From rags to riches

Horatio Alger, an American writer, whose most popular 19th century works were intended for children, depicted stories of extremely poor boys whose virtuous deeds or hard work landed them better financial security. (source)

So the idiom means just what it sounds like - people or stories about people who begin their lives in extreme poverty and end up comfortable and wealthy, often through hard work or exceptional talent.

Here are two real-life examples of rags to riches:

Dolly Parton

Oprah Winfrey

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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