Where Common Terms And Phrases Originated
Have you ever heard a word or phrase and wondered when people started saying it? And why?
Language is constantly changing, and many of the common terms and phrases we use in everyday conversation have much deeper meanings than we realize. Numerous statements still in use have evoked controversy and reassessment, while others continue to find new applications.
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#idioms #language #weirdhistory
@BithiaKedenge
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
The Rule of Thumb was a method of estimating the height of something… like a tree in the distance
@joelwienke8827
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
The kool aide one, i remember seeing the aftermath on the evening news my dad religiously watched every night. He called mom in and the rest of us 3 kids followed. I remember the horror, anger and incredible sadness i felt watching the news coverage. I was 14. Youngest and not the favorite, think maybe mom snuck out on dad as i was the only blond blue eyed kid in a dark hair dark eye falimy, anyway, after that. Suddenly there was kool-aid on the table the next night for supper, my glass already filled before i got there, rest of the glasses empty, then they asked for milk. I asked for milk, was told, first drink all your kool-aid. I ate supper without taking a sip of it. Haven't ever drank any kool-aid that i didn't make since then. No exceptions.
@rexstetson1717
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
@WeirdHistory – Ummmmm….just a heads up, there is more than one person in the world with the surname Goddard.
In the segment of the video where you discuss morons and psychologist Henry H. Goddard, you included two pictures of the man credited with inventing the liquid fueled rocket, Robert H. Goddard.
The fact he’s standing next to a rocket in one photo, might have been a tipoff for your more eagle-eyed researchers.
@Maxamander3008
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
I’m pretty sure a wounded soldier couldn’t care less WHAT got them away from no-man’s-land.
@1DayNew
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
I had an uncle who always said, "He went ass-over-tin cups." If someone were to have a bad fall.
@amberm9853
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
I've never heard hoity-toity before.
@tomt5176
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
When I found this video my first thought was, “Look what the cat dragged in”.
@johnstraley9057
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
More modern times brought us 'Jumped the shark'
@Davidsavage8008
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
Basket case. Oldest one in history is mosses. Set adrift in a basket.
Now days in front of fire stations
@Michael-jm7pl
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
Just found your channel your commentary is hilarious keep up the good work 😂
@Denial-l6s
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
Rule of thumb is because of the old measuring of inches based on the king's thumb. Same with the foot and yard measurements being based on various body parts of the king.
@sairawilliams9921
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
The rule of thumb has nothing to do with the length of your thumb it's the width. The rule of thumb stated it's ok for a husband to beat his wife with a stick for misbehaving as long as the stick is no wider than his thumb, and went away in the 1800s please. There are southern towns in America where the police still allow this and worse
@BacktoYesterday-1
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
It’s fascinating how everyday phrases carry centuries of history behind them. We say these things without even thinking — and yet each one started with a story.
@CatherineKeddy-u1d
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
I thought " the rule of thumb was a way to measure fabric back in the day.
@efialo
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
Your volume 3, Commercial volume 10
@sidneybailey9217
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
Your humor is lacking
@ThierryC2373
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
Some of these idioms are not explained at all, unfortunately.
@svjim1
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
Well there were a lot of Irish policemen as well.
@alicebas377
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
" drank the kool-aid" we still call kool-aid " jim jones jungle juice"
@themaven2017
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
The Jim Jones massacre happened in 1978, but the Grateful Dead's first "Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" was in 1965
@Mike-ci6ff
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
The origin of the words or phrases given (for the most part) is absolutely incorrect. Contrary to popular belief, not everything comes from America or England
@jeromecrooks1256
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
The history is interesting enough. Only took a minute to find out that they didn’t paint the phrase on the trucks!
Please do better…
@Rosie-p8s1y
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
Cotton pickers were whites so poor they picked their own cotton, has nothing to do with blacks. I know, my mom picked cotton in tne 1930s until her fingernails fell off. Quit making everything racial, please.
@Rosie-p8s1y
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
Paddy was an irishman and many cops were irish, the pick van was a van, thus paddywagon
@nathanapplegate5374
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
And now the newest phrase: coldplayed.
It originated in 2025 and means to be unexpectedly and publicly exposed while having an affair.
@asullivan4047
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
Interestingly informative and entertaining 😉.
@mattgiguere5638
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
Pipe down is an oldoldie or crime in Italy or for Pete's sakes😅
@dbugs58
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
The term catty Wompus where does that come from?
@vickiefowler1429
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
The term "basket case" as I heard it used in my youth, described someone who had suffered a mental breakdown and was undergoing psychiatric treatment in a hospital. There, they would be required to participate in some form of art therapy which for most patients, consisted of weaving baskets — something that required concentration… hence basket cases.
@axidhaus
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
Goddard wasn’t wrong
@axidhaus
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
This generation is all spazzed out
@tohellwithgoogle4261
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
Trufact – they didn't use Kool Aid at Jonestown. They used the cheap knock-off Flavor-Aid. Kraft Foods (who own Kool Aid) make a point of this.
@tohellwithgoogle4261
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
Eenie Meenie Miney Moe didn't originally say catch a "tiger." It used the N-word. I still heard it that way growing up in the 80s sometimes (before I even knew what it meant.) No, I'm not from the South.
@tohellwithgoogle4261
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
I've heard Paddy Wagon also explained by the fact one of the jobs that Irish men COULD get in those times was with the police (the stereotype of the Irish cop still exists.)
@TheFirstManticore
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
You probably forgot one of the more naughty versions of "eenie meenie minie moe."
@DaretoDream814
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
Fuzzy Whuzzy! not connected to the Paddy Wagon makes me go, hum! It's a very dry joke. If you know, you know. Thanks for the content luv.
@davidreed3165
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
Can we bring back intelligence tests before you can vote?
@MissClardy913
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
😮 1:17
@jakewolf9495
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
the logic behind the rule of thumb is twisted at best it was a minister up in front of a congregation delivering a sermon so he's not going to say wife beating or brewing alcohol however we do believe pretty strongly that it was used by Brewers Millers Carpenters and a few other trades none of them are recorded of course but their beliefs where the wife one isn't. so that's a logical flaw. as a matter of fact by 1658 when he used it in the sermon it was already metaphorically broadly known to mean generally following your thumb for measurements. I should also point out an absence of evidence isnt evidence of anything but an attempt to cover up. I'm thinking the historians would rather forget about the wife beating one because they thought it was embarrassing, but it's much worse than that. horrifically if the rule of thumb was real (and I'm not saying it is I'm just saying you can't disqualify it based on what they said) but if it is real it probably saved some wives and even worse beating which is god-awful I agree but I also think it's important to keep truth in history and try to avoid biases which is to say the best we can say is we don't know. and they should probably acknowledge it would make sense.
@alzo7891
February 20, 2026 at 11:12 pm
The Jonestown victims actually consumed a poison mixed with a knockoff brand called Flavor-Ade. Kool-Ade got smeared as a result of its brand dominance becoming generic.
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