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Old sayings that we still used today

Add one you know about

"Burning the midnight oil" Well that came from working extra hard or late into the night. In a time before electricity, candlelight or lamp oil was used for lighting. When you stayed up late to work, you literally burned the lamp oil at midnight.

"Jumping on the bandwagon" was common saying in the middle of 1800s, circuses would parade around town before setting up, with bandwagons leading the parade.

They drew large crowds, and politicians started renting space on the bandwagons to get face time with an audience. Over time, politicians would make calls of action not to "jump on the opponent's bandwagon," and the phrase took on a negative connotation, meaning to mindlessly go along with whatever became flashy or popular.

Sounds a lot like today with Trump, Biden and Robert Kennedy running for president

"Dressed to the nines" I myself say dressed to the nines a lot. It means that you were rich enough to literally purchase the entire nine yards it took to make a tailor fit outfit. That includes the vest, jacket, and the whole works.

It's still in use today to mean that someone is dressed in their best.

So what old sayings that you use

PS

I like use Whippersnapper a lot to
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DrWatson · 70-79, M
We sometimes form metaphors from technology, and then the metaphor persists even when the technology has not.

So for example, "blowing off steam" is what people needed to do periodically to alleviate the pressure building up in a steam engine, to prevent an explosion. And we use it metaphorically to refer to what people do to avoid an explosion.

In fact, I once read that a lot of Freud's terms , like sublimation, were terms associated with the flow of pressure in a steam engine.
HumanEarth · F
Like this steam engine tractor of my family that you didn't want to take a guess at

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DrWatson · 70-79, M
@HumanEarth Oh, the karma here is overwhelming!