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.

Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin was an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They were known for their heavy, guitar-driven sound. They are often cited as one of the progenitors of hard rock and heavy metal, although their style drew from a variety of influences, including blues and folk music. 

Cover of their first album with an image of
probably the most famous zeppelin, the ill-fated Hindenberg.

When The Who’s drummer Keith Moon heard that London studio legends, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, were forming a new band with Robert Plant and John Bonham, he mockingly predicted that the project would go down “like a lead balloon.”The Who's bassist, John Entwistle, took it one step further, calling it a “lead zeppelin.” 

When those comments got to Jimmy Page and manager Peter Grant, they adopted the name. They had been considering calling the band The New Yardbirds. The Yardbirds was a popular 1960s British band that included a number of lineups during its time. When Eric Clapton left to join John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, he recommended Jimmy Page who was known as a prominent young session guitarist, to replace him. But Page was happy with his sessions work and recommended his friend Jeff Beck.

In 1966. Jimmy Page filled in on bass until rhythm guitarist Dreja could rehearse on the instrument and they toured with Page on bass, and Beck and Dreja on guitars. When Beck fell ill on tour, Page took over as lead guitarist and Dreja switched to bass. The Beck–Page lead guitar tandem created the avant-garde psychedelic rock single "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" which also has John Paul Jones on bass instead of Dreja.

The Yardbirds, 1966. From left: Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page,
Chris Dreja, Keith Relf and Jim McCarty    Link

After The Yardbirds disbanded, the first gigs by Page's new band included some Yardbirds' material such as "Train Kept a-Rollin'", "Dazed and Confused" and "For Your Love" and even some of Back's material such as "Shapes of Things." 

The Led Zeppelin spelling was done to push the correct pronunciation. 

Plant and Page performing in Chicago Stadium. 1977, during their last
North American tour          Photo: Jim Summaria, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

Led Zeppelin is one of the best-selling music artists of all time; their total record sales are estimated to be between 200 to 300 million units worldwide. They achieved eight consecutive UK number-one albums and six number-one albums on the US Billboard 200, with five of their albums certified Diamond in the US. 

Rolling Stone magazine described them as "the heaviest band of all time", "the biggest band of the Seventies", and "unquestionably one of the most enduring bands in rock history". They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995; the museum's biography of the band states that they were "as influential" during the 1970s as the Beatles were during the 1960s.

 

panegyric

I like to learn something new when I'm reading. In a poem, that might be a new word. Such was the case in reading a poem titled A Short Panegyric. I never heard of a panegyric.  

It is a public speech or published text in praise of someone or something. In the poem, it is in praise of meat.

The word comes from early 17th century French panégyrique, via Latin from Greek panēgurikos ‘of public assembly’, from pan ‘all’ + aguris ‘agora, assembly’.

That prose poem in praise of returning to meat-eating after an absence is:

Now that the vegetarian nightmare is over and we are back to

our diet of meat and deep in the sway of our dark and beautiful

habits and able to speak with calm of having survived, let the

breeze of the future touch and retouch our large and hungering
bodies. Let us march to market to embrace the butcher and
put the year of the carrot, the month of the onion behind us,
let us worship the roast or the stew that takes its place once
again at the sacred center of the dining room table.

"A Short Panegyric" by Mark Strand, from Almost Invisible

Kemosabe and Tonto

Originally a radio drama, The Lone Ranger first aired in 1933 and ran through 1954. It featured the adventures of a mysterious masked man who traveled the West with his faithful Native American companion Tonto and his white horse Silver, righting wrongs.

It became a book series and then a very successful television series, which ran from 1949 to 1957.

Clayton Moore as the Lone Ranger riding Silver and
Jay Silverheels as Tonto riding Scout, 1956

Kemosabe (Ke-mo sah-bee) is the term that was used by Tonto on the TV and radio programs in addressing his partner the Lone Ranger.

Native American writer Sherman Alexie, who is of Coeur D'Alene descent, has said that kemosabe means “idiot” in Apache. “They were calling each other 'idiot' all those years,” he told an interviewer in 1996, a few years after the publication of his story collection The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven.

It’s more complicated and there is no conclusive evidence as to its true definition or its roots. Series creator Fran Striker himself never explained it. Most people interpreted it to mean “faithful friend or trusty scout,” and this is the most common interpretation. The Yale Book of Quotations cites a boys’ camp in Mullet Lake, Mich., named Ke Mo Sah Bee, and on separate occasions, Striker’s son and daughter each suggested this might be where the show got it from. 

To further complicate matters, "tonto" is a Spanish word that means stupid, foolish; idiot, or fool. Tonto's tribal identification is ambiguous. On the radio series, he was reportedly described as a Potawatomi though that tribe did not live in the southwest, where the show is set.

In the most recent film adaptation of the series, Johnny Depp is still Tonto and still says things like, “Justice is what I seek, kemosabe.”

Chauvinist

Image: Gerd Altmann

Nobody likes a chauvinist. Chauvinism is the unreasonable belief in the superiority or dominance of one's own group or people. 

In English, the word has come to be used in some quarters as shorthand for male chauvinism. Merriam-Webster's Dictionary begins its first example of the use of the term chauvinism with "an attitude of superiority toward members of the opposite sex. But it can also be described as a form of extreme patriotism and nationalism.

The word is said to be an eponym dating back to the 1840s. Nicholas Chauvin was a French soldier who glorified Napoleon and exhibited extreme ultra-nationalism, viewing the French as superior to all others. Then again, I also found that Nicholas Chauvin may never have actually existed. he may have been a fictional character, invented to inspire patriotism.

Until the 20th century, the term “male chauvinism” had not been used to describe sexism — as in men believing they are superior to women. This is the definition that stuck, and the “male” part of the term was eventually dropped.

Female chauvinism is the belief that women are superior to men. Feminist Betty Friedan observed that "...the assumption that women have any moral or spiritual superiority as a class is [...] female chauvinism." In the book Female Chauvinist Pigs, it is argued that many young women in the United States and beyond are replicating male chauvinism and older misogynist stereotypes.