Groups > Don't Be At A Loss For Words

That was excellent!

Shoo fly don't bother me.

Oh, good, will you take that one over to the 'clichés', please?

free lunch

Despite the claims of rabid science fiction fans, the phrase there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch began its life as a joke that was commonly told by economists in the first half of the 20th century.

The joke goes that one day a king assembled his advisors and asked them to summarize the essence of economics wisdom. One by one, the advisors delivered lengthy treatises on the subject. Angry that they weren’t doing what he had asked, the king had them executed. When it came to his turn one wise advisor, realizing what was happening, summed up all of economics wisdom in there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch, pleasing the king and sparing his life.

flea market

Generally, the word flea connotes low-rent or cheap, because such places were often infested with fleas (cf. fleabag). The term flea market is a translation of the French marché aux puces, literally market with fleas, an open-air market where second hand goods are sold. From the Belfast News-Letter of 28 July 1891

There is going on just now near the Barriere de Montreuil, at the extreme east end of Paris a sale of rubbish, familiarly known to its frequenters by the unattractive name of the “Flea Market.”

Some suggest that the term is also influenced by the fact that the locations of such markets are not fixed and jump around like fleas. While this may be a characteristic of the markets, it does not appear to be the origin.

And I thought it was the place that folks who ran a flea circus went to purchase their performers.

(Yeah, I know.........)

face the music

This phrase meaning to accept responsibility, suffer consequences is an Americanism dating to the mid-19th century. The underlying metaphor is uncertain. From the New Hampshire Statesman and State Journal of 17 February 1834:

We want no equivocation—“face the music” this time—Gove and Barton are able backers.

Many of the earliest citations of the phrase are from New Hampshire, indicating that the term arose there, or at least arose in New England.

There are a couple of common explanations for the phrase, but none have any conclusive evidence to support them. The first explanation is that it derives from the stage. With the musicians in a pit before the stage, to face the music is to turn towards the audience and either their hoots or cheers. Another is that it is military in origin, and refers to a ceremony where an officer is cashiered and is literally drummed out of the service.

Because of the early citations from New Hampshire, it has also been suggested that face the music may have originated in contra dancing, a social dance form that was popular in 19th century New England and is still practiced in New Hampshire today. But like the other proposed explanations, no evidence definitively linking the phrase to the dance form has been unearthed.

bated breath

Bate is a verb dating to the beginning of the 14th century meaning to deprive or to lessen; it is a clipped form of abate.

Shakespeare was the first writer we know of to use bated breath, in 1596 in The Merchant of Venice, I.iii.125:

With bated breath, and whispring humblenesse.

Like most of Shakespeare’s alleged coinages, this is probably not an invention of the Bard; his use has simply survived while the writings of earlier and lesser writers have perished.

The term is often seen as baited breath, which is not a bad case of halitosis, but rather a misspelling.