Why do we say...?

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

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’?

A red herring on a plate

Q&A Why do we say ‘red herring’?

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’?

19th-century boxer Larry Foley

Q&A Why do we say ‘happy as Larry’?

c1900: Relief depicting Roman officials and praetorians.

Q&A Did Roman men dodge their military service?

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'?

A stone statue of Achilles

Q&A Why do we say ‘Achilles Heel’?