English is a funny language. We find ourselves with minor inconveniences and call them "First World Problems." We cut and paste things on the computer without ever touching scissors or glue, and if we get overly tired then we have "run out of steam." How did these strange turns of phrase come to be?
Soap Opera
These shows are known for their female audiences and over-the-top acting, but maybe it's because they used to be sponsored by actual soap companies to market to housewives!
"Put A Sock In It!"
This less-than-polite way to tell someone to keep quiet has nothing to do with putting your foot in your mouth. It references the sure-fire way to dampen the sound of the music coming from a gramophone!
Balls To The Wall
Okay, before you freak out, it's actually an engine term! When the vehicle would be travelling faster, it would need the engine to work harder, and these weighted metal balls would be pushed to the sides of the walls. The more you know!
The origin stories of these next phrases will blow your mind!
Dashboard
Whether it's the thing your parking pass goes on in your car, or the information on your computer, the name derives from something from the time of horse and buggies. It was a sheet of wood that would block the mud that would be "dashed up" by the horses hooves.
Cobwebs
Strange that we use the term cob when describing the beautiful webs that our spider friends construct. The only reason is because we used to call spiders "cobs" a very, very long time ago.
Movie Trailer
We are all now so used to seeing trailers before the movie begins, but that wasn't always the case. They used to be shown at the end to let people know what was coming up soon at a point when they would have a better chance of remembering it.
This make's sense, since we don't put trailers at the front of things, do we?
