I thought since I am quite fond of random information, I would start a thread of common phrases that are used in the English language. Most Americans use phrases without knowing where they came from, but still understand when they are to be used. I'll start off witha phrase I actually heard a question on in another part of the forum:

"Mind your p's and q's"

(p's and q's):
- Socially correct behavior; manners.
- The way one acts; conduct.

Oddly enough, "mind your P's and Q's" had nautical beginnings as a method of keeping books on the waterfront.
In the days of sail when Sailors were paid a pittance, seamen drank their ale in taverns whose keepers were willing to extend credit until payday.

Since many sailors were illiterate, keepers kept a tally of pints and quarts consumed by each Sailor on a chalkboard behind the bar. Next to each person's name, a mark was made under "P" for pint or "Q" for quart whenever a seaman ordered another draught.

On payday, each seaman was liable for each mark next to his name, so he was forced to "mind his P's and Q's" or he would get into financial trouble. To ensure an accurate count by unscrupulous keepers, Sailors had to keep their wits and remain somewhat sober.

Sobriety usually ensured good behavior, hence the meaning of "mind your P's and Q's."

Okay, I have to admit that I learned something here...but what the heck do you do for a living that you know stuff like this...I'm impressed...seriously...

Thanks to Roznos- You saved me the trouble to reply to Shsong! I remembered Pints and Quarts but not the whole story...

Dameeun- there are a lot of us older persons (who can't DJ successfully anymore), and spend time fussing over words and things that seem to be a waste of time, but give us a sort of "trivia" satisfaction, I guess!

I'm an Air Force guy, but basically I have a very keen memory for all things trivia. I also have a knack for finding information. I also love learning anything I can, by way of educational TV (Discovery, History channel, etc...), books, magazines, and any other media.

Here's another:

"Buy the Farm" - means to die

The history has not quite been pinned down yet, but here are some theories:

(Some theorize that an American soldier's G.I. insurance was sufficient to enable his family to settle the mortgage back home, thus a death in battle was succinctly described as "He bought the farm."

Another theory leaves out soldiers entirely — according to it, farmers whose buildings were hit by crashing fighter planes would sue the government for damages, and those damages were often enough to pay off all outstanding mortgages on the property. Since very few pilots would survive such a crash, the pilot was said to have "bought the farm" with his life.

These are charming tales filled with imagery and romance, but nothing other than our desire to believe supports any of them. Moreover, "to buy it" (meaning "to die") existed in the language long before "to buy the farm" did. It's more reasonable to suppose the one is an extension of the other, with "the farm" substituting for (the often unstated) "it."

The Oxford English Dictionary offers this definition of "buy":
To suffer some mishap or reverse, specifically to be wounded; to get killed, to die; (of an airman) to be shot down.

The earliest use of "buy" in this sense dates to 1825, more than a century before the earliest appearance of "buy the farm."

Lexicographer Dave Wilton concludes "the farm" is a slang reference to a burial plot (i.e., a piece of ground). "Buy a plot" appeared around the time of "buy the farm" (both mean the same thing), but it's a particular snippet of World War I slang that ties it all together: "Become a landowner" thus means "to inhabit a cemetery plot.")

- excerpts from www.snopes.com explaination.

Someone came up to me in E Mart and asked me what this meant.

To kick the bucket, which also means to die.

Good one...

"Kick The Bucket":

To die. Derived from the slaughter of pigs, the wooden block a pig was hung from during slaughter was referred to as a buque. Thus in the process of killing the pig, it would inevitably kick it