Day 113: Found in the Pages of a Book

Leaning on Ann Voscamp's Joy Dares a bit for today's.

I read some really good books over the past weekend and some tidbits of wisdom popped up in their pages and made me grateful that I came across the words, several days later and I'm still chewing on bits and pieces - that's when you know it is good stuff! I'm grateful for thought provoking things hiding in all sorts of places. A few bits of wisdom that have me thinking:

"An owl is the wisest of all birds because the more it sees the less it talks." African Proverb
While this is an African proverb so therefore most likely published in multiple ways and places, I ran across it in "Tiny Sunbirds, Far Away" by Christie Watson.

"Periods in the wilderness or desert were not lost time. You might find life, wildflowers, fossils, sources of water." Anne Lamott, Stitches: A Handbook of Meaning, Hope, and Repair

"Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge."
Psalm 62:5-8, NIV

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.

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.

Search This Blog