where did the expression "egg on your face" come from?
86615
It often implies that you have made a serious mistake, but more strictly it indicates that something you have done (or some turn of events) has left you looking extremely embarrassed or foolish.\nIt feels like one of those expressions that have been around for ever, but the evidence suggest that it’s an American expression from the middle of last century (its first known appearance was in an American television series about 1951). It’s possible, though, that it is somewhat older, though I haven’t been able to find it in my large collection of out-of-copyright e-texts, which suggests it is more recent than the 1920s.\nI know of two possibilities for where it came from. My assumption to start with was that it was a comment on a minor social gaffe at a meal, when poor manners or sloppy eating left egg around your mouth. The late John Ciardi, however, suggested an origin in the lower and more rowdy kind of theatrical performance, in which an incompetent actor would have been pelted with eggs and forced off the stage.\nAfter I wrote the first version of this piece, subscriber Cal Clifford put a possible new perspective on he expression by mentioning egg-sucking dogs: “Occasionally, a trusted, working farm dog would develop the bad habit of taking eggs from nests and eating them, turning himself from asset into liability.” I found several examples of the term, including this from Glengarry School Days by Ralph Connor, dated 1902: “His chief business was the doing away with dogs of ill-repute in the country; vicious dogs, sheep-killing dogs, egg-sucking dogs, were committed to Alan’s dread custody, and often he would be seen leading off his wretched victims to his den in the woods, whence they never returned.” And in Nan Sherwood at Pine Camp, by Annie Roe Carr (of about 1919): “He’s a miserable, fox-faced scoundrel, and I’ve no more use for him than I have for an egg-sucking dog.” So it is just possible that the expression might be a figurative extension from that of a dog found with egg around its muzzle, mute evidence of depravity.
79395
actually this question was AOL's home page the other day I believe. The saying came from the horse racing track. People would offer a tip and a horse that would win and if was an insider ( jockey, trainer, ect)  or reliable tip they would say it came "straight from the horses mouth"
919754
The saying comes from the Book of Common Prayer used in many Anglican churches.  It actually referrers to the passage in the Christian bible in 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.\n\nIt refers to the mortality of man and the fact that our body will decay and return to the earth we were formed from.
1058993
Actually, the reference originally came from a song that was popular in 1956.  It was by the Jayhawks and called Stranded In The Jungle.  It managed to climb the Billboard charts to #18.\n\nThe story is about a guy who gets stranded in a jungle and all he wants to do is get back to his girl in the states.  He gets knocked out, wakes up in a big pot and smells something cooking then realizes he's about to be the main course for a tribe of cannibals.  The next line is "Great googly moogly let me out of here! " \n\nOf course the expression has been used in numerous other songs since but now you know the complete story goes back half a century.
1165900
Just as a turtle's head appears from its shell,\nSo too must a turd appear from the buttocks.\n\nThis phrase was popularized in Austin Powers II, when Fat Bastard said he was "turtleheading."
641749
The chicken or the egg is a reference to the causality dilemma which arises from the expression "which came first, the chicken or the egg?". When used in reference to difficult problems, a chicken and egg problem is similar to a Catch 22 situation where something cannot happen until a second thing does, and the second thing cannot happen until the first does. For example, a person might have trouble finding a job without work experience, but to get work experience he/she must get a job.\n\nThe earliest reference to the dilemma is found in Plutarch's Moralia, in the books titled "Table Talk," in a series of arguments based on questions posed in a symposium. Under the section entitled, "Whether the hen or the egg came first," the discussion is introduced in such a way as to suggest that the origin of the dilemma was even older:\n\n"...the problem about the egg and the hen, which of them came first, was dragged into our talk, a difficult problem which gives investigators much trouble. And Sulla my comrade said that with a small problem, as with a tool, we were rocking loose a great and heavy one, that of the creation of the world..." \nVarious answers have been formulated in response to the question, many of them humourous\nAssuming a chicken egg\nIn this case, the egg is assumed to be a chicken's egg. This is an obvious assumption since the question itself implies a link between the two.\n\nIf one assumes the egg to be a chicken egg then one must define what a chicken egg is:\n\nIf: A chicken egg will hatch a chicken \nThen a bypass is allowed: An animal that was not a chicken laid the chicken egg which contained the first chicken. In this case the egg came first.\n\nIf: A chicken egg is the egg that a chicken lays \nThen a bypass is allowed: A chicken (that hatched from a non-chicken egg) laid an egg (a chicken egg). In this case the chicken came first.\n\nIf: A chicken egg will hatch a chicken and A chicken egg is the egg that a chicken lays. \nThen there may be an error of definition. If the definition of "chicken" used does not refer to "chicken eggs", then the chicken must come first, because without chickens there cannot be any chicken eggs.\nEvolutionary chicken\nIn this case, the egg is not assumed to be a chicken egg. In effect this changes the question to: "Which came first, a chicken or any egg".\n\nFrom a pseudo science point of view this question can be answered quite easily. The egg came first because any female sex cell is called an egg.\n\nIf the egg is defined structurally as the hard shelled thing, and the chicken a feather covered animal, the answer is still simple. Evolutionary scientists believe the first hard shell egg was the amniotic egg laid around 300 million years ago, and was laid by the animal who was the link between amphibians and reptiles. One of the first dinosaurs that we know had feathers was the Archaeopteryx, and came much later. Modern birds would not arise until 150 million years ago, descending from theropod dinosaurs.\n\nIn this case, the first chicken must have been the mutated offspring of a proto-chicken that laid the egg containing the first true chicken. In any case, this creature hatched from a recognizable egg. After all, the question is purposefully ambiguous -- it is not, "Which came first, the chicken or the chicken egg?"\n\nThe crux of the matter is how to biologically define 'a chicken'. What level of genetic similarity or structural similarity determine whether an organism is a chicken? One can only define what was the first chicken after the fact, thus any definition of the first chicken becomes arbitrary. The question 'which came first?' ignores the complicated reality of speciation.\n\nAccording to the principles of speciation, neither the chicken nor the egg came first, because speciation does not occur in simple, obvious units. In fact, evolution is about a slow transi
802396
" Little nip here a little tuck there" \n\nIt is a common phrase in plastic surgery and that is what the show is about two plastic surgeons.\n\nI think they chose the name and the signature phrase "So tell me what you don't like about yourself." to point to the fact that people think that a little plastic surgery can make them happy.\n\nThat was the point of last season and the Carver to tell the audience that it doesn't work that way. You can slap a new coat of paint on a car and it is still the same old car underneath. "Beauty is a curse."
868294
I think it was coined by Martin Lawrence, the same man who gave us "You go, Girl!"\n\nCave\n\np.s.---Just found this:\n\n"In the case of "don't go there," the earliest citation for the phrase in print in the Oxford English Dictionary comes from an interview with comedian Martin Lawrence in Entertainment Weekly back in February 1994. At the time the star of the highly-rated Fox sitcom "Martin," Lawrence took the opportunity to complain, oddly enough, that his material was being stolen by other Fox shows: \n\n"Something ain't right," Lawrence says, removing his sunglasses. ... "We started using the expressions 'You go, girl!' and 'Don't go there!' and no one in television was doing that. No one. Now a lot of Fox shows are using the same stuff and the same premises."
1103822
This is short for 'out for a duck's egg', the duck's egg being the large nought (0) recorded on the scoreboard.\nThe expression is recorded from the 1860s.
1138109
'tie on one'\n\n"From "The Wordsworth Book of Euphemism" by Judith S. Neaman and Carole G. Silver (Wordsworth Reference, New York, 1983, 1990) -- "Tie one on, to - To get drunk. (Eric) Partridge suggests that this expression is derived from 'hang one on' (ca. 1935), which originated in the United States and was later adopted in Canada. It is clear that a 'hangover' -- more politely, 'the morning after' -- is the miserable memento of having 'hung' or 'tied one on.' We are uncertain as to why drinking is described as tieing, hanging or belting...""\n\n'belly up to the bar'\n\n" "belly up! belly up to the bar, boys!" Drinks on the house, boys!: Canadian: 20th century. Cf. the US underworld, mostly pickpockets', catch phrase "belly up?," Have a drink!--c. 1930-50. Prompted by the English-speaking world's toast "bottoms up!""\n\nor:\n\n"belly up to: To approach something straight on, to move straight ahead; fig., to push one's belly toward or up to something. 1953: ". . . For a fellow to belly up to a bar and buy a round of drinks. . . ." "
401737
Of course it is...Where do you think the saying "running around with your head chopped off" came from.
26207
I'm not 100% certain, but every time I hear it I want to punch the person who said it in the face and/or run them over with my car (or a larger car).  \n\nIt's usual colloquial usage is when someone does something very rude, cruel, or generally nasty and wants to follow it up with an insincere apology thus cementing their total lack of tact.\n\nHypothetical situation:\nTwelve year old Jenny hits a volleyball lightly over the net at a family party.  Uncle Chad, who's had a few Budweisers already, leaps up and spikes the ball as hard as possible into her face.\n"My bad!"
108012
It seems to have been adapted from the phrase 'to play for love (of the game)' (that is, to play for nothing). Although the theory is often heard that it represents the French word l'oeuf an 'egg' (from the resembance between an egg and a nought) this seems unlikely. But the cricketer's 'duck' is another matter.
341590
I believe this expression originated when people used the same water to wash all over and it was therefore more hygenic to wash your face first then work downwards. If this is what you intend doing then it still applies.
570904
It seems that if someone decisively defeats you they can be said to have cleaned your clock. It started as sports lingo but has now spread elsewhere – especially to the political arena, where anyone who suffers a serious defeat might be said to have had their clock cleaned. It belongs to that group of sports pulverisation terms that includes “whomp, clobber, slaughter, thrash and trounce”. The earliest citation is from 1908. It seems that because clocks are said to have faces, and human beings have faces, the face of the clock can be said to stand for the face of the person.\n\nSo, if the smile is wiped off your face – you’ve had your clock cleaned.
98950
"Who chose cake?"\n\nIt's exact etymology is unclear but this much is certain: the British coined the phrase. \n\n"The first documented appearance of the term is in 1943, in an small book of British military slang, although sources claim it was used in the RAF throughout World War Two, and was originally a Yorkshire dialect term in use at least since 1914."
225681
No offense, but who said you're good looking?