Kangaroo
Court – this one has its very own Wiki page! Now you might think this one came from Australia
– the only country as far as I know with kangaroos. But no, the first recorded instance of it is
American. It means a judicial or court
process that is not fair or well run.
Taking
the Mickey - if
you are taking the Mickey out of someone you are making fun of them – not
usually in a mean way. Wiki thinks that
Mickey is a reference to Michael Bliss
(and Bliss is cockney rhyming slang for a word starting with 'p'. That seems a bit far-fetched to me – but who
really knows. One thing is certain – the
Mickey is not a reference to the famous cartoon mouse.
Red
Herring – this is a deliberate device by someone (maybe an
author) to set a clue that is misleading and diverts you from the truth. But why a herring and why red? There is no
such fish as a red herring… There
is no real consensus about this. Most
theories seem to think that it is a reference to a strongly scented preserved
fish or kipper. It may have been used in
training hounds to follow scents.
Saved
by the Bell – this is used when a time comes up or
something happens that means you don't have to do something disagreeable or
won't be punished. The saying originally
almost certainly came from boxing – where someone is almost down and out but the
bell rings for the end of the round. There are other theories – one gruesome one is
that in olden times they rigged up coffins with a bell that could be rung from
inside in the event that the person woke up while being buried.
Straight
from the Horse's Mouth – the meaning of this is straight
forward – it is getting some information from the original source rather than
from second hand sources. I think it is
a horse racing term in that punters (betters) believed that if they got a tip
from someone in direct contact with the horse that it was more valuable. But other than the adorable Mr Ed, horses
don't talk.
This is a great list. I always love learning the meaning behind commonly used phrases!
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