One answer on the Fun Trivia site says that a full “English” breakfast was expected to include fried eggs, sausage, ham and tomato. Countries in continental Europe typically served much lighter breakfasts with cereal, cheese, and a pastry. That description closely matches what has evolved into what is expected when someone sees that a hotel or motel will serve a Continental breakfast.

The Oxford Dictionary observes there have been many attempt to explain the origin of this expression, and most of them are speculations with little historical evidence to back them up. The expression became popular in the mid-1800s, and is likely to be an abbreviation of orl korrekt, which was invented to be a “jokey misspelling of ‘all correct’.” Supporters of President Martin Van Buren called him “Old Kinderhook” after his New York birthplace and formed the “OK Club,” which helped popularize the expression OK to indicate all is well. Another theory is that black slaves had a term for “all right, yes indeed” in various West African languages which apparently sounded like OK. The explanation ends by saying “…historical evidence enabling the origin of this expression to be finally and firmly established may be hard to unearth.”

The phrase is usually used by children to mean, “I claim ownership of that.” However, World Wide Words, a site I frequently use, tells me there is no definitive explanation of the origin. There are dozens of children’s games that have had “dib” or a similar expression in their name. H.G. Wells used “dibs” as slang for money. Perhaps the most logical explanation is that “dib” is an abbreviation of “division” or divide.” But that logic isn’t backed up by evidence.

World Wide Words has an excellent discussion of the origin of this term and how the meaning has changed completely over the centuries. It began as “meet” in medieval England, and it was often spelled “mot” or “mote.” When something was put up for discussion and debate to reach a decision it was “mooted.” Law students later began using the word “moot” to describe their debates of hypothetical issues. The outcome was unimportant since the issues were invented to help them improve their debating skills. The result was “…a curious shift in which the sense of ‘open to debate’ has become ‘not worth debating’.” The discussion also warns against using the incorrect “mute” to substitute for “moot.”

The Phrase Finder reports that this expression is often incorrectly said to come from the increased cost charged by painters based in part on the number of limbs that would be shown.  However, the phrase originated in America sometime after World War II, and is intended to reflect that the cost of something would be enormous. It is possible the phrase references the high cost paid by soldiers who had lost an arm or leg in the war. It is more likely the origin was nineteenth century phrases “I would give my right arm for…and [Even] if it takes a leg.”