Several phrases have stuck around long after a time when horses were much more common in daily life. They include don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, which is a warning not to expect a gift too closely, and straight from the horse’s mouth, which...
The word jackpot can denote the pile of money you win at a game of poker, but another definition is that of trouble, tangled mess, or a literal logjam. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Jackpot Origin” Hello, you have A Way with...
Two familiar terms that have inspired lots of bogus etymologies are “dead ringer” and “spitting image.” “Dead ringer” probably comes from horse racing, where a ringer is a horse that may look like other horses in a race but is actually from a higher...
A crackerjack fellow is someone who’s excellent or first-rate. It’s most likely the same positive sense of crack found in terms like cracking good, crack team, and crack shot. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Crackerjack Fellow”...
The term daisy-cutting, which refers to the low-action trot of Arabian and Thoroughbred horses, is reminiscent of the low grounder in baseball known as a daisy cutter and even the daisy cutter explosive, which shoots low-flying shrapnel. This is...
Why is New York City called the Big Apple? In the 1920s, a writer named John Fitz Gerald used it in a column about the horseracing scene, because racetrack workers in New Orleans would say that if a horse was successful down South, they’d send it to...
