As the saying goes...

What a boring blog this has turned out to be!

I will make an effort to revamp this blog, and I have just the idea on how to do it! While working one day the topic of where certain sayings originated arose when the phrase "two shakes of a lambs tail" was said. That brought about the question of where other phrases came from. There are so many sayings that we use on a subconscious level that for the most part people understand the underlying meaning, yet we don't actually know why we say them and how we all know what they mean without truly understanding what it means.

From a behaviorist perspective, these phrases, idioms, metaphors, euphemisms, maxims, proverbs, et cetera, are instruction based, describing behavior and consequence transmitted from generation to generation because of the long-lasting contingencies they describe. It makes it easier to teach or remember the behavior they describe. Perhaps that describes why we say the things we say...

During the research of some of these it gave me the idea of posting my findings on the etymology of these. I have found many sites that explain the meaning but not many that explain the origin, unless you count Wikipedia, which you can't always rely on.

Please feel free to suggest any phrase you've been wondering about! If not, I will just begin picking at random or as they come to me!

Let's get started!

"Bury the hatchet" - to forget about or settle a difference with an individual.

The earliest I found the idiom used was by the Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts in 1727 during a conference with the Eastern Indians.

"I hope GOD will enable Us and you to keep this Peace for ever, and to Morrow we will bury the hatchet with a Dance."

English settlers had taken note of the tradition observed by the Native Americans...

It's origins derive from the Iroquois. Five fueding clans, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca, literally buried their weapons, such as hatchets, axes, and Tomahawks under the Great Tree of Peace during a peace agreement to stop fighting and form a confederacy - the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. It was believed that an underground river washed away the weapons they buried so they could never be dug up and used against them. This is the earliest story told that includes the tradition, however the practice probably dates further.

Short but simple explanation. If you would like me to elaborate, let me know!

NEXT UP! Well, I don't know yet...



Resources:

Massachusetts. Lieutenant Governor (1716-1730 : Dummer). The conference with the Eastern Indians at the further ratification of the peace : held at Falmouth in Casco-Bay, in July 1727. [U.S.], [1727?]. 31pp. Sabin Americana. Gale, Cengage Learning. http://0-galenet.galegroup.com.innopac.library.unr.edu/servlet/Sabin?af=RN&ae=CY102951502&srchtp=a&ste=14


Encyclopedia of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy) (2000), edited by Bruce Elliott Johansen and Barbara Alice Mann