The meaning is understood to be caught committing a crime such as murder or poaching with blood on your hands. There was a recent family discussion that there was little doubt where the expression originated, because it must refer to a murderer having blood on his hands. A little research found the answer might not be so uncomplicated. There is a myth about a boat race to the shores of the northern Irish province of Ulster in which the winner of the race would be the ruler. One contestant cut off his hand and threw it to the shore to guarantee his win. The flag of the province has a red hand on a white shield in the center of the flag. Much of the literature does indicate that the meaning is being “caught in the act,” but there are some other theories. Some believe the expression originated in the Indus Valley where a thief’s guilt or innocence was determined by placing his hand on the red-hot heated blade of an axe. Another theory is that the Japanese would brush the sap of poison ivy on money, which would cause the hand of a thief to break into a red rash. There was no explanation for what people did when they had to use the money. I think I’ll go with the blood-on-the-hands explanation, although the other ideas are interesting.

Most people who hear or use this expression understand it to be the Australian way of saying “don’t worry about that.” It is said to be an Australian’s way to “represent a feeling of friendliness, good humor, optimism, and ‘mate ship’.” It has been called the national motto of Australia. However, I found one dark reference asking that the term not be used. Nazi death squads said “Keine Sorge” or Keine Angst” (no worries) to Ukrainians just before executing them. That’s just one more thing to justify  residual anger toward the Nazis, and I’m certain I will enjoy hearing “no worries” in the future.

Wikianswers explains that coins were made during the Iron age with a peg that had a stencil of the coin on one end. The peg was gripped in one fist and it was struck by a mallet in the opposite hand to form the face of the coin, thus leading to the expression “hand over fist.” There is an opposing theory that the expression refers to seamen pulling rope hand-over-fist. However, I’m going with the first explanation, because the expression is often expanded to “making money hand over fist.”

This word is so commonly used that we don’t give a second thought to where it began. According to the “Dictionary of Word Origins,” the phrase originated from “God be with you.” Shakespeare used “God be wy you.” “Good” was eventually substituted for “God” because of phrases such as “good day” and “good night.”

One of my Grandsons brought me my coffee cup with the comment that he thought I might want a “cup of Joe,” which made me wonder where the expression originated. There are several explanations that attribute the expression as a reference to Joseph Daniels, who was appointed Secretary of the Navy in 1913 by President Woodrow Wilson. The legend says that he abolished the officer’s wine mess, which left coffee, or “cup of Joe,” as the strongest drink allowed on Navy ships. Both Answer Bag and Snopes declare this explanation to be false, based on the fact the expression doesn’t appear in print until almost three decades after the banning of wine. Another more plausible explanation is that “Joe” was a frequently used name for the common man, and soldiers (GI Joe), drank considerable amounts of coffee. The less interesting but most likely origin is that “Joe” became a corruption for Jamoke or Java, where the best coffee originally came from. A man named Erdman wrote in the Reserve Officer’s Manual in 1931, “Jamoke, Java, Joe. Coffee. Derived from the words Java and Mocha.”

World Wide Words observes that this expression is so often wrongly spelled “shoe in” that “…it’s likely it will eventually end up that way.” The term originated with horse racing, where a shoo-in was the certain winner of a rigged race. It comes “…from the verb shoo, meaning to drive a person or animal in a given direction by making noises or gestures, which in turn comes from the noise people often make when they do it.” The shift to the description of rigged horse races began in the early 1900s. C.E. Smith used the term ‘shooed in” to describe winning through manipulation in 1908.