Today I was so grateful for the new tires we got put on the car last week after I "bumped" the curb. We are having snow and ice and the roads (not to mention some drivers) are horrible! But with my new tires I can't believe the world of difference when driving in the weather! Clearly I needed new tires. :)
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.
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