Many of the catchwords used have an interesting history. Where did the expression come from to drive by the nose, to pour in the first number or to scramble?
Winged words - figurative and stable phraseological units that entered the vocabulary and became widespread due to their expressiveness. Sources of catchphrases can be myths, folklore, literature, or other sources. We use winged expressions every day, but the very origin of these words has been forgotten. It's time to remember the history of catch phrases.
Sour cabbage master
Unlucky, bad master. Sour cabbage soup is a simple peasant food: water and sauerkraut. It was not difficult to prepare them. And if someone was called a master of sour cabbage soup, this meant that he was not good for anything worthwhile.
Add a pig
To secretly set up some nasty stuff, to play a dirty trick. In all likelihood, this expression is due to the fact that some peoples, for religious reasons, do not eat pork. And if such a person was imperceptibly put pork meat in his food, then his faith was defiled.
Pour in on the first number
Well, something, but this expression is familiar to you … And where did it just fall on your unfortunate head! Believe it or not, … from the old school, where students were flogged every week, regardless of who is right or who is wrong. And if the "mentor" overdoes it, then such a flogging was enough for a long time, until the first day of the next month. By the way, the same "educational measure" gave one more phraseological unit.
Prescribe Izhitsa.
Izhitsa is the name of the last letter of the Church Slavonic alphabet. Traces of flogging in certain places of negligent students strongly resembled this letter. So to write Izhitsa - "to teach, punish", it is easier to "flog". And you still scold the modern school!
Get in the gut
It means getting into a difficult, dangerous or unpleasant situation. In dialects, BIND is a fish trap woven from branches. And, as in any trap, it is not pleasant to be in it.
Beluga roar
Scream or cry loudly. "He is like a fish" - you have known this for a long time. And suddenly "beluga roar"? It turns out that we are not talking about a beluga, but a beluga, as the polar dolphin is called. Here he really roars very loudly.
Scapegoat
This is the name of a person on whom someone else is blamed. The history of this expression is as follows: the ancient Jews had a rite of absolution. The priest laid both hands on the head of a living goat, thereby, as it were, shifting the sins of the entire people onto it. After that, the goat was driven out into the desert. Many, many years have passed, and the ceremony no longer exists, but the expression still lives on … Why do you think?
Kolomenskaya verst
This is the name of a very tall person, a big man. The summer residence of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich was located in the village of Kolomenskoye near Moscow. The road there was busy, wide and was considered the main one in the state. And when they erected huge milestones, which had never happened in Russia, the fame of this road increased even more. The savvy people did not fail to take advantage of the novelty and christened the lanky man the Kolomna verst. So it still dignifies …
Unlucky man
It means frivolous, careless, dissolute. In the old days in Russia, the path was called not only the road, but also various positions at the court of the prince. The falconer's path is in charge of princely hunt, the hunter's path is hound hunting, the equestrian path is in carriages and horses. Boyars by hook or by crook tried to get the prince's way-position. And whoever did not succeed, they were scorned about those: a good-for-nothing person. So this disapproving assessment was preserved.
Inside out
If he did something wrong, on the contrary, he mixed it up - in such cases they will say: topsy-turvy. Now this seems to be a completely harmless expression. And once it was associated with shameful punishment. In the days of Ivan the Terrible, the guilty boyar was put backwards on a horse in clothes turned inside out and in this form, disgraced, they were driven around the city under the whistle and ridicule of the street crowd.
Goal like a falcon
Terribly poor, beggar. Everyone thinks that this is a bird of a falcon. But she is neither poor nor rich. In fact, the "falcon" is an ancient military battering weapon. It was a completely smooth ("naked") cast iron bar, fixed on chains. Nothing extra!
Pouring the bells (pouring the bells)
Spread gossip, lie. And not without reason. In the old days it was believed: the more gossip, fairy tales and tales told when casting a bell, the louder it will sound.
Kazan orphan
So they say about a person who pretends to be unhappy, offended, helpless in order to pity someone. But why is it the "Kazan" orphan? Moscow or Saratov, this does not make the orphan situation more joyful. It turns out that this phraseological unit arose after the conquest of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible. Mirza (Tatar princes), being subjects of the Russian tsar, tried to beg him all sorts of indulgences, complaining about their orphanhood and bitter fate.
Retired goat drummer
No one needed, no one respected person. In the old days, trained bears were taken to fairs. They were accompanied by a dancer boy dressed as a goat and a drummer accompanying him to the dance. This was the "goat drummer". He was perceived as a worthless, frivolous person. And what if the goat is also "retired"?
Lead by the nose
Cheat by promising and not fulfilling the promise. Apparently, trained bears were very popular, because this expression was also associated with fairground entertainment. The gypsies took the bears by the ring threaded through their noses. And they made them, poor fellows, do different tricks, deceiving them with the promise of handouts.
Smoke yoke
Noise, din, disorder, turmoil. In old Russia, huts were often heated "in black": the smoke did not go out through the chimney (there was no chimney at all), but through a special window or door. And the weather was predicted by the shape of the smoke. The smoke goes in a "pillar" - it will be clear, "drag" - to the fog, rain, "yoke" - to the wind, bad weather, and even a storm.
Not to court
Inappropriate, inappropriate. This is a very old omen: both in the house and in the courtyard (in the courtyard) only that animal will live that the brownie will like. And if you don't like it, it will get sick, wither or run away. What to do - not to the court!
Hair Dybom
This means that the person was very frightened. But what kind of "dib" is this? It turns out that standing on end is standing at attention, at your fingertips. That is, when a person is scared, his hair seems to stand on tiptoe on his head.
All tryn-grass
Nothing matters, nothing cares. The mysterious "tryn-herb" is not some herbal medicine, so as not to worry. At first it was called "tyn-grass". Tyn is a fence, i.e. "Podzabornaya grass", useless, all indifferent weed.
Shoot on the rampage
Run into trouble, do something dangerous, doomed to failure in advance. "Rojon" is a sharp pole. And in some Russian provinces, this was the name of the four-pronged pitchfork. Indeed, not really trample on them!
Upside down
Quite the opposite, everything is not the same as before, somersault. To brake - in many Russian provinces this word meant "to walk". So, "upside down" is just "upside down", "upside down".
Sharpen the fringes
Blabbering to engage in useless chatter. Lyas (balusters) are chiseled figured posts of the railing at the porch; only a true master could make such beauty. Probably, at first, "sharpening balusters" meant conducting an elegant, bizarre, ornate (like balusters) conversation. And by our time there were fewer and fewer craftsmen to conduct such a conversation. So this expression began to denote empty chatter.
Grated roll
This is the name of an experienced person who is difficult to deceive. By the way, in fact there was such a kind of bread - "grated kalach". The dough for him was kneaded, kneaded, "rubbed" for a very long time, which made the roll unusually lush. And there was also a proverb - "do not rub, do not mint, there will be no rolls." That is, a person is taught by trials and troubles. The expression came from a proverb, and not from the name of bread.
Bring to light
Expose someone's dark deeds. Once they said "to bring fish to clean water." And if it's a fish, then everything is clear: in the thickets of reeds or where driftwood drowns in the silt, a fish caught on the hook can easily break the line and leave. And in clear water, above a clean bottom - let him try. The same is the exposed swindler: if all the circumstances are clear, he will not escape the reckoning.
