Beech Tree News Network

Where did all these old phrases come from? All my life I’ve heard the phrase “cat got your tongue?” but what does it mean? The origin of the idiom 'cat got your tongue' is an intriguing one. Although many believe the “cat” in question is of the feline variety, it’s actually the cat o’ nine tails, a whip commonly used to flog sailors who misbehaved. On English sailing ships, anyone entrusted with a secret by a higher officer would be threatened with “the cat” for telling; thus, the saying 'has the cat got your tongue?' became slang for 'are you afraid to tell?
One can easily visualize the saying “nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs”.  It’s all there for you: the cat positioned in a room full of rocking chairs.  Of course he’d be nervous.  There’s more chances of that tail getting flattened.  We all know a person who’s been edgy or jumpy.  We’ve no doubt been that person, on occasion.
“Crazy like a fox” is a phrase that has been heard for years.  It was even a television show back in the ‘80’s.  The meaning is “Seemingly foolish but, in fact, cunning”.  If you say a guy is crazy like a fox, you’re saying that the guy who is seemingly foolish is actually smart and cunning, that he can outwit others. 
The phrase “A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do” did not, as some might think, come from Woody Harrelson in the 1994 movie The Cowboy Way.  It simply means that you’ll do what you have to do, even if it’s difficult or dangerous.
A stich in time saves nine means that a timely effort will prevent more work later.  Clearly the first users of the expression were using the “saves nine” as “saves nine stiches”.  Procrastination is the thief of time and early bird catches the worm are more commonly used and mean the same, basically.
“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust” is another good one.  It derives from the English Burial Service.  The text of that service is adapted from Genesis 3:19.  In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.