There is irony that I attempted to post the description of this expression several days ago, and a software error on SiteBuilder cased the web site to bite the dust, or at least make the site inaccessible for a few days. The expression was often used in cowboy movies when someone fell to the ground wounded or dead, but its origin comes from much earlier than those movies. “Lick the dust” to describe being wounded or killed is in the Bible, including in the King James Version in Psalms 72. A 1750 translation of The Iliad by Samuel Butler contains the line, “…that full many of his comrades may bite the dust as they fall dying around him,” although there is some argument that the words were from Butler and not Homer. One reason for that belief is that a Scottish author used the term “bite the dust” in another 1750 publication.

The expression was often used in cowboy movies when someone fell to the ground wounded or dead, but its origin comes from much earlier than those movies. “Lick the dust” to describe being wounded or killed is in the Bible, including in the King James Version in Psalms 72. A 1750 translation of The Iliad by Samuel Butler contains the line, “…that full many of his comrades may bite the dust as they fall dying around him,” although there is some argument that the words were from Butler and not Homer. One reason for that belief is that a Scottish author used the term “bite the dust” in another 1750 publication.

I intended to post this today as a companion to the blog about a military reunion, because I had always heard the expression originated from a military expression about firing nine yard long belts of machine gun ammunition in WWII planes. A target had to be important to justify expending the “whole nine yards” of ammunition and leaving yourself without anything to defend the plane from attack. However, written references don’t pop up until the 1960s, which casts suspicion on it originating in WWII. The consensus is that the term did originate in the military, but several sources think it came from the Vietnam era. The Montagnard hill tribes that supported the U.S., and were commonly called “The Yards.” Robert L. Mole published The Montagnards of South Vietnam: A Study of Nine Tribes. Being supported by all the tribes would include the “whole nine yards.” Others speculate it might have come from a concrete truck delivering an entire load to one location, although concrete trucks usually are smaller or larger than nine yards. Still others speculate that the term comes from the amount of material used to make a custom suit, a wedding veil, colonial dresses, or burial shrouds. However, the actual amount of material used to make those usually isn’t nine yards. I think I’ll stick with my original thought and use the Montagnard explanation as a backup.

Our daughter had an injury when she was quite young, and an emergency room doctor said they would treat the injury, “…but in the meantime, keep her calm.” She told us later she thought “meantime was when the big bad wolf comes.” Of course that made me curious about the origin of the expression. Apparently, the origin is a mystery, but “mean” can refer to middle or intermediate. The expression refers to doing something in the interim (intermediate) while waiting for something expected to happen.

The term means to risk everything for a potentially large gain. The result is “gone broke,” or bankrupt if the risk fails. Money lenders in the 15th Century worked on benches, and their bench was literally broken if they lost all their money. The term “broken bench” was shortened to “broke,” and was first recorded in the 1550s. The U.S. Army 442nd Infantry unit was formed from Japanese Americans during WWII, and many of them were from Hawaii. The unit adopted the motto “Go For Broke,” from Hawaiian gambling slang popular at the time. They were awarded the largest number of medals ever awarded to a single unit.

Wiki Answers speculates that the origin of this idiom, which means acting crazy, was from a rumor passed around in the Love and Drug generation of the 1960s that inhaling the smoke from burning banana peels would cause a high. The expression swept through the streets and made it onto the television show “Laugh-In” despite the fact that numerous people proved by experimentation that it didn’t work.