Today I was grateful for the processing kind of conversations I'm invited into. (If you know me then you aren't surprised as this is a counselor's privilege.) As the other person and myself talk out loud and process through a predicament or hurt or whatever I am always awed at what is revealed as we discuss and process and work to find a solution. And when the conversation isn't for me necessarily I always end up walking away processing something on my own that came out of what was for the other person! It makes me grateful that I have relationships that are beneficial in so many different ways.
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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