the Full Monty, or so to speak...

Idioms...sayings that have been recycled into a culture or language & emerging as definitions independent of their actual words. They evoke visual, almost tangible, descriptions...but ever wonder why they do? What path did these words take? I hit up some sources myself to check out a few & traced back their origins (quite an historical voyage) & thought i'd share...

Full Monty

meaning: the "complete" or "whole thing"

origin: Most agree that the phrase stems from a tailor in the early 1900's by the name of Sir Montague (Monty) Burton. His name was well known (he created the worlds largest wholesale business for tailoring at the time) & when men would come in to tailor their complete 3 piece suit, they would ask for the "Full Monty". (had to throw this one in for the fashion peeps)

wolf in sheep's clothing

meaning: someone evil/mean pretending 2 be nice

origin: First found in Aesop's Fables (620 -560BC) the wolf/sheep story wasn't translated to English until John Wyclif's English translation of the Bible in 1382. The King James Version later translated the verse in 1611 of Matthew 7:15 to read:

"Beware of the false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves."

dead ringer

meaning: identical, the exact duplicate

origin: I was sure this one had to do with boxing...wrong. The first English language documentation is from the horse racing community in 19th century America. Horses would be substituted with ones who looked identical to them in races (aka "ringers") to scam bookies. The term "dead" has no attachment to mortality...just the definition of "exact".

Upper Crust

meaning: the elite, or upper class

origin: It is most commonly accepted that in the early 19th century in Europe when a household would bake bread, the bottom of the loaf would be charred & burnt from baking & left for servants, while the master of the house would get the "perfect" upper crust of the loaf...ah gotta love cast societies; good thing i'm partial to burnt toast!

I love the history, but i gotta say the best part of idioms (for me) is when they're switched up & new visuals are created for people to stew over (or so to speak ;)...

("carriage b4 the horse"; installment vii sneak peak)

always,

nic.