tempest in a teapot and variations

 

German artist Carl Guttenberg's 1778 engraving of an exploding teapot to represent the American Revolution. Father Time, on the right, flashes a magic lantern picture of an exploding teapot to America on the left and Britannia on the right, with British and American forces advancing towards each other.

Tempest in a teapot (American English), or storm in a teacup (British English), or tempest in a teacup, are all idioms meaning a small event that has been exaggerated out of proportion. There are also lesser-known or earlier variants, such as storm in a cream bowl, tempest in a glass of water, storm in a wash-hand basin, and storm in a glass of water. We find the French une tempête dans un verre d'eau (a storm in a glass of water) and Chinese: 茶杯裡的風波、;  茶壺裡的風暴 (winds and waves in a teacup; storm in a teapot)

The etymology appears to go way back to Cicero in the first century BC. In his De Legibus, he used a similar phrase in Latin, possibly the precursor to the modern expressions, Excitabat enim fluctus in simpulo ut dicitur Gratidius, which is translated as "For Gratidius raised a tempest in a ladle, as the saying is."

One of the earliest occurrences in print of the modern version is in 1815, where Britain's Lord Chancellor Thurlow, sometime during his tenure of 1783–1792, is quoted as referring to a popular uprising on the Isle of Man as a "tempest in a teapot."

Lord North, Prime Minister of Great Britain, is credited for popularizing this phrase as characterizing the outbreak of American colonists against the tax on tea. This was satirized in Carl Guttenberg's 1778 engraving of the Tea-Tax Tempest (shown above).

saved by the bell

Some Americans might know the phrase saved by the bell" as the name of a 1980s TV sitcom about high school kids. But we use this idiom to often mean that someone is saved by something unplanned that gets them free from a tough situation. It might be a bell that saves them - one to end a class so that they don't have to give their speech, or a phone call that frees them - but it can it could also be the person who summons you from a meeting that you didn't want to attend.

The the idiom originataes in sports. In boxing, to be saved from misfortune or unpleasantness and a possible loss by the sound of the bell signalling the end of the round. Even a boxer who is knocked to the canvas and must regain his feet before a count of ten or lose the fight can be saved by that end-of-round bell if it is rung before the count is finished. That gives him until the start of the next round to recover and resume fighting. 

ADHI dates this to the "mid-1900s" while the OED cites the first boxing use in 1932, and later figurative use in 1959.

ringers and dead ringers

 

If you say that someone is a  “Dead Ringer,” it means they have the exact likeness of someone else - like a twin.

Going back to 19th century U.S. in horse racing,  an owner might substitute a horse that was faster or slower than the original racing horse to con the bookies. That horse looked exactly like the substituted horse and was called a ringer. 

The term "ringer" may have originated from the British term of the same name, which means "substitute or exchange". 

But why "dead"? In the phrase "dead ringer", the word means "precise" or "exact", similar to the phrases "dead on", "dead center", and "dead heat". 

When I was younger, I had heard the more frightening folk etymology of a "dead ringer." This usage originated from a custom of providing a cord in coffins for someone who buried alive to ring a bell for help. However, this is a folk etymology and the phrase has nothing to do with death.

Sometimes They Say What They Mean

Some sayings have fairly literal origins. For example, if someone is "burning the midnight oil” meaning that they are working late into the night. The origin is from the days before electricity when oil lamps were used for lighting a room. Hence, you were burning oil at midnight if you were working late.

 To end a disagreement and move on might be described as "burying the hatchet." This old saying comes from a Native American tradition. When tribes declared a truce from battle, the chief from each opposing side would take a hatchet and bury it during a ceremony.

Today, if you are "caught red-handed” you have been apprehended during the commission of a crime. The origin is 15th century Scotland when being caught red-handed literally referred to committing a crime that leaves you with blood on your hands.

Bite the Bullet

The expression "Bite the Bullet” used today means to go through the pain (physical or mental) and get on with it. 

In the 19th century, it could literally mean to bite a bullet. At the time, there was no such thing as pain relief or anesthesia when soldiers were injured on the battlefield and needed surgery, including amputations. They might be given an alcoholic drink but they were given a bullet to bite down on to prevent them from screaming out loud.

Of course, it didn't need to be a bullet - a piece of wood or leather strap would work too - but bullets were readily available. 

"Biting the bullet" is a metaphor used to describe a situation, often a debate, where one accepts an inevitable impending hardship or hard-to-refute point, and then endures the resulting pain with fortitude.

The phrase "bite on the bullet"That was first recorded by Rudyard Kipling in his 1891 novel The Light That Failed.

Evidence for biting an actual bullet rather than something perhaps safer and less likely to be swallowed is sparse. It is said that Harriet Tubman related having once assisted in a Civil War amputation in which the patient was given a bullet to bite down on.

Another origin story is that it evolved from the British expression "to bite the cartridge", which dates to the Indian Rebellion of 1857, but the phrase "chew a bullet", with a similar meaning, dates to at least 1796.

Modern audiences need to recognize that in the era of the origin of this phrase bullets were typically made of lead, a very soft metal, and would have been independent of any charge or cartridge.

Humble Pie

“Eating Humble Pie” is an expression that means to be submissive or apologetic. Its origin goes as far back as the 17th century. The lord of an estate would give the umbles (the less tasty parts of an animal) to his servants. "Umbles" in Middle English was derived from the word numble (after the Middle French nombles), meaning "deer's innards." Typically, they were made into a pie. This became associated with a lower social status.

I knew the phrase more as the name of a rock band.

1970 album

Humble Pie is an English rock band formed by singer-guitarists Peter Frampton and Steve Marriott in 1969. Often regarded as one of the first supergroups in music, Humble Pie experienced moderate popularity and commercial success during the 1970s with hit songs such as "Black Coffee", "30 Days in the Hole", "I Don't Need No Doctor", "Hot 'n' Nasty" and "Natural Born Bugie" among others.

The original line-up of members featured lead singer/frontman and guitarist Steve Marriott of Small Faces, singer-guitarist Peter Frampton of the Herd, former Spooky Tooth bassist Greg Ridley and drummer Jerry Shirley from the Apostolic Intervention.

Having been instantly labeled by the UK music press as a supergroup, the band chose Humble Pie in order to downplay such expectations.

Their debut album, As Safe as Yesterday Is, was released in August 1969, along with the single, "Natural Born Bugie"/"Wrist Job", which reached No. 4 hit in the UK Singles Chart. It is one of the first albums to be described by the term "heavy metal" in a 1970 review in Rolling Stone magazine. I always thought of them as being more "hard rock" than metal, but I'm not a critic. 

On 9 July 1971 Humble Pie opened for Grand Funk Railroad at their historic Shea Stadium concert, an event that broke the Beatles record for fastest-selling stadium concert, to that date. 

That year, Humble Pie released their most successful record to date, Rock On, as well as a live album recorded at the Fillmore East in New York entitled Performance Rockin' the Fillmore. The live album was certified gold by the RIAA. "I Don't Need No Doctor" became an FM radio standard in the US, peaking at No. 73 on the Billboard Hot 100 and propelling the album up the charts. 

By the time of the album's release, Peter Frampton had left the band and went on to considerable success as a solo artist. His live recording Frampton Comes Alive! (1976), had several hit singles, and has earned 8× Platinum by the RIAA in the United States.

The band went through many lineup changes. Steve Marriott died in a house fire in 1991. The band continued to tour and record and during 2018 Jerry Shirley (who still owned the Humble Pie name) created a new lineup that he would direct but not tour with and as of 2023 Shirley's "Humble Pie Legacy" lineup of Dave Colwell (guitar), Jim Stapley (vocals, guitar, Hammond, harmonica), Ivan Bodley (bass) and Bobby Marks (drums) were still actively touring.

Barking up the Wrong Tree

“Barking up the Wrong Tree” is a saying that means to take the wrong approach or waste your efforts. "If you're looking for a job here, you're barking up the wrong tree."

This is an old saying that originates in America and refers to hunting dogs in the early 19th century. Hunted prey such as raccoons or bears would escape the dogs by climbing up trees. The dogs would then track them and hopefully "tree" them and then the dog would sit and bark at the base of the tree, waiting for their master. However, sometimes the dogs would lose the scent and select the wrong tree, but they would still sit and bark there waiting for their master. 

Spring Fever, Cabin Fever

You made it through the month of March without being as “mad as a March hare” but there there is April, May and most of June to survive before summer, so spring fever is still a possibility.

“Spring Fever” is an interesting term for a phenomenon or perhaps a pseudo-illness. The term seems to have entered English in the mid-1800s. Linguistically, it is interesting because it has two meanings which are opposites. There is the term contronym to describe words that are also antonyms. Examples include words such as cleave which can mean “to cling” or “to split”, and the verb “to dust” which can mean to remove dust (cleaning a house) or to add dust (dust a cake with powdered sugar).

Similarly, “spring fever” means a sluggishness, apathy or inertia at this time after winter OR a renewed energy and freedom at the opportunity to get outside and be active again. 

The negative feeling is related to the dormancy, like a hibernating animal, that occurs for many of us in colder climates during winter. Like a bear coming out of hibernation, we are slow to get moving.

The more positive meaning applied to this seasonal change is experiencing new-found energy after being confined mostly indoors for a few months. Time to start that spring cleaning, get back to exercising, start working on outdoor projects, and get into the Sun.

It’s not a real disease or fever, but historians think the American colonists coined the term to refer to the weakness, fatigue, and irritability many felt after a long winter without fresh fruits or vegetables. These symptoms could be quite real but were probably signs of the very real disease scurvy which also plagued sailor on long voyages. Scurvy is a disease resulting from a lack of vitamin C. Early symptoms of deficiency include weakness, fatigue, and sore arms and legs and without treatment, causes decreased red blood cells, gum disease, changes to hair, and bleeding from the skin.

“Cabin fever” is phrase we started using in the early 1900s for a kind of claustrophobic reaction we have to be “trapped” inside with less to keep us busy and no access to nature for an extended period. I love cabins, so the thought of being in one seems quite pleasant to me, but that might change if I was snowed in for a month. You could get cabin fever in an isolated cabin in the woods, but it can happen in a home in the suburbs or a city apartment too. Ever notice how crowded your local park is on those first really warm and sunny spring days?

In German, they have the difficult-to-pronounce term frühjahrsmüdigkeit which is literally translated as “spring tiredness”, so this is not a purely American phenomenon. The German version is on the negative side. It means a temporary mood characterized by low energy levels.

Is there any science to all this? Though the diagnosis of “spring fever” or “cabin fever” probably doesn’t appear in any manual with a code for your insurance coverage, there are things that can cause all the symptoms. The cause most often noted is hormone imbalance.  One hormone that increases our happiness is serotonin, whose production depends on daylight, so the level may be lowered over the winter. Serotonin is the basis for many anti-depressant medications. The lowered serotonin might also allow melatonin, a hormone related to sleep,  to have its way with us. The longer days of spring and summer allow more endorphin, testosterone, and estrogen to be released.  It has also been suggested that this seasonal readjustment of hormones stresses our bodies and we react with a feeling of tiredness.

The cure or prevention is getting outside, being active, and getting some sunlight (a half hour is enough to help). Avoid taking any melatonin tablets for a while.  Eat less food and, as those hormones adjust, increase vitamins and proteins. Look at the cures for seasonal affective disorder and get happy.

April Fools

Maybe today you were the victim of a practical joke. For centuries, April 1 has been a day marked by hoaxes and practical jokes played on people around the world.  If you fall for one of these pranks, then you are an April fool.

This tradition goes back to Europe in the mid-1600s and crossed over to the English-speaking world in the late seventeenth century.

Although the origin of April Fools is still debatable, most references trace it back to France and the French calendar reform of the sixteenth century.

Up until 1564, the Julian calendar was the accepted one to use in France and the beginning of the New Year was around April. But King Charles IX declared that France would begin using the Gregorian calendar which has New Year's Day on January 1.

Those who did not accept the change became the focus of April jokes and were mocked as fools. Pranks were played on, like being invited to parties that never occurred. In rural areas, word of the change was not always known, so these people were also mocked for celebrating the new year on the wrong day.

The tradition of pranking these "fools" commonly included sneaking a paper fish to their backs. These victims were called Poisson d’Avril, or April Fish. Today the term is still used in France for April Fools where the tradition is more popular with younger children. Bakeries and chocolatiers even make fish-shaped treats for the "holiday."

Why related to fish? That's unclear but it has been suggested that it relates to the zodiac sign of Pisces (a fish), which falls near April.

In Italy,  Il Pesce d’Aprile, or April’s Fish, is very similar. Youngsters secretly attach a paper cutout pesciolino (small fish) to the back of a school companion and then everyone asks, "L’hai visto?—Chi?—Il pesce d’Aprile!" (or Have you seen?—Who?—the April Fool!) and laugh at the Fool.

In France, Italy, the United States and other countries, adults get in on the game - usually minus the fish.

basket cases

“Basket case” has multiple meanings nowadays. Referring to a person it often means someone unable to cope with mental or emotional stress, especially due to anxiety. It can be temporary. Someone who is very nervous, tired, and unable to think or act normally. "By the end of the day, he was a complete basket case".

Used to describe a non-person, it can be anything that is impaired or incapable of functioning ot is beyond repair. For example, "The company was in such financial trouble, it was considered a basket case".

Simply defined, it means stressed out, or unable to cope

But why basket? 

WWI wounded arriving at triage station, Suippes, France

In World War I, soldiers who had lost all of their limbs and could not be safely carried on stretchers were put into makeshift baskets. The term is considered insulting and dates back to around 1919. 

The Oxford English Dictionary says the colloquial term “basket case” originated in the United States shortly after World War I, and meant “a person, esp. a soldier, who has lost all four limbs.”

But there is some evidence that is a mythic origin.

"However, the phrase, which initially referred to American soldiers supposedly left limbless by the war, was a product of the postwar rumor mill in the US. No quadruple-amputee American soldiers existed, and there’s no evidence that any head-and-torso survivors from any country were carried around in baskets."

At the drop of a hat

“At the Drop of a Hat” is an expression that means to do something without delay, warning or much preparation.

In the 19th century, a hat was often used to indicate the start of a race or a fight. A hat would be dropped or swept in a downward arc and participants would begin.This was particularly in usage in the American West.

If you do something at the drop of a hat, you do it immediately without really stopping to think about it:

"Do you think I can just meet you at the drop of a hat?"  Though in a usage such as "People will file lawsuits at the drop of a hat these days," there must have been some thought beforehand. 

Big Wigs, Mad Hatters and Sons of a Gun

I saw that a question on TV's Jeopardy was about  “Big Wigs.”  The term has come to mean a very important person. The origin is quite literal. In the 18th century, wigs for women and men were common. The important figures within the political system would wear the biggest wigs.

You might have heard the expression that someone is “As Mad as a Hatter” meaning they are crazy or insane. I first encountered it in Alice in Wonderland.

The origin also goes back to the 17th and 18th centuries. Hatters - those who made hats - made felt hats using mercury. That led to all kinds of side effects, including literal insanity. The Mad Hatter, from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, is based on this phenomenon.

It is not a bad thing to call someone a "son of a gun" as it is a term of endearment. The origin I found goes back to when sailors took their wives to sea on long voyages. Inevitably, some of the women became pregnant. It was believed that the safest place to give birth was deemed to be between the guns/cannons. I couldn't find why that was the place, but therefore, a child born on the gun deck was known as a "son of a gun."

Another variation I found is that when in port, wives - and prostitutes - were allowed on board. In the morning, the Bosun's mates would yell "show a leg" as they came to the gun deck, where the sailors hung their hammocks. A female leg meant not to upend the hammock to get the sailor to work. That origin story also said that if a baby was born onboard, especially if the father wasn't known for sure, then the babe was a son of a gun.

Perhaps related is that the term "gundecking" is still used to mean really screwing up or doing the job wrong.

Walk of Life

What is the meaning and origin of the idiom "from all walks of life"?  When people talk about walk(s) of life, they are referring to different types of jobs and different levels of society. "The club has members from all walks of life."

The phrase "people from all walks of life" is often used informally to convey that a group of people consists of individuals from diverse backgrounds and occupations. It can also bring to mind the idea that people from all socioeconomic classes and ways of living are represented

OED's earliest evidence for "walk of life" is from 1733, in the writing of Eustace Budgell.

But why is it a "walk" of life? I found no explanation. My guess would be that each life is a journey and walking is one, especially in the 1700s, way of moving through the day and your life. 

Riding Shotgun

 

Joan Weldon & Randolph Scott in RIDING SHOTGUN

The term "riding shotgun" originates in the early 1700s and for almost two centuries it literally meant a person riding beside the driver of a stagecoach or other vehicle armed with a weapon, A shotgun was the original weapon of choice as it offered a better chance of hitting a robber from a moving vehicle on rough roads at speed.

Armed guards positioned beside drivers continued long after stagecoaches were replaced by motorized vehicles. 

The term gained popularity in movies like Stagecoach (1939) and Riding Shotgun (1954). 

Andy Devine & George Bancroft STAGECOACH

By the 1960s, it had entered into American culture as a common way to claim the front passenger seat with the phrase "I call shotgun."

By Jove

Marble statue of Jupiter from c. 100 AD

There are some milder, euphemistic substitutes for using the name of God, such as “gosh darn it,” “for Pete’s sake,” “by George,”and “good golly." "By Jove" is another one but is also different. "By Jove" did not start as a euphemism, and when it first showed up in English. 

Both “by Jove” and “by Jupiter” were originally Latin oaths as pro Iovem and pro Iuppiter. Roman would use this literally in the way we might say “my God!” or “good God!” Jove or Jupiter was the top deity for the Romans. This sender of thunderbolts was Zeus to the Greeks and equated to Germanic Thor.

Today, the phrase is used to express surprise or to emphasize a statement. "By Jove, that was some explosion."

In classical times, the name was written as Iovis or Iuppiter
(Iuppiter was a compound of the archaic Latin Iovis and pater).
There was no “j” in classical Latin.
The letter “i” was both a consonant and a vowel;
as a consonant, it sounded like the English letter “y.”

A Horatio Alger Story

I have always heard the phrase "a Horatio Alger story" and took it to mean that this Horatio person had a rags-to-riches success story. The phrase is not in very common usage today and it turns out that my definition is not completely accurate to its origin.

There was a real Horatio Alger Jr. who was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts in 1832. He was the oldest of five kids, and he was nearsighted and asthmatic. He was accepted to Harvard when he was 16, and he said, "No period of my life has been one of such unmixed happiness as the four years which have been spent within college walls." 

He studied under Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, was named Class Poet, and wrote essays, poetry, and short sketches. After graduation, he didn't enjoy much publishing success, so he made his living by taking a series of temporary teaching jobs.

He moved to New York City and began working with homeless and delinquent boys, establishing boarding houses and securing homes and public assistance for them. It was during this time that he started writing dime novels for boys. It was his fourth book Ragged Dick; or, Street Life in New York with the Boot-Blacks (1868) that finally made him a literary success.

The book followed a formula that he would return to often - a young boy, living in poverty, manages to find success and happiness by working hard and never giving up. The books created a kind of American concept that if you worked hard, and lived virtuously, and had a combination of "pluck and luck," you could go from the gutter to the mansion.

The popularity of the books - and maybe that idea - decreased as the century turned. He revised his style, making the stories more violent and gritty, but they had peaked.

He died in near-poverty in 1899. So his story is more of a riches-to-rags story. 

wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatio_Alger

Idioms, phrases, expressions and sayings

I use the category label of "idioms and phrases" on this site, but I sometimes rather cavalierly call multiple-word phrases "sayings," "expressions," or just plain old "terms." Are they truly interchangeable? I decided to investigate this confusion. 

An IDIOM is defined as a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words. "Raining cats and dogs" and "see the light" are examples. 

A PHRASE is defined as a group of words that works together in a sentence but does not contain a subject or a verb. Often phrases are used to describe people, things, or events. The English teacher in me notes that I used to have to teach these phrases in grammar units: Noun Phrase; Friday became a cool, wet afternoon. Verb Phrase; Mary might have been waiting outside for you. Gerund Phrase; Eating ice cream on a hot day can be a good way to cool off. Infinitive Phrase; She helped to build the roof. Prepositional Phrase; In the kitchen, you will find my mom.

But when I label something as a phrase on this website I don't mean those things. I am more likely talking about simple expressions, idiomatic expressions, and the "turn of phrase." Still, I find other websites that also lump idioms and phrases together.

There are plenty of these that don't need an explanation or origin story from me: "A hard nut to crack" meaning a person who is very difficult to deal with is obvious.

What label would you put on "A picture is worth a thousand words" or "Better late than never" or "Born with a silver spoon in mouth"? 

I can say that idiom comes from late 16th-century French idiome, or via late Latin from Greek idiōma oddly meaning "private property" from idiousthai  "to make one's own" which in turn comes from idios meaning own or private. Is suppose the idea was that these phrases began as some personal expression and then some became more widely used.

Okay, I suppose I keep using the idioms and phrases" category and also use the other terms.

Zuzu's Petals

"Zuzu's petals" is a phrase from the 1946 movie It's A Wonderful Life which since its release has become a Christmas-season film classic.

The petals belong to Zuzu Bailey, the youngest daughter of George Bailey the main character. Early in the film, Zuzu shows a flower that she brought home from school and became upset when the petals started to fall off. Her father pretended to reattach them but actually just slipped the lost petals into his pocket.

By the end of the movie, after considering suicide, George has been shown what the world might be like if he had never been born. Given a second chance by God, aided by the angel Clarence, all the changes he had seen in the world were undone. His first realization that his world had been returned to him was when he found that Zuzu's petals were once again in his pocket.

The unusual name, Zuzu, is sometimes used as a short nickname for Susan. But Grimes, who played Zuzu in the film, has another origin story. She says it came from a Nabisco cookie called Zu Zu Ginger Snaps. It was a widely advertised product in magazines of the period. If that sounds farfetched, remember that near the end of the film, George runs up the house stairs and when he meets his little daughter he says “Zuzu, my little ginger snap!“

The phrase has become a kind of shorthand way of reminding people of the hope that things can be mended and made better.

"Zuzu's petals...Zuzu... There they are!"

Nautical Terms part 2

Image: Darkmoon_Art

In part one of my posts about nautical terms, I focused on terms about competency that have come from the nautical world. I also found several expressions for incompetency that come from that world.

Have you heard about someone who is over a barrel? To be "over a barrel" has come to mean to be left without choice or in someone else's power. Its nautical origin first appeared in the late-19th century. It referred to the actual situation of being draped over a barrel, either to empty the lungs of someone who has been close to drowning, or to give a flogging. in either case the person is in a helpless position and under someone else's control.

The expression has softened in meaning and now used to refer to anyone in a situation where they have little choice.

When we say that someone or something "ran afoul," we are also referencing a nautical expression. To run afoul in nautical terms means to collide or become entangled with something. One boat can run afoul of another or one small boat can run afoul of something like seaweed.

Currently, it is more commonly used to be in severe disagreement, trouble, or difficulty with someone or something, such as running afoul of the law.  

This expression originated in the late 1600s when it was applied to a vessel colliding or becoming entangled with another vessel, but it went into non-nautical usage around the same time and both senses remain current.

"Scraping the bottom of the barrel" means using something of very poor quality because that is all that is left. It has a quite literal origin from 17th-century ships when sailors would scrape empty barrels used to store salted meat to recover any remaining scraps. Away from ships, it can mean to obtain the last dregs of something or to procure someone or something that is of inferior quality.

And there are still at least 50 more nautical terms and sailing phrases that have enriched our language.

A Perfect Storm

Image: WikiImages

The phrase "a perfect storm" has multiple uses but they all originate from the same basic meaning. The commonality is that any "perfect storm" is an event in which a rare combination of circumstances drastically aggravates the event. 

The most literal use of the term is in weather forecasting. It refers to an unusually severe storm that results from a rare combination of meteorological phenomena. It is somewhat ironic since a perfect storm is often deadly and hardly "perfect" to those affected by it.

The phrase entered our vocabulary when a 1997 book, The Perfect Storm, and in 2000 a popular movie adaptation entered the mainstream. 

Sebastian Junger planned to write a book about the 1991 Halloween Nor'easter storm which was technically an "extratropical cyclone." While researching for the book, Junger learned that the event was the confluence of three different weather-related phenomena which a meteorologist told him was the "perfect situation" to generate such a storm. Junger then coined the phrase perfect storm and use it as the title of his 1997 book.

Since the book and movie's release, the phrase has grown to mean any event where a situation is aggravated drastically by an exceptionally rare combination of circumstances.

Despite Junger coining the weather-related perfect storm, the Oxford English Dictionary has published references going back to 1718 for "perfect storm." The earliest citations use the phrase in the sense of "absolute" or "complete." For example, in Thackeray's novel Vanity Fair, he writes "in the midst of a perfect storm of sympathy.

There is even an 1850 meteorological use of the phrase describing "A perfect storm of thunder and lightning all over England."

Today, a "perfect storm" most often means a worst-case scenario, such as its use during the financial crisis of 2007–2008 to describe the terribly "perfect" combination of circumstances that allowed the crisis to occur.