Why do we say...?

From "Gordon Bennett!" to "turn a blind eye", discover the history behind popular phrases and sayings...

A red herring on a plate

Q&A Why do we say ‘red herring’?

Peter O’Toole (top) plays Henry II alongside Richard Burton

“Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?” The truth behind Henry II’s notorious lament

A 1782 cartoon by James Gillray that depicts Buller as ‘Judge Thumb’. (Photo by Library of Congress)

Q&A Why do we say ‘rule of thumb’?

Scrooge and Marley's ghost

Q&A Why do we say ‘Bah Humbug’ and what does it mean?

The card game cribbage

General Early Modern

Q&A Why do we say ‘level pegging’?

Barristers' wigs

Q&A Why are barristers ‘called to the bar’?

A portrait of James Gordon Bennett, Jr (1841–1918), by Alexis Joseph Perignon, 1867. (Photo by The New York Historical Society/Getty Images)

Q&A Why do we say ‘Gordon Bennett’?

Photo of gauntlets

Q&A Why do we say throw down the gauntlet?

(Photo by iStock/Getty Images Plus)

Q&A Why do Americans call the British ‘limeys’?

19th-century boxer Larry Foley

Q&A Why do we say ‘happy as Larry’?

The history of maritime travel could explain why we use the word 'posh' for the British upper classes. (Photo by George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images)

Q&A Where does the word ‘posh’ come from?

Children running down a street

Q&A Why do we say ‘run amok’?

A sack of red beans

Q&A Why do we say ‘spill the beans’?

An etching of a 17th-century coal merchant. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

Industrial revolution

Q&A Why do we say ‘get the sack’?

Photo of pears

Second World War

Q&A Why do we say 'it's all gone pear-shaped'?