Day 243: Dictionary

I am grateful for the dictionary! Really! I know, it's kinda geeky but I love the dictionary. I love discovering what words mean and new words. I even get sent to me the word of the day from Webster's website. I had learned about some very interesting words. Back in the day when I was in elementary and we would do dictionary drills, I had so much fun. I love the dictionary. I'm not the only one in my family who does either. My youngest brother used to read it for fun (he also read Encyclopedias for fun too)! And I am grateful for the dictionary because it helps to shed light on the actual meaning of words not to mention these days the online dictionary gives you examples and all sorts of other things related to the word looked up. It's fascinating! Btw, YES. I love the National Spelling Bee. LOVE IT. Let's face it, if you hadn't already figured it out, I love words!

Comments

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.

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