Old Sayings and Where They Came From: The Bizarre Origins of Everyday Phrases Part 1 | The Strange History Podcast

0:00 Speaker 1: Welcome back, dear listeners to the Strange History Podcast, where words never die, they just get weird. Tonight we're diving into the world of old sayings, not superstitions, not curses, just the wise, witty, and occasionally nonsensical phrases our ancestors left us like dusty heirlooms. We use these phrases all the time without realizing they've been around longer than indoor plumbing. So tonight we'll explore their origins, their hidden meanings, and the historical hilarity behind them. So pull up your metaphorical armchair or your literal one if you're fancy, and let's decode the wisdom of the ages, one proverb at a time.

0:41 Speaker 2: A stitch in time saves nine.

0:44 Speaker 1: Our first gem of wisdom sounds like something you'd hear from a grandmother armed with a needle and unstoppable moral authority. A stitch in time saves nine. It's old, first recorded in the early seventeen hundreds, and it means exactly what it sounds like. Fix small problems before they become big ones. In a world where people actually repaired their clothes instead of buying new ones, this wasn't metaphorical advice. It was survival. If you caught a tear early and stitched it, it saved you nine more stitches later.

1:19 Speaker 1: Nine Apparently ancient tailors were keeping score. In modern terms, this is update your software before it crashes, or don't ignore that weird noise in your car until it's screaming like a bansheet.

1:31 Speaker 3: This bit of old school practicality is brought to you by So What emergency sewing kits for life's little tears and meltdowns, because sometimes your patience unravels faster than your pants.

1:45 Speaker 2: Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

1:48 Speaker 1: Now, this one comes galloping in from medieval Europe. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth sounds bizarre until you know that back then people checked a horse's teeth to judge its age and health. So if someone gave you a horse and the first thing you did was pry open its mouth, you were being rude. It was the thirteenth century equivalent of saying thanks for the new iPhone, I'm just going to check the warranty. The phrase became a reminder to accept gifts graciously, even if they come with horse breath, and considering that a horse was basically a car, a tractor, and a best friend all in one.

2:25 Speaker 1: Yeah, gratitude was expected.

2:27 Speaker 2: The early bird catches the worm.

2:30 Speaker 1: You know this one the motivational poster of all proverbs. The earliest known use dates to the sixteen hundreds, and it's exactly what you think. Those who start early reap the rewards. It was particularly popular among farmers and merchants. The morning hours were crucial, not because worms were delicious for them anyway, but because the day's trade and chores began at dawn. Of course, today the early bird gets a parking spot and an email inbox full of regrets.

3:03 Speaker 3: Brought to you by rise and grind coffee the only roast strong enough to make you feel like an early bird, even if you're more of a nocturnal pigeon.

3:12 Speaker 2: Curiosity killed the cat.

3:14 Speaker 1: Here's one that's been unfairly used to shame every inquisitive soul. Curiosity killed the cat. The original one, five hundred and ninety eight version actually said care killed the cat, meaning too much worry, not curiosity. Over time, care got replaced by curiosity, and the phrase evolved into a warning against nosiness. But there's a forgotten sequel. Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. That part got dropped somewhere along the way, probably by the same people who hated fun.

3:48 Speaker 1: So really, this old saying isn't about killing curiosity. It's about revival, about how learning something new can bring you back to life.

3:58 Speaker 3: This philosophical mealment is brought to you by Whisker Wisdom, the only cat toy designed to answer life's deepest questions.

4:06 Speaker 2: Curiosity encouraged A penny for your thoughts.

4:11 Speaker 1: A penny for your thoughts. It's what people say when someone looks pensive, or when you're clearly zoning out thinking about pizza. The phrase goes back to fifteen twenty two, when Sir Thomas Moore used it in his writings. Back then, a penny could actually buy something, a loaf of bread, maybe a pint of ale, so offering one for someone's thoughts was generous. It was a way of saying, I value your silence, but I'd like to know what's going on in there. Today. A penny won't even buy gum, but emotionally still works.

4:44 Speaker 3: This thoughtful pause is brought to you by mindment, the gum that freshens your breath. And your opinions, because deep thoughts deserve clean air.

4:53 Speaker 2: Don't count your chickens before they hatch.

4:56 Speaker 1: This bit of barnyard wisdom dates back to Esop's fable The Milkmaid and her Pale. In the story, a young milkmaid dreams of selling her milk, buying chickens, and becoming rich. Then trips and spills the milk. Dream over moral, don't get ahead of yourself. The saying became a favorite among farmers and financiers alike. It's a reminder that plans aren't profits until they're real, or, as modern podcasters would say, don't spend your ad revenue before the check clears.

5:29 Speaker 3: This rural reality check brought to you by cluck Coin, the only cryptocurrency backed entirely by chickens that may or may not exist yet.

5:38 Speaker 2: You can't have your cake and eat it too.

5:41 Speaker 1: This one sounds confusing, I mean, what else are you supposed to do with cake? But it's about wanting to enjoy two mutually exclusive things. The phrase shows up as early as fifteen thirty eight in a letter from Thomas, Duke of Norfolk to Thomas Cromwell. It means you can't posses something and consume it at the same time. In modern terms, you can't binge Netflix and brag about productivity. Ironically, the duke who wrote it later lost his head for political scheming, proving that you also can't have your cake and keep your neck.

6:17 Speaker 3: Sponsored by cake logic for when you want your cake, eat it too, and maybe freeze a slice for the apocalypse.

6:24 Speaker 2: Let the cat out of the bag.

6:26 Speaker 1: This one's pure medieval mischief. In market towns, dishonest traders sold piglets and sacks. A buyer who didn't check before paying might find a cat instead. When the cat escaped, poof the trick was revealed. Thus, letting the cat out of the bag meant exposing a secret, a scam, or an embarrassing truth, and somewhere a very annoyed cat started the world's first consumer protection movement.

6:53 Speaker 3: This confession is brought to you by Cats Out, the new reality show where secret spill, tails twitch, and honesty always lands on its feet.

7:02 Speaker 2: Bite the bullet.

7:04 Speaker 1: Before anesthesia, soldiers undergoing surgery were given a bullet to bite. It was something to clench their jaws on while doctors sawed and stitched. Bite the bullet became shorthand for facing something painful with bravery. Rudyard Kipling later used it metaphorically in his writings, cementing it into our language. So the next time you say it, remember it originally involved fewer metaphors and more screaming.

7:32 Speaker 3: This painful truth brought to you by numb now the only herbal tincture guaranteed to dull the sting of Monday's meetings and emotional surgery.

7:42 Speaker 2: Birds of a feather flock together.

7:45 Speaker 1: People have been observing this since ancient Greece. Birds of the same kind fly in groups. The phrase itself dates to the sixteenth century and was used by William Turner in fifteen forty five. It simply means like attracts, like, whether it's spare scholars or people who owned too many crystals. It's also the reason why all strange history fans seem to find each other on the Internet. Welcome to the flock.

8:13 Speaker 3: This social observation is sponsored by feather Friends, the dating app for people who flocked to the same nonsense.

8:20 Speaker 2: Burning the midnight oil.

8:22 Speaker 1: Before electricity, oil lamps were the only light source for studying or working after dark, so if someone was burning the midnight oil. It meant they were up late working, usually scholars, writers, or insomniacs with the deadline. The phrase symbolized diligence, effort, and exhaustion, the noble struggle of getting stuff done. Basically, this podcast exists because I've been burning the midnight oil for well over one hundred episodes.

8:51 Speaker 3: This sleepless tale is brought to you by caffeine and Consequences, the official energy drink of bad ideas, executed brilliantly.

9:00 Speaker 1: Pot Calling the kettle black ah hypocrisy. It's timeless. In the sixteen hundreds, pots and kettles were made of cast iron and blackened by soot over the fire, so when one called the other black, it was like saying you're dirty when they both were. It first appeared in Thomas Shelton's sixteen twenty translation of Don Quixote, and it's been roasting hypocrites ever since. So next time you criticize someone for oversharing on social media, check your own story first.

9:32 Speaker 3: This steamy moral is brought to you by clean Kettle, the self scrubbing cookware that keeps your conscience spotless.

9:38 Speaker 1: And there you have it, dear listeners. Twelve sayings that stitched, sipped, and bit their way through history into our modern mouths. Each one holds a piece of the past, wisdom born from war work, and the everyday weirdness of being human. Join me next for part two, where we'll dig into thirteen more saying about spilled milk, rotten apples, flying pigs, and why you should never cry wolf unless you mean it. Until then, remember, don't count your chickens, don't let any cats out of any bags. And please, for the love of all that's idiomatic, be kind to your kettle.

10:17 Speaker 1: Good night, and good history.