Down to the Wire and Hands Down

Here are two sports idioms from horse racing that have gone beyond the sport. Both contain "down."

When something goes "down to the wire" we mean it goes to the very end or last minute. "The election went down to the wire." The term comes from the length of wire that was once stretched across a racetrack at the finish line. Now, that finish is recorded electronically. The figurative use of the phrase goes back to about 1900.

Outside of horse racing, if someone said, "Hands down, this is the best pizza I have ever eaten." In that usage, it means unconditionally. It can also be used to mean something done with great ease.

In horse racing, when a jockey wins hands down, it means that when the jockey is certain of victory, he or she drops their hands and relaxes the hold on the reins. 

The horse-racing phrase was first cited by OED in 1867, and its figurative usage was noted in 1913.

Greenbacks, Bucks, Clams, Dead Presidents, Dough and Scratch

There are some informal (slang) names for U.S. paper currency. One fairly common term is "bucks." It likely originated from the early American practice of trading deerskins, known as buckskins, which were used as a unit of exchange. Over time, the term "buck" became a colloquialism for money. It's thought that this term was later applied to dollars and paper currency, becoming a widely used slang term.

The term "clams" for money likely originated in the mid-19th century in the United States. One theory is that it came from the expression "shell out," meaning to pay up or cough up money, which references the practice of using seashells, like clamshells, as currency or for decoration in some cultures. This term may have been shortened to "clams" as a slang term for money.

The term "dead presidents" likely originated in the late 19th or early 20th century, as many U.S. presidents were featured on various denominations of currency. The term gained popularity over time, particularly in the mid-20th century, as it became a common slang term to refer to paper money. It's worth noting that not all U.S. currency features presidents, but the term "dead presidents" stuck due to the prominent portraits of presidents like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and others on various denominations.

As with the previous terms, we have "likely" rather than definitive origin stories. The term "dough" for money likely originated from the idea that money is a vital resource, much like dough is a fundamental ingredient for bread. It's a basic necessity that helps things "rise" or progress. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States, "dough" became a popular slang term for money.

The term "scratch" for money probably comes from the idea of scratching out a living or making ends meet. It may also come from the notion of scratching together enough money to achieve something. In a street-level context, it might imply that it's a resource that's earned or scrounged up through effort. The term is often used in phrases like "scratch together" or "from scratch," emphasizing the idea of gathering or accumulating resources.

"Greenbacks" became a semi-official name for some currency in 1861when the Union introduced Demand Notes to fund the Civil War. United States Notes followed in 1862. Both were dubbed "greenbacks" due to their distinctive green ink, an anti-counterfeiting measure. 

As the first widespread US paper currency, these notes shared some similarities with today's bills, like the green color, but had notable design differences. Early $1 notes featured Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase and President Abraham Lincoln was on the $10 note. The backs showcased intricate wording or patterns, such as the crisscross sawhorse design. 

Initially, greenbacks were printed in larger sizes - 7 3/8 x 3 1/8 inches - until they were downsized to 6 1/8 x 2 5/8 inches in 1929.

Calling Dibs and Playing Jacks

Have you ever "called dibs" on something? Let's say that a group of people decide to rent bicycles for a ride, and one person says, "I call dibs on the red one." "First dibs" is sometimes called to establish a claim on the first use or the ownership of something. 

What does that mean and where did this odd expression originate?

This slang term has been in use since the early 19th century. The origin is disputed, but the most common origin story is that it comes from an old children's game called dibstones.

Dibstones is a child's game, similar to jacks and dice games. A dibstone is a pebble used in the game as a counter. The pebbles or the discarded knucklebones of sheep have been used since the late 17th century.

The game is from England, but the slang usage seems to be American. While playing, you can place a stone at your place to indicate a point. Similar to the modern slang usage, this means you have claimed a point.

To "call dibs" today is to claim a temporary right to something or to reserve it.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Children's Games - Knucklebones

The more common game of Jacks is also known as Knucklebones, Tali, or Fivestones. The games all have origins going back to ancient Greece and are mentioned by Sophocles and in the Iliad and Odyssey.

The games are usually played with five small objects (ten in the case of jacks). At one time, the game pieces were literally knucklebones, which are the astragalus bone in the ankle, or the hock of sheep. The jacks are thrown up and caught along with a ball or other object.

Modern jacks have six points/knobs and are usually made of metal or plastic. The simplest throw consists of either tossing up one jack, or bouncing a ball, and picking up one or more jacks/pebbles/knucklebones from the ground while it is in the air.

The games have a whole series of throws with odd names such as "riding the elephant", "peas in the pod", "horses in the stable", and "frogs in the well".

Sheep knucklebones used in the game

A variant on the previously mentioned games that is played by Israeli school-age children is known as kugelach or Chamesh Avanim ("five rocks"). Instead of jacks and a rubber ball, five die-sized metal cubes are used. The game cube is tossed in the air rather than bounced. 

here's also the Korean game Gonggi, another variant.

I was not able to find the origin and reason why the game or the game pieces are called "jacks."  Do any readers know?

Names for Cars

Naming automobile models is something that gets a lot of attention from manufacturers.
Almost all car names are some kind of symbolic suggestion. 

AMC Pacer

The ’70s Pacer was AMC’s attempt at a futuristic, wide-bodied compact car. The name “Pacer” was meant to suggest speed and forward motion—something pacing ahead of its time. Cool or quirky? 

Chevy Corvette

Named after a nimble, lightly armed warship, the Corvette was designed to be fast, agile, and striking. 

Ford Bronco

Built to take on the rugged terrain and challenge the Jeep, the Bronco was Ford’s wild stallion. The name called up images of untamed land and rough rides—just what off-roaders were after in the ’60s and ’70s.

Lamborghini Diablo

Spanish for “devil,” the Diablo was actually named after a legendary 19th-century fighting bull. It was designed to embody fierce power and exotic danger, just like the animal.

Chevy Blazer

The Blazer was made to blaze trails—plain and simple. Chevy wanted a name that captured rugged adventure and go-anywhere capability. The name became synonymous with early SUVs long before they ruled the roads.

Ford Mustang

Ford attempted to create its muscle car with a name that comes from both the WWII P-51 fighter plane and the free-roaming wild horses of the West which appear on the car's grille logo Fast, agile, and unapologetically American—it set the tone for generations of pony cars.

Chevy Camaro

Chevy never gave a straight answer on what “Camaro” meant—one exec famously joked it was “a small, vicious animal that eats Mustangs.” The name actually comes from a French word meaning “comrade” or “friend,” which makes little sense. It sounds sporty and fit with the "C" naming convention used by Chevrolet at the time. 

Volkswagen Golf

Believe it or not, the Golf isn’t named after the sport—it’s supposed to be short for Gulf Stream, part of VW’s theme of naming cars after winds and currents (as in their Scirocco, Passat, Jetta). A breezy name for a zippy hatchback.

Rolls-Royce Ghost

“Ghost” pays homage to the original Silver Ghost from 1906, known for being incredibly smooth and silent for its time. Today’s Ghost follows that lineage: ultra-luxurious, eerily quiet, and almost supernatural in how effortlessly it glides.

Dodge Charger

The Charger name suggests a horse trained for battle,and a battle cry, but today we probably first think of a device for charging a battery or battery-powered equipment - power. Whether you’re looking at the ’60s classics or today’s Hellcat beasts, the name fits.

Plymouth Barracuda

Before the Mustang even hit the streets, the Barracuda made waves. Named after the sleek, dangerous predator of the sea, it perfectly described the car’s sharp styling and serious bite on the drag strip.

Audi Quattro

“Quattro” simply means “four” in Italian, but for Audi, it was a statement. It marked the debut of their revolutionary all-4-wheels-drive system in a sleek coupe. The name became so iconic that “quattro” is now practically synonymous with AWD across the industry.

AMC Javelin

Designed to take on the likes of the Mustang and Camaro, the Javelin carried a name that evoked precision and power. Like its namesake spear, it was built to be thrown into the muscle car wars with deadly intent.

idioms about memory

 

I have another site where I wrote about three kinds of memory neurons, and referenced some idioms around memory. We have a lot of them in English

• Clear your memory
• Jog your memory
• Have something etched in your mind
• Stroll down memory lane
• Lose your train of thought
• Have a mental picture
• Have something slip your mind. 
• Memory like a sieve
• Memory like an elephant
• A mind like a steel trap.

Grape Nuts Cereal

Th78blue, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Grape Nuts cereal is named for its resemblance to grape seeds. But is is made from wheat and barley, and contains no grapes or nuts.  

The cereal was created by Charles William "C.W." Post in 1897. Mr. Post used a coffee grinder to break the baked cereal into small pieces that resembled grape seeds. Post believed that glucose, or "grape sugar," formed during baking. That sugar and the resulting cereal's nutty flavor inspired the name. 


Grape-Nuts was marketed as a health food. It was often eaten with milk, but could also be used in savory recipes like meatloaf and puddings. 

Grape-Nuts was featured in soldiers' rations during World War II as it is a nutrient-dense cereal that's high in fiber and protein. It has a whole-grain base that provides a steady energy source. 

Moby Grape

Columbia Records promotional photo, 1967.
L-R: Skip Spence, Jerry Miller, Bob Mosley, Peter Lewis, Don Stevenson

Moby Grape is an American rock band founded in 1966 as part of San Francisco's psychedelic music scene. The band actually had elements of rock, folk music, pop, blues, and country music.

Their name came from a joke that played off Herman Melville's Moby Dick: What's big and purple and lives in the sea? Moby Grape. member Don Stevenson says that it was a time of rather silly, nonsensical band names like Strawberry Alarm Clock, Electric Prunes, and 13th Floor Elevator.

They were one of the few groups in which all members were lead vocalists and songwriters. Before they had recorded, they had played many club gigs with all original songs. 

A trivia bit about the 1967 debut album is that the band photo has Don Stevenson making a middle finger gesture over a washboard. It is airbrushed off later cover and poster photos making the original album quite collectible.

The later years and albums became overshadowed by the story of Skip Spence. Alexander "Skip" Spence had been a guitarist but but became the drummer for the Jefferson Airplane on their first album but was kicked out after that. He went back to guitar when the Moby Grape was formed.

Spence had been using a lot LSD along with many in the San Francisco psychedelic scene. He developed severe mental illnesses, including a belief that he was the Antichrist. He'd attacked two of his bandmates with an axe, and had also gone to the CBS building and attacked people there. Luckily nobody was injured, but he was committed to a psychiatric hospital. Lewis, who had left the band for a time, returned to take his place.

There are several collections of their "best of" songs and reissues of their original albums.

In 2018 a detailed biography - What's Big And Purple And Lives In The Ocean?: The Moby Grape Story by Cam Cobb was published.

Trivia: Peter Lewis is the son of the film star Loretta Young,

For Contrast: They went to Columbia Studios in March 1967 to cut their first album, which took five days. The Beach Boys were also in Columbia studios over the same five days, in another studio in the complex, and spent all 5 days just doing vocal overdubs for the “Heroes and Villains” single.

Supertramp

Supertramp is an English rock band formed in London in 1969. The band's songwriting founders, Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies, originally called their band "Daddy" but to avoid confusion with the similarly named Daddy Longlegs, the band changed its name to "Supertramp." 

That name was inspired by The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp by William Henry Davies, who was a Welsh poet and writer who spent much of his life as a tramp or hobo, in the United Kingdom and the United States. He also became one of the most popular poets of his time. His writing focused on nature, observations about life's hardships, his tramping adventures, and the various characters he met. In 1948, the BBC Home Service recorded a version of the book in 15 episodes narrated by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas.

Rick Davies, founder and only constant member, shared the same surname as the Welsh writer, but it was original guitarist and lyricist Richard Palmer-James who suggested the name. Palmer left the band after only 16 months, and they carried on for four decades. In 1986, the group released a collectible compilation titled The Autobiography of Supertramp, a direct reference to the book.

They started as a progressive band but moved to a more pop-oriented approach which led to their most popular album, Breakfast in America. Released in March 1979, it reached number 3 in the UK and number 1 in the US and Canada. The album spawned four successful singles (more than their first five albums combined): three of Hodgson's songs, "The Logical Song", "Take the Long Way Home" and "Breakfast in America," and Davies's "Goodbye Stranger." 

The Very Best of Supertramp is their hits package and Slow Motion is their eleventh and final studio album, released in April 2002.

Official Site www.supertramp.com

My Ears Are Burning

If someone says “My Ears Are Burning” they mean that they think someone is talking about them behind their back.

The origin comes from Ancient Rome. Romans paid particular attention to bodily sensations. They believed signs could be omens of good or bad luck, depending on where these sensations occurred. 

The left-hand side was associated with bad luck and the right side was good luck. 

A burning sensation in the left ear indicated criticism. Burning in the right ear was associated with praise.

Over the centuries, the two merged and it became a more generalized feeling that you were being talked about. There is no science behind it, just superstition, and no actual burning sensation is required to feel like you are being talked about in either a good or bad way. 

38 Special

The band in 2010

38 Special (AKA .38 Special or spelled out as Thirty-eight Special) is an American rock band formed by singer-guitarists Donnie Van Zant and Don Barnes in Jacksonville, Florida.

In 1974, the band practiced in an old barn near Yulee, Florida. They kept the barn locked and nailed down from the outside so their equipment would be safe and entered by climbing a ladder into a second-story loft. One day, someone called the cops thinking there were illegal activities there. 

The barn was surrounded by Nassau County Sheriffs and when the bandmates peered out, they saw a bunch of .38 Special guns pointed at them. The .38 Special was the standard service cartridge for the majority of United States police departments from the 1920s to the 1990s. As the story goes, the band members were unable to come out because of a padlock on the door. One of the cops said, "That's all right. We'll let this .38 special do the talking", and shot off the lock.

They are known for their hit songs, including "Hold On Loosely" and "Caught Up in You", among various other Top 40 hits on the US Billboard Hot 100 during the 1980s and early 1990s, including "Rockin' into the Night", "You Keep Runnin' Away", "If I'd Been the One", "Back Where You Belong", "Teacher, Teacher", "Like No Other Night", "Second Chance" and "The Sound of Your Voice."

Though without any original members, a 38 Special band still tours.

The Very Best of the A&M Years (1977-1988)

Anthology -38 Special
The Best of .38 Special - 20th Century Masters
Wild-Eyed Southern Boys
Tour de Force
Strength in Numbers
Special Forces
38 Special
38 Special - Live
Rock & Roll Strategy
Rockin' Into the Night
The Millennium Collection: The Best of .38 Special
Live at Sturgis
Best Shots
Drivetrain
Extended Versions Double Bill - Lynyrd Skynyrd / 38 Special
Bone Against Steel
Extended Versions
Wild-Eyed Christmas Night
Special Delivery
Christmas

The Lucky Four-Leaf Clover

Irish 3-leaf clover

According to St. Patrick's Day lore, Patrick used the three leaves of the shamrock to explain the Christian holy trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) to the native Irish, and the shamrock is one of the major symbols of the holiday. 

So what is the origin of the four-leaf clover being considered lucky?

The most obvious reason is that most clovers have only three leaves, and finding a four-leaf clover is uncommon (about 1 in 5,000). Its scarcity makes it special and so a symbol of luck.

But historically, the Celts in Ireland believed four-leaf clovers had magical properties, offering protection against evil spirits and bad luck. 

Druids thought they could help detect and ward off bad omens.

Some early Christians appropriated that belief and linked the four leaves to the cross and saw them as a sign of God's favor.

Each leaf is said to represent something.
First leaf: Hope
Second leaf: Faith
Third leaf: Love
Fourth leaf: Luck

During the 19th century in Victorian britain, four-leaf clovers became a popular symbol of luck and love, often pressed into books or exchanged as tokens.

The idea of luck associated with four-leaf clovers has persisted over time, reinforced by pop culture, misinterpreted St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, and general folklore.