Language With Calluses: Sayings Shaped by Place and Time

Every year this week, we get walloped with year-end lists of every flavor and color: rankings, summaries, and verdicts stack up like cordwood.

I wanted to take a different path.

With the goal of something fun to do during a long drive on a hot July day, we end up looking down at a lengthy, unranked list of colloquialisms, something that's rarely announced.

Long ago, I declared myself the King of the Analogy. I know, it's a rather silly title, but please consider my job at the time: I was a technical writer for a dairy parlor manufacturer; specifically, I wrote installation manuals that were translated from American English into Canadian French, Portuguese, and Spanish. 

My job, I felt, was translating engineer-speak into something normal people could understand, and for me, analogies were the easiest tool in my toolbox to do so. 

Contained within the same analogy drawer was a long list of colloquialisms that strengthened analogies — again for me. Colloquialisms rarely announce themselves; they slip into sentences wearing work boots and faded jackets, and are already comfortably broken in.

Writers use them because they sound human, readers accept them because they feel familiar, but familiarity, as the expression goes, comes with a cost. Some phrases have been used so much that they have been rubbed as smooth as the Blarney Stone from overuse, drained of texture by repetition and reduced to verbal placeholders.

Language doesn't fail when people repeat things; it fails when people stop thinking about it.

What follows isn't a glossary or something intended for display; it's simply a working map of expressions that came from real places, by honest labor, real danger, and habits. Some deserve a rest, while others keep earning their keep. A few belong to a specific region or generation and lose force when lifted out of context.

Each phrase appears with its most widely accepted origin, plainly stated, and when history argues, I work hard to keep that uncertainty above the table.

When used appropriately, colloquialisms sharpen writing; when used lazily, they flatten it.

I hope you enjoy this list as much as I enjoyed compiling it. By no means is this meant to be comprehensive, just something to stretch the brain.

• Bite the bullet: battlefield surgery where patients clenched lead to endure pain without anesthesia.
• Break the ice: icebreaking ships clearing frozen trade routes so others could pass; earlier social usage tied to easing initial stiffness in conversation by “opening a channel” for exchange.
• Cost an arm and a leg: World War I injuries turning literal loss into metaphor.
• Rule of thumb: craftsmen use a thumb’s width as a rough measuring guide.
• Saved by the bell: boxing rounds ending before a knockout landed.
• Spill the beans: ancient Greek voting where beans revealed results if scattered.
• Kick the bucket: likely tied to livestock slaughter rigs; exact origin debated.
• Mad as a hatter: mercury poisoning among nineteenth-century hatmakers.
• Let the cat out of the bag: market fraud revealed when a sack was opened.
• Red tape: British legal documents bound with red ribbon.
• In the same boat: shared risk among sailors at sea.
• Burn the midnight oil: working late under oil lamps before electricity.
• By the skin of your teeth: a biblical phrase emphasizing an impossibly narrow escape.
• Dead ringer: horse racing slang for a substitute passed off as legitimate.
• Cold shoulder: medieval hospitality signaling dismissal with cold meat.
• Cut to the chase: early filmmaking skipped dialogue to get to the action.
• Under the weather: sailors sent below deck due to illness during storms.
• Paint the town red: an 1830s English riot turned metaphor for excess.
• Close but no cigar: carnival prizes withheld for near misses.
• Fly off the handle: axe heads breaking loose mid-swing.
• Hit the nail on the head: carpentry precision turned verbal praise.
• Throw in the towel: boxing trainers conceding defeat.
• On the bandwagon: political parades using music wagons to gather crowds.
• Barking up the wrong tree: hunting dogs misjudging prey location.
• Skeleton in the closet: Victorian secrecy surrounding shame or scandal.
• Turn a blind eye: a naval signal deliberately ignored.
• Up the creek without a paddle: frontier travel gone wrong.
• Toe the line: naval discipline enforced at inspection marks.
• Jumping the gun: runners starting before the pistol is fired.
• Straight from the horse’s mouth: checking a horse’s teeth to verify age.
• Loose cannon: unsecured naval artillery causing chaos at sea.
• Back to square one: early radio sports broadcasts dividing play into zones.
• Hold your horses: reins pulled tight to slow teams.
• The whole nine yards: likely aviation slang for full ammunition belts.
• Bury the hatchet: ceremonial peace rituals involving weapons.
• On thin ice: literal danger becoming moral warning.
• Face the music: public reckoning, often military or theatrical.
• Call the shots: artillery command language determining fire.
• Cut some slack: easing tension on a rope.
• High and dry: ships stranded after tides recede.
• Hand over fist: sailors hauling rope rapidly.
• In hot water: being in legal or moral trouble.
• Take with a grain of salt: Roman practice tied to poison resistance.
• Pull out all the stops: pipe organs opened to full volume.
• Read the riot act: formal warning required before crowd suppression.
• Sleep tight: ropes tightened beneath early mattresses.
• Toe the mark: foot races starting from a fixed line.
• Turn the tables: physically reverse the gaming boards.
• Win hands down: jockeys easing reins near the finish.
• Cut corners: construction shortcuts that weakened results.
• Play devil’s advocate: a formal opposition role in canon law.
• Hit below the belt: boxing rules forbidding low blows.
• Above board: card play visible on the table.
• Break a leg: theater superstition wishing success.
• Fish out of water: classical metaphor for discomfort.
• Bring home the bacon: prizefighting winnings and rural custom.
• Beggars can’t be choosers: medieval survival proverb.
• Crack the whip: coercive control in labor and animal handling.
• Make ends meet: balancing household income and expenses.
• Off the cuff: tailors speaking without written notes as they measure sleeves.
• Go the extra mile: Roman law required civilians to carry loads.
• On the fence: political or personal indecision.
• Keep your powder dry: musket warfare advice.
• Throw down the gauntlet: medieval challenge issued by dropping a glove.
• Pull someone’s leg: nineteenth-century street distraction scam.
• Out of left field: baseball play arriving unexpectedly.
• Put a sock in it: early sound-dampening methods.
• Run amok: Malay term describing violent frenzy.
• Steal someone’s thunder: theatrical sound effects reused without permission.
• Through thick and thin: medieval hunting terrain description.
• Wild goose chase: Shakespearean phrase for pointless pursuit.
• Jimmy cracked corn, and I don’t care: American folk song expressing indifference to loss.
• I’ll be a suck-egg mule: Southern insult mocking false expertise.
• Bob’s your uncle: a British phrase implying effortless success; its political origin is debated.
• Jesus, Mary, and Joseph: Irish Catholic exclamation of shock or frustration.
• Measure twice, cut once: carpenter’s rule favoring preparation over repair.
• Kissing someone is like licking an ashtray: a modern expression of sensory disgust.
• Tastes like sh*t: blunt sensory judgment with ancient linguistic roots.
• Bringing a knife to a gunfight: a modern American metaphor for poor preparation.
• Fly by the seat of your pants: early aviation improvisation.
• Hold the fort: military order during siege conditions.
• Bite off more than you can chew: a portion-size metaphor.
• Shoot from the hip: quick-draw gunfighter behavior.
• Burn bridges: military retreats destroying crossings.
• Toe-to-toe: boxing stance indicating readiness.
• Keep it under your hat: concealment of information.
• Lock, stock, and barrel: the complete assembly of a firearm.
• Down to the wire: horse races decided at the finish.
• Ride shotgun: guarding stagecoaches from the front seat.
• Throw cold water on it: extinguishing enthusiasm.
• Cut and run: naval emergency escape tactic.
• Sink or swim: survival test metaphor.
• Get your ducks in a row: carnival shooting gallery targets.
• Jump ship: naval desertion.
• Blow off steam: releasing pressure from steam engines.
• Take the bull by the horns: Roman agricultural imagery.
• Regional Weight and Generational Wear

As you've probably noticed, some phrases belong to a place; Southern idioms are lean and blunt, Midwestern expressions favor work and restraint, British colloquialisms often carry class or irony, and Irish expressions are emotional and musical.

When writers lift them without context, the voice slips, creating orphans of sorts.

We can't forget about generations, either. Something sounding sharp in 1955 union halls may sound as though it's staged on a screen in 2025.

Language isn't outright killed by overuse, but credibility does become drained, something readers notice when expressions arrive out of season.

Final Thoughts

If there's a purpose behind them, colloquialisms are at their best, providing clarity ahead of decoration, sounding chosen instead of inherited, because writers owe their readers attention, not their habit.

Our language remembers where people have been, but the job is deciding which footprints deserve to be followed.

PJ Media's YUGE Christmas and New Year's sale is on — now at our lowest rate of the year! This huge sale on our VIP Memberships ends on January 1, so make sure you join the club to get our special behind-the-scenes look at the news. Receive 74% off by following this link and using our promo code MERRY74.