by William Shakespeare and his play "The Merry Wives of Windsor". During the course of the play, Falstaff asks Pistol for a loan but is refused. Later, when his fortunes are reversed, Pistol asks Falstaff for a loan, and Falstaff returns in kind a refusal to lend Pistol any money. Pistol then replies, "Why then, the world's mine oyster, / Which I with sword will open". The implication here is that the original meaning of the expression is that one is presented with an opportunity but must work for the reward (one must pry the oyster open). In more recent times, the expression has come to mean that the rewards are already in possession by the one speaking the phrase. One may also see in the lyrics to a song by The Police, "Man in a Suitcase", that the expression suggests the speaker feels a sense of entitlement or a sense that he or she was meant for better things: "The world's my oyster / A hotel room's a prison cell".

Answer: the worm

When someone who has been treated badly strikes back successfully, one may hear people say, "the worm has turned". The expression comes from an older proverb: "Tread on a worm and it will turn". The meaning of this saying was that even the meekest being will respond to harsh treatment. Literally, if one steps on a worm--albeit lightly--the worm begins to twist--turn--in response.

Again, William Shakespeare must be credited with the popularization of the truncated phrase "the worm turns". In his play "Henry VI, Part 3", Lord Clifford is pleading with the king not to resort to mercy. He says, "To whom do lions cast their gentle looks? / Not to the beast that would usurp their den . . . / The smallest worm will turn begin trodden on, / And doves will peck in safeguard of their brood".

Answer: He's whistling Dixie.

If someone is "whistling Dixie" that individual is engaging in an unrealistically optimistic fantasy. During the American Civil War, the Southern states of the Confederacy believed they could win the war and survive as an independent nation separate from the United States. However, many believed this was an overly optimistic belief--a fantastical impossibility. The song "Dixie" is associated with the South, for it was sung by many Southerners as somewhat of an anthem and was the source of the South's nickname--Dixie or Dixieland. The idea is that anyone whistling Dixie was being foolishly patriotic to a cause that was doomed to fail.

More often today, one hears the expression in the negative: "He ain't whistling Dixie" or "He isn't just whistling Dixie". Used in this manner, the speaker is saying that another person is telling truth or is perfectly serious. For example, one might say, "The governor said that our state is in a very precarious situation financially, and he ain't whistling Dixie".