It's one thing to say that I am grateful for my favorite kind of beverage, pastry, etc. But the reason I am thankful for those delicious-to-me things is because of taste buds. I am so grateful for taste buds! Taste buds bring delight to our mouths and also "warn" us when something isn't good or right in our mouths. My Grandpa, years ago, had mumps and one of the lasting side effects of his sickness was he lost his sense of smell which affected his taste buds (they are connected). Since then he can't taste anything (or smell anything). I always feel sad for him that he can't taste the yummy foods he is partaking of. (Sidenote: When I was a little girl and didn't know this about him yet I would watch him eat Raisin Bran with Cranberry juice and think "ew!" and then I found out he couldn't taste it. Well no wonder he ate it then!) But I have slightly digressed. The next time you taste something delicious take a moment to be grateful for your taste buds.
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.
Comments
Post a Comment