I Lost my Marbles..Have You Found Them? Quiz

Answer: "...I wonder what she's saying to him."

"Chewing out" means to reprimand or verbally scold somebody. The term originated during World War II, because when officers or other soldiers with high ranks scold someone, the tend to talk loud with a lot of jaw motion to make them feel worse. The soldiers really did feel like they were being "chewed out".

Answer: "...think about the present."

"Don't cry over spilled milk" means that you should not worry about what you did in the past and move on to the present. In James Howell's "Paramoigraphy", he stated, "No weeping for shed milk." Also, in ancient European folklore, fairies would drink up spilled milk to remove the grief from the loss, and the idiom helps remember those fairies and that it'll all work out. February 11th is also Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk Day.

Answer: "...and get some sleep."

"Hit the hay" means to get in bed and sleep. The origin of this was when mattresses and pillows were stuffed with hay in the early 19th century, and people used the term "hay" for the beds themselves.

Answer: "...how sad, now he's dead and gone forever."

"Kick the bucket" means to die. The term is quite weird, as it seems a bucket has nothing to do with it, but a bucket used to also be a wooden frame that would hang animals and execute them. Normally they would flail and kick the lower edge of the wooden frame, which was part of the "bucket", and would die almost immediately after, thus bringing the phrase "kick the bucket" to the English language.

Answer: "...so you won't restart the conflict."

"Let sleeping dogs lie" is a proverb which states that it is a bad idea to restart a conflict that has subsided. In 1374, Chaucer wrote a book called "Troilus and Criseyde", in which he says, "It is nought good a slepyng hound to wake", using a sleeping dog as an example for a fight or argument. You wouldn't want to wake a giant, sleeping dog and face its wrath, would you?

Answer: "...nobody was expecting it!"

"Out of the blue" means something unexpected and surprising. This term came from storms with thunder and lightning, as they would unexpectedly surprise people outside from the sky, which they referred to as the "blue".

Answer: "...and let somebody else do it."

"Pass the buck" means to let someone else take responsibility for something. In the late 19th century, poker became very popular; however, there were several people who cheated by dirty dealing, and people were highly suspicious of each other when playing.

In order to prevent this, they would switch dealers during sessions of poker. A dealer would be given a knife, with the handle made of buckskin, creating another meaning for the term "buck", and would deal, and afterwards would pass it to the person who would deal next, thus giving him the responsibility of dealing and creating this idiom.

Answer: "...you're not very smart."

"Not playing with a full deck" means that someone is not very smart or intelligent. When playing cards were first made, there was a tax on them, but only if you purchased the Ace of Spades. As a result, many people bought only 51 cards, but those who bought all 52 taunted them during card games because they did not expect them to win while missing the card. Nowadays, people sometimes use this phrase or other similar phrases when saying someone is not very bright, because even if the person was in front of them, if they really weren't very smart, they wouldn't understand what they meant!

Answer: "...so run away before he gets even more angry!"

"Foaming at the mouth" means showing intense anger and madness. Dogs and other similar animals have foam around their mouth when they have rabies, and animals with rabies tend to act aggressive and angry. Soon, the saying was transferred to describe humans.

Answer: "...so let me teach you."

"Knowing the ropes" means that you know how to do a particular thing. Nautical sailors had to be able to tie ropes for the sails, which was a difficult task. If you could tie them quickly, you "knew the ropes". Soon the term was used for all situations where somebody knows how to do something.