Where does the phrase "Pass with flying colors" come from?
451474
""Passed with flying colours" comes from sailing ships that, when passing other ships at sea, would fly their colours (flags) if they wanted to be identified"
545449
I believe it was from an episode from the television show F troop when the native Americans saw something flying in the air and said "It is balloon".
681754
Im not sure if the term originated in WWII or  from the Vietnam war. \nBut I know it originated cause solders married local women and brought them to the US after the war.
758370
Never heard of it, but my inclination would be to say "IF-pass," with emphasis on the first syllable.  What does it stand for?
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.
26376
The original flag designers did not attach meaning to the colors.  However, on June 20, 1782, Charles Thomson, the secretary of the Continental Congress, gave a report to the Congress defining the new Great Seal of the United States. The seal uses red, white and blue, and seals must meet rules of heraldry where the meaning of the colors is defined.  Charles Thomson gave the meaning as follows:\n\n"White signifies purity and innocence. Red hardiness and valour and Blue the colour of the Chief signifies vigilance perseverance and justice."
170444
The phrase doesn't really make sense...\n\nThe phrase Alis volat propriis (Motto of Oregon), is translated as She flies with her own wings.\n\nThe word prius - is translated as before; former.
1040927
Taken from link below:\n\nAlthough Peters maintained that early colonists did refer to these laws as "blue laws," he did not claim that the name was taken from the paper they were printed on, nor is there any evidence of an earlier usage of the term than his own. Since parts of Peters' book (such as his list of forty-five putative "blue laws") have since been found unreliable, it's possible he may simply have invented the term "blue laws" himself. If not, the term most likely derived from an eighteenth-century usage of the word "blue" as a disparaging reference to something perceived as "rigidly moral" (a "bluenose," for example, is one who advocates a rigorous moral code), not from the color of the material on which the laws themselves were printed.
957404
The term 'blue' refers to 'blue laws' which were originally laws passsed in the U.S. that prevented people from transacting business on the Sabbath (Sunday). In time, the term 'blue laws' came to refer any law or rule that was designed to enforce personal morality. \n\nConsequently, actions that violated those moral codes were called "blue". A comedian who uses obscene language in his act is said to be 'working blue'. Likewise a film that features explicit extended sexual scenes that shock the public morality are called 'blue movies.'
1156322
Seize the day.\n\nCarpe diem is a Latin phrase literally meaning "pluck the day" but usually translated as "seize the day". It is often adopted (or at least quoted) as a personal motto. The term is also used in several navies as an expression of goodwill.\n\n[edit]\nUse in poetry\nThe origin of the phrase is usually attributed to the Roman poet Horace; his Odes I, 11.8-9 (65–8 BC) reads:\n\nDum loquimur fugerit invida aetas. Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero. \n(As we speak, jealous Time flees. Pluck the day, believing as little as possible in the next.) \nIt is quoted accordingly either as a demand not to waste somebody's time with useless things, or as a justification for pleasure and joy of life with little fear for the future.\n\nThis idea was popular in 16th and 17th-century English poetry, for example in Robert Herrick's To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time, which begins "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may". [1] It is interesting to note that the following Chinese couplet attributed to a certain poetess in Tang Dynasty, which have entered the realm of proverbs, strikingly resemble Herrick's line:\n\n(Pluck the flower when it has blossomed; don't wait until there are no flowers with only branches to break.)\n\nAnother of Herrick's poems, His Age [2] includes the lines:\n\nAh Posthumus! Our years hence fly, \nAnd leave no sound; nor piety, \nOr prayers, or vow \nCan keep the wrinkle from the brow - \nAnd:\n\nA merry mind \nLooks forward, scorns what's left behind; \nLet's live, my Wickes, then, while we may \nAn here enjoy our holiday. \nThis theme is also recalled in the verses of English Victorian poet Tennyson, and in Andrew Marvell's famous To His Coy Mistress.\n\nA song in William Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night has been referred to as "Carpe Diem", although the phrase itself is not mentioned in it:\n\nO MISTRESS mine, where are you roaming? \nO stay and hear! your true-love's coming \nThat can sing both high and low; \nTrip no further, pretty sweeting, \nJourneys end in lovers meeting - \nEvery wise man's son doth know. \nWhat is love? 'tis not hereafter; \nPresent mirth hath present laughter; \nWhat's to come is still unsure: \nIn delay there lies no plenty, - \nThen come kiss me, Sweet-and-twenty, \nYouth's a stuff will not endure. \nThe word phrase carpe diem is also used to denote the theme of Christopher Marlowe's The Passionate Shepherd to His Love.\n\nIn a modern poem, entitled "You Would" by A. Kefalas, the phrase is used in reference to seizing the day. It states, "Carpe diem, damnit."
1072287
One possible origin for the phrase is an incident said to have taken place during the siege of the Alamo in 1836, when William Barret Travis drew a line in the sand with his sword and urged those willing to stay and defend the fort to step across it. Unfortunately, this heroic story seems to have been invented by a 19th century promoter long after the fall of the Alamo. But the myth itself probably greatly popularized the phrase, so it does count as an origin of sorts even if the incident itself was apocryphal. \n\nAnother possible origin dates back to the time of the Roman Empire. It seems that one of the Macedonian kings, a bit short of cash, decided to invade Egypt, then a Roman protectorate. His army was met at the border by a lone Roman senator named Popillius Laenas, who ordered the king to withdraw. The king began to stall for time, so Popillius Laenas drew a circle in the sand around the king and demanded that the king agree to withdraw his army before he stepped out of the circle. The king, apparently impressed by the senator's nerve (or, more likely, by the Roman Empire in general), withdrew. Incidentally, not only is this account verified by contemporary historians, but it also may be the only known instance of a line drawn in the sand actually stopping someone.
187997
I think it means something like "Lead wings quickly turn into ashes!"\n\nDoes it now make any sense to you?
52737
originally said in the movie "Cool Hand Luke" (starring Paul Newman) by the prison Captain (played by Strother Martin):\n\nWhat we've got here is failure to communicate.\n\nSome men, you just can't reach.\n\nSo you get what we had here last week -- which is the way he wants it. \n\nWell, he gets it. \n\nAnd I don't like it anymore than you men.\n\n(This line was later used in Full Metal Jacket, and in the Guns N' Roses song Civil War)
77003
The most recognised use of this quote (which is itelf a Latin saying of Horace) is from Wilfred Owen's best known First World War poem.  \n\nHowever people tend to miss the irony with which it was used.  The poem records the first German use of gas and the devestating effects it had on the unprepared British infantry.  The latin saying talks about honour and glory, the poem describes the agonies of drowning in chlorine gas.\n\nAs an ex-serviceman with 22 years following the colours I don't believe there is honour and glory in dying for your country - we do it for our familes and friends and the life we believe in, a sacrifice based on need and love not in the search of glory.
112033
Don't know who said it recently but it's a quote from Shakespeare\n\n"Cry HAVOC' and let slip the dogs of war!" - William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act III
219128
The lyrics refer to the movement for solidarity lead by Lech Walesa in Poland. After this was recorded, Poland announced they would abolish martial law, coincidentally, on New Year's Day, 1983.
33932
the closest I got was this:\nTony Montana: [watching flamingos on TV] "Come on, pelicans! Fly, fly away!"\nThis is from "Scarface"