{"id":70317,"date":"2014-04-28T11:21:01","date_gmt":"2014-04-28T10:21:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/insight\/origin-of-phrases-part-four\/"},"modified":"2014-04-28T11:21:01","modified_gmt":"2014-04-28T10:21:01","slug":"origin-of-phrases-part-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/origin-of-phrases-part-four\/","title":{"rendered":"The origin of phrases: Part four"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve studied the bee\u2019s knees<\/strong>, got cold feet<\/strong> and painted the town red<\/strong> so far. Here are the origins of five more funny phrases\u2026
\nTreat it with kid gloves<\/strong>
\nMeaning:<\/em> Approaching a situation sensitively
\nOrigin:<\/em> Kid in this instance refers to a baby goat, rather than a human infant. Gloves made with the hide of a kid are very thin, very soft and very delicate, allowing the wearer to handle things sensitively. On the contrary, a \u2018gloves off\u2019 approach, comes from the idea of fighting bare fisted.
\nCatch 22<\/strong>
\nMeaning:<\/em> A problem which has two, equally undesirable solutions
\nOrigin:<\/em> The name of a paradoxical rule described by Joseph Heller in his 1961 novel of the same name.
\nOne fell swoop<\/strong>
\nMeaning:<\/em> To complete one or a number of things quickly, in one go
\nOrigin: Another Shakespearean term, used for the first time in Macbeth by Macduff in response to hearing that his wife and children had been brutally murdered. The words were probably initially paired to mean a swift murder, from the \u2018swoop\u2019 of a bird of prey on its victim and the French word \u2018fel\u2019, meaning without mercy.
\nIn the limelight<\/strong>
\nMeaning:<\/em> Being the centre of attention
\nOrigin:<\/em> Limelight was quite simply the name for the type of lighting used in stage productions for years. Those acting in the play would be \u2018in the limelight\u2019 and therefore the centre of attention for the audience.
\nSwing into action<\/strong>
\nMeaning:<\/em> React quickly to something
\nOrigin:<\/em> The word \u2018swing\u2019 comes from the old English wordswingan<\/em><\/em>, which meant to <\/em>beat, fling oneself or rush. Therefore the idiom \u2018swing into action\u2019 makes perfect sense. It\u2019s less obvious in modern day English, in which we tend to use swing in relation to inanimate objects such as a clock pendulum. However, it does mean \u2018to change\u2019 or \u2018to move easily and without interruption\u2019.
\nHere\u2019s some we wrote earlier:
\nPart one<\/strong><\/a>
\nPart two<\/strong><\/a>
\nPart three<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve studied the bee\u2019s knees, got cold feet and painted the town red so far. Here are the origins of five more funny phrases\u2026 Treat it with kid gloves Meaning: Approaching a situation sensitively Origin: Kid in this instance refers to a baby goat, rather than a human infant. Gloves made with the hide of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[314],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-copywriting-us"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe origin of phrases: Part four - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting & Content Marketing Agency<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.strattoncraig.com\/us\/insight\/origin-of-phrases-part-four\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The origin of phrases: Part four - Stratton Craig - Global Copywriting & Content Marketing Agency\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We\u2019ve studied the bee\u2019s knees, got cold feet and painted the town red so far. Here are the origins of five more funny phrases\u2026 Treat it with kid gloves Meaning: Approaching a situation sensitively Origin: Kid in this instance refers to a baby goat, rather than a human infant. 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