Day 298: Painting Nails

(For Friday June 20)

Today I spent the day painting the nails of elderly ladies at a care home in my town. I was so grateful for the opportunity to do this for these ladies. To touch them, to pamper them, to speak value to them by this little act of service. And let me tell you they loved it. It is rare that they get touched, pampered, paid attention to. Some have no family, some have no family that can or are willing to visit them, and some have family that visit. I truly felt so grateful for a day to touch these women and bring a smile to their face.

Comments

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.

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.

Search This Blog