September 21, 2015

International Peace Day
"Violence cost the world nearly 10 billion last year. Seems like we should wage more peace than war." Stephan Bauman

Many people look at John Lennon's "Imagine" as a song that defines International Peace Day.
Peace One Day

Miniature Golf Day
The Zany History of Mini Golf
America’s Wackiest Mini-Golf Courses
10 of the Coolest Mini Golf Courses Ever Made
The 15 Best Miniature Golf Courses

World Gratitude Day

The official beginning of World Gratitude Day was in 1965 at the East-West Center in Hawaii at a Thanksgiving dinner honoring grantees hosted by Sri Chinmoy, a meditation guru. As director of the United Nations Meditation Group, he suggested the idea as a globally unifying holiday. Each person pledged to hold a gratitude gathering each September 21 in their own country. The United Nations Meditation Group formally celebrated World Gratitude Day on September 21, 1977 at the New York Headquarters where Sri Chinmoy was honored for his work. Since its beginnings World Gratitude Day has been observed in many countries around the world. (source)
5 ways to celebrate World Gratitude Day with kids

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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