What is the origin of the idiom "off the beaten track"?
85657
Its meaning is actually just that.\n"remote from populous or much-traveled regions"
787593
Off-kilter = eccentric.  According to Websters, eccentric is from the Latin eccentricus that is from the Greek ekkentros.  It literally means out of center.  Definition 1b looks like the best match for what you want “deviating from conventional or accepted usage or conduct especially in odd or whimsical ways.”
679671
i believe the expression was 1st used by a writer in a novel, one of the spy writers,(le Carre or Shute or someone of that genre) but i can't think of his name at the moment.\n\nAnd i belive it is both because relations between East and West became cold after WW2 and also becasue no actually fighting took place, it was more a battle of the minds as opposed to a typical war.
175670
i think, "across the country" & "on a train" are the adverb phrases...\n\nphrase is a group of words with meaning without a verb\nadverb adds meaning to the verb\n\nso i guess "across the country" & "on a train" are things describing the "place" as in time/place/people etc... \n\nno guarantee i'm 100% correct though
44504
there are two supposed origins - \n1. is from the word nut, meaning hard seed, which is called "hnutu" in Old English or "*khnut" in Proto-Germanic\n\n2. from earlier be nutts upon "be very fond of" (1785), which is possibly from nuts (noun, plural) "any source of pleasure" (1617), from nut (described above). Sense influenced probably by metaphoric application of nut to "head" (1846, e.g. to be off one's nut "be insane," 1860). Nut "crazy person, crank" is attested from 1903, (British form nutter first attested 1958).
681212
It's generally attributed to the 'rustic' South, though it has seen common useage as far back as pre-Colonial English pubs.\n\nIt generally means to be passed out, though to such a point that such a person would not respond to even the strongest of stimulation.  Similar to the term "dead to the world".
861214
Well it is actually an old English proverb.  "Look ere ye leap" written by John Heywood in 1546.  I suppose since we don't say "ere" and "ye" anymore, it just transformed.  He is also famous for "The more the merrier" and "Haste makes waste" among others.\n\nHope that helps.  \nCheck the link below for more.
421557
It means someone who is self-righteous and smug.\n\nThe phrase originates from the nursery tale "The History of Goody Two-Shoes"
16134
It is a Funny Quotes or you can say One-liner thought.\ni think it is by "Fossel"
18371
It is an idiom intended to mean "be careful, pay attention to detail"  it has morphed, in recent times, to mean many other things including "be polite".\n\nThere are several theories about it's origin, but the one I believe makes the most sense is - mind your Pints and Quarts.  Meaning to keep track of what you order in a pup so you are not over charged.
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."
401737
Of course it is...Where do you think the saying "running around with your head chopped off" came from.
473222
There seems to be no etymology for the phrase, but it's likely either:\n\n(1) The person became rich through "filthy" ways -- monopolies, bribery, underground activities, etc.\n(2) The person is so wealthy that they no longer care about moral issues; s/he has become morally "filthy".\n(3) "Filthy" is just being used as a theatrical adjective, like the way that "phat" means "cool" and that "the bomb" means "the best".
457033
Speculation about its origin is found in Eric Partridge's "Dictionary of Catch Phrases":\n\n"'Come up and see my etchings' was, perhaps, orig. a US students' catchphrase that rapidly gained a much wider currency: throughout the US, thence in Can. and UK and, prob. indicative of US influence in 1943-5, Aus. Formerly I suspected that it was prompted by [Mae West's] 'come up and see me sometime!'; yet it could well have been the other way about. In his letter . . . Prof. S. H. Monk writes: "I am certain that I knew this sentence by the midtwenties. Actually I knew no one who had a collection of etchings or who was suave enough to seduce a young thing in this manner. But the phrase certainly floated in and out of cartoons and jokes. To me, it has an 1890-ish or Edwardian tone, and I suspect that it existed in 'sophisticated' urban society before it ever reached me. I think that this can still sometimes be heard, but it is definitely 'corny'."\nPerhaps confirmatory of Prof. Monk's shrewd remarks is the fact that in Susannah Centlivre's comedy, 'The Man's Bewitched' (1710), Act III, where Belinda, Maria, Constant and Lovely are in the study, and Lovely exclaims, 'Interrogating! Nay, then 'tis proper to be alone; there is a very pretty Collection of Prints in the next Room, Madam, will you give me leave to explain them to you?' Maria answers, 'Any Thing that may divert your Love--Subject.'\nIt should, however, be noted that this catchphrase perhaps derives from Surreyside melodrama--the villain enticing the innocent maiden."
316258
you get off the tracks.
641790
Etymology\nThe word jaywalker traces back to 1917, though it may have been in use as early as 1900. It is generally considered to have originated in the United States, possibly from the city of Boston. It is a portmanteau of the words jay and walk; in this context, jay is used in the obsolete slang sense, referring to a stupid or dull person, or a rube, i.e. someone from a rural area and not familiar with "city ways". At the time, vehicles and traffic signals were a new concept, gaining popularity in the larger cities, so this term would have been used to describe newcomers who were unfamiliar with these recent developments and by extension, to ridicule people who behaved like newcomers but should have known better.
624846
I have a reference from 1997 that already says it is old:\nhttp://www.pbs.org/newshour/forum/august97/terror01.html\n\nThe fact that numerous sources fail to give the original source of the quote suggests that no-one actually knows when it was first used.