For Saturday, May 18: Keep on keeping on

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. Confucius

The con of our "fast-food-society" is we've been conditioned to believe that if *it* doesn't happen quick or happen immediately then we should just give up. But the reality is the the slower or longer it takes the better chance we have of *it* sticking. It is along the journey of *it* that we learn lessons of sustainability, patience, perseverance, courage, etc. If *it* happens too quickly then the chances for relapse are high because the necessary lessons haven't been learned. As the saying goes, "slow and steady wins the race" and the fable of the tortoise and the hare proved that. Like the tortoise, it doesn't matter how slow you go it just matters that you don't stop.

Comments

Butter someone up

There are two probable origins for this idiom and I think both are equally plausible. The first one is that when you spread butter on bread you are buttering it up like one would do when trying to flatter someone. The second is in ancient India there was a practice of throwing balls of butter at statues to ask for favor, i.e. buttering them up. ( source ) When we use the phrase today we generally mean that extreme flattery is used to gain information or favor. It's not always necessarily a compliment.

Call it a Day

The literal use of this phrase hails from 1838 when the phrase originally was "call it half a day" to mean leaving work early. (source) The modern use of the phrase is to indicate ending something due to false sense of accomplishment.

More bang for your buck

This phrase was used a lot in 1953 but an earlier citation puts it at 1940 in a Metals and Plastics Publications advertisement. Read about it here . The phrase means you get more for your money.

Search This Blog