This expression has been around since at least the 1950s, although some web sites think it might have originated much earlier. There is no doubt the expression is used to describe, as explained by mentalfloss.com, to describe the impossible task of solving a problem that is equal to trying to identify one worm in a mass of worms. The result is “…more trouble than you bargained for.”
Category Archives: Expressions
Conspiracy Theory
I recently ran into an article about the origin of the term “conspiracy theory“. A recent book has stated that “The term was… put into wide circulation by the CIA to smear and defame people questioning the JFK assassination”.
I didn’t find “conspiracy theory” on Word Detective, Phrase Finder, or World Wide Words. But the article’s author suggests a source I have not used: “you can actually push the date back even farther using a more recently developed tool, Google Books.” He presents a usage in 1870 from a debate over mistreatment of inmates at insane asylums. (There is another striking phrase within the quoted material: “sprinkle hells with rose-water.”)
First Blush
From RF_alum:
I didn’t succeed at finding the origin of this expression. The Etymology Dictionary gives a brief but logical description that it refers to the blush of the face, or a rosy color, in response to some situation or event. The expression goes back to the 1590s. It refers to the blushing caused by an emotional occurrence.
By Hook or By Crook
From RF_alum:
The Phrase Finder (one of my favorite sources) writes there are several possible origins of this expression. However, the most logical origin is that it is from medieval England when it was allowed for “…peasants to take from royal forests whatever deadwood they could take down with a shepherd’s crook.”
Scuttlebutt
The nautical term scuttlebutt means a rumor. A scuttlebutt is literally a drinking fountain, but originally it referred to a cask that held drinking water. This comes from a combination of “scuttle” (to make a hole) and “butt” (a cask or hogshead used in the days of wooden ships to hold drinking water). The crew would congregate around the “scuttlebutt” and trade rumors about the ship or voyage. The name for the water cask was transferred to modern drinking fountains, and so was the gossiping. Eventually, “scuttlebutt” became the rumor itself.
Crazy Like a Fox
To be crazy like a fox is to do something that appears foolish but is actually cunning or shrewd. Sources seem to agree the phrase became popular after humorist S.J. Perelman used it as the title of a book in 1944. Beyond that, the origin of the phrase seems obscure. Online Etymology Dictionary says “crazy like a fox” has been recorded since 1935 but does not mention the first usage.
While the specific phrase seems to date from the first half of the 20th century, foxes have often been considered to be cunning creatures. Some sources mention Aesop’s Fables (attributed to Aesop around 600 BCE) as examples of early stories of cunning foxes, but one extensive collection has stupid-fox as well as cunning-fox fables.