This expression is used to describe something that seemed to have great promise but doesn’t “pan out” (prove) to be of lasting value. It apparently has two legitimate origins. Wiktionary says it came from the small charge of powder in the firing pan of a flintlock rife igniting but failing to ignite the powder that fired the ball. There was an impressive flash, but it was ineffectual. The Phrase Finder writes that the expression was also used by California Gold Rush prospectors who “…became excited when they saw something glint in the pan, only to have their hopes dashed when it proved not to be gold but a mere ‘flash in the pan’.”

I originally researched this expression because my grandson asked me what it meant after hearing it as a joke on television. The question was “What is served at a celebration for someone getting what they deserve?” The answer was, “just deserts.” The expression does in fact mean someone receiving what they deserve. Wise geek says it is often misspelled as “just desserts.” The expression has been around for over a hundred years.

The web site unm.edu (from the Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson) explains that this is an American expression meaning the “whole lot” The definition of the word “boodle” is the same as “a pile of money.” Americans modified the phrase “kit and caboodle,” because it sounds better than “kit and boodle.” Other sites had more complicated descriptions, but I liked this one.

This idiom is usually used as a financial term to describe an amount of money that was put at risk in a bet or business venture. It is speculated that it originated with the brutal practice of tethering a bear to a stake and turning dogs loose to attack it. Apparently the bets would be placed on whether the dogs or the bear would be killed. The money that was bet was called “at the stake,” or “at stake.”

The use of the word “scratch” in this expression began with the description of a line or mark drawn or scratched into the ground to indicate a boundary or starting-point in sports. Scratch then became the definition of giving a competitor no odds, and a “scratch golfer” is given no handicap strokes. The term was later applied to mean “from nothing, such as when a recipe is made from individual ingredients instead of using a boxed mix.

The origin of this idiom is disputed, and some think it came from the British House of Commons where members were required to stand two sword-lengths apart to maintain decorum (and apparently to keep members from being able to reach someone arguing with them with their sword). However, Wikipedia believes it is more likely that the origin was barefooted seamen standing at attention for inspection lined up along the seams of wooden planks on the deck, “…hence, to ‘toe the line’.” Others attribute it to the starting line in track events and boxers lining up on either side of a line to start a match.