Beech Tree News Network

Stopping a person from repeating an act that you do not approve of by causing this person misfortune upon the next attempt of this act.  That is the definition of “break ‘em from sucking eggs”.  I tried looking in Miriam’s Dictionary.  It wasn’t there.  Sometimes you have to go to www.urbandictionary.com for these things.  From what I gathered t’s basically a dismissive insult.  There are a lot of takes on “go suck an egg” but that’s what it boils down to. You knew I’d get “boils down to” in while talking about an egg, didn’t you?”

“I’m all ears” is something you hear often.  Obviously it doesn’t mean that a person is made up of ears alone.  Imagine a body full of ears.  Okay, so where did that come from and what does it mean? By the account I read-and find most interesting-the phrase originated back in the 18^th century.  By nature, we hear from our ears.  All ears, then, means we are using both ears to listen to someone.  All ears gives the meaning of attention, care, and interest of listening to someone keenly.  www.idioms.com/allears

This next one is timely, since we’re about to enter into party season(Christmas, New Year’s, etc. ).  “Be There With Bells On” is frequently used in reply to a party invitation.  It’s the common format to convey one’s enthusiasm.  “I’ll Be There With Bells On”.  There’s even a Dolly Parton Christmas song called “I’ll Be There With Bells On”. 

We’ve all heard the phrase “ a picture’s worth a thousand words”.  What does it mean? It simply means that a picture tells a story just as well, if not better, than lots of written words.  The phrase originated in the United States in the early part of the 20^th Century.  Its introduction is widely attributed to Frederick R. Barnard, who published a piece commending the effectiveness of graphics in advertising with the title One Look Is Worth a Thousand Words.  in Printer's Ink, December 1921. Barnard claimed the phrase's source to be oriental by adding "so said a famous Japanese philosopher, and he was right".  Printer’s Ink printed another form of the phrase in March, 1927, this time suggested a Chinese origin from the proverb “ On picture is worth ten thousand words”. 

The arbitrary escalation from 'one thousand' to 'ten thousand' and the switching from Japan to China as the source leads us to smell a rat with this derivation. In fact, Barnard didn't introduce the phrase - his only contribution was the incorrect suggestion that the country of origin was Japan or China. This has led to another popular belief about the phrase, that is, that it was coined by Confucius. It might fit the Chinese-sounding 'Confucius he say' style, but the Chinese derivation was pure invention.

https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/a-picture-is-worth-a-thousand-words.html 

I hope you’ve enjoyed learning about some of these phrases.  I definitely enjoy searching and learning about them!