Give/flip the bird

There's a couple of different theories out there about "the bird", i.e. extending one's middle finger toward someone to communicate displeasure. This theory grew out of an old practice of hissing at poor stage performers back in the day, you can read about what hissing and "the bird" have to do with one another here.

Another theory has to do with The Clouds, a play written in 423 B.C. That short explanation is given here.

And finally, one last theory - perhaps the most plausible of all - is that the middle finger is a sexual gesture meant to represent having sex. Wikipedia gives all the info on this theory.

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.

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