Idle Chitchat about Cliches Trivia Quiz

Answer: ill-gotten gains

"Ill-gotten gains" refers to some profit or benefit obtained illegally, immorally, or deceptively. The phrase originally was part of a lengthier proverb: "Ill-gotten gains never prosper". Sometimes, the words were altered: "evil-gotten" for "ill-gotten" or "goods" for "gains".

In 1519, the saying in Wiliam Horman's "Vulgaria" was written as this: "Euyll gotten ryches wyll neuer proue longe". Nevertheless, the overall point seems to be that anything earned or acquired unethically will not profit that individual for long and is, by its nature, not really a profit at all.

Answer: in a pickle

Winston is "in a pickle", meaning he is in trouble or in a very difficult situation. This expression has sometimes created confusion for those trying to understand its origin. Most people nowadays refer to the item that has been pickled, such as a cucumber, as a pickle; however, originally "pickle" was the term used not to refer to the edible item pulled out of a jar but rather the brine or vinegar in which the edible item was preserved.

Therefore, to "be in a pickle" was originally to be in a large barrel of some briny solution and obviously in a very uncomfortable environment. One of the oldest written recordings of the expression occurs in a 1585 sermon composed by John Foxe: "In this pickle lyeth man by nature, that is, all wee that be Adams children".

Answer: The person had a strong-willed personality concealed by a gentle demeanor.

To describe someone as having an "iron hand in a velvet glove" is to say that person possesses a disguised firmness; people should not be misled to think that person's gentle appearance and behavior imply that that person is weak or soft instead of determined and steadfast.

A Southern United States description of some women--"steel magnolia"--means somewhat the same. In 1850, Thomas Carlyle wrote in "Latter-Day Pamphlets" and explained this question's cliche in this manner: "Soft of speech and manner, yet with an inflexible vigour of command ... 'iron hand in a velvet glove,' as Napoleon defined it". Thus, many believe that Napoleon may have coined the expression.

Answer: Cain and Abel

A person declaring, "I am not my brother's keeper", is claiming to have no responsibility for a certain event or for the actions of another individual, particularly when others perceive that the speaker is indeed responsible. In the Biblical story of the brothers Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam and Eve, Cain kills Abel out of jealousy when Abel's offerings to God appear to be much more appreciated than Cain's.

After the murder has occurred, God confronts Cain and asks him, "Where is Abel thy brother?" Cain responds, "I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?" (Genesis 4:9 KJV).

Answer: the act of pulling a rope

Although the meaning is almost forgotten now, "trice" was originally a word in an older form of English that served as a verb meaning "to pull or haul on a rope". Eventually, the term came to be used also as a noun referring to the action of pulling on a rope (as in "Give that rope a trice"). Gradually, people began to associate the word with doing something immediately, for to accomplish something with one quick pull of a rope would be to accomplish something very fast indeed.

As early as 1440, in a work entitled "Ipomydon", one can find the following words: "The howndis [hounds] . . . Pluckid down dere all at a tryse".

In 1505, John Skelton wrote in "Phyllyp Sparowe": "To tell you what conceyte / I had then in a tryce / The matter were too nyse".

Answer: an ivory tower

To be in an "ivory tower" is to be somewhere remote from reality, whether that somewhere is a physical place, such as on a university campus isolated from the struggles of most people, or a figurative place, such as the mental landscape occupied by an idealist who seems out of touch with the real world around him or her.

The origin of the phrase seems to lie in the Old Testament of the Bible--to be specific, The Song of Solomon 7:4: "Your neck is like an ivory tower, / Your eyes like the pools in Heshbon . . . " (NKJV).

As a love poem or a spiritual allegory, this Biblical book attempts to create an image of purity; the "ivory tower", because of the association of the color white with purity, is suggestive of exactly that. However, some consider purity and innocence to be quite fragile especially when these are confronted with the corruption of the real world. Perhaps, this is what led to the contemporary use of "ivory tower" as a description of the world in which some people tend to live. On the other hand, those who live in such a world often see themselves as being above the rest of us, and a tower is high above the ground where the rest of us live. Thus, there is a suggestion of haughtiness as well.

The earliest written record of "ivory tower" being used as we currently use the phrase is within an 1837 poem by the French writer Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve. The poem is entitled "Penses d'Aout", and the following quoted lines are referring to the writers Victor Hugo and Alfred de Vigny: "Hugo, strong partisan . . . fought in armor / And held high his banner in the middle of the tumult; / He still holds it; and Vigny, more discreet, / As if in his ivory tower, retired before noon".

Answer: in the doghouse

To be "in the doghouse" means "to be in trouble or to be out of favor with someone"; often the expression is used to express that one spouse is in the bad graces of the other and is being punished with silence or scorn. Many argue that the expression owes its origin to J. M. Barrie's "Peter Pan".

The father figure in the story, Mr. Darling, mistreats Nana, the Newfoundland dog who is the guardian and great favorite of his children, by banishing her to her outdoor kennel. When the children run away, Mr. Darling, who blames himself, banishes himself to Nana's kennel as penance.

However, just as many disagree with this explanation of the phrase's origin. They argue that neither the literal nor the figurative use of the expression can be found anywhere in the play--particularly because both the Scottish and English use the word "kennel" and because "doghouse" is an Americanism. Furthermore, the phrase seems to have entered the language in the mid-1920s, not in 1904 when "Peter Pan" was published.

In 1926, a book entitled "Criminalese" explains that prisoners began to use the expression to refer to being put in isolation when they had misbehaved in prison. By the 1930s, the expression had been adopted by the public at large to refer to a more figurative situation.

Answer: hog

To say someone is as "independent as a hog on ice" is to say that that person is free but may not be enjoying that freedom or benefiting from that freedom as much as he or she thought he or she would. Many believe this expression was derived from the game of curling, which requires the sliding of flat stones across a sheet of ice. If the stone does not slide the required distance, then it sits alone and out of play, thus appearing independent.

However, others are hesitant to accept this as an explanation of the cliché's origin because of its widespread use in the United States, where curling remains mostly unknown.

Instead, they argue for a simpler explanation: either a farmer's pig got out of its pen one day and wandered onto a frozen pond or a creek or someone simply imagined the scene in his or her mind.

This led to the birth of the expression and seems to fit more with the idea of feeling awkward and insecure, as a hog most definitely would if it found itself on a sheet of ice.

Answer: If the shoe fits, wear it.

"If the shoe fits, wear it" means that, even though a remark or categorization or a situation is a negative one, you should acknowledge its validity and accept it. In other words, there is no point in denying the truth even if the truth is something you don't want to accept.

Originally, the idiomatic expression involved wearing a cloak; in 1593, Richard Hooker wrote in "Of the Lawes of Ecclesiasticall Politie": "Which cloake sitteth no lesse fit on the backe of their cause, then of the Anabaptists". Gradually, "cloak" changed to "cape", which then turned to "cap". Finally, "cap", which is still used frequently in the United Kingdom, was replaced with "shoe" in America.

Some have speculated that Americans fascinated with the glass-slipper-fitting quest of the Cinderella story may have contributed to the shift from "cap" to "shoe".

Answer: An event will never happen or is unlikely to happen.

"In a pig's eye" is an expression of emphatic disbelief. Someone being told that he or she had to pay $50,000 in back taxes or that Donald Trump was going to be the next President of the United States might respond, "In a pig's eye!" The origin of the idiom is unknown. Whether the originator of this saying meant that a poor idea was something to put into a pig's eye, which appears quite small actually, or that it would look bad even to a pig's eye or perception is a matter of speculation. Some have even wondered if this expression is a derivative of "when pigs fly".

As a scornful expression, "in a pig's eye" first appeared in print in 1872; Petroleum V. Nasby (David Locke) wrote in one of his satirical newspaper columns: "A poetickal cotashun ... which ... wuz,--'Kum won, kim all, this rock shel fly From its firm base--in a pig's eye'".

It should be noted that the British poet Richard Flecknoe used the description of a pig's eye as being something quite small much earlier in 1658 in his "Enigmaticall Characters": "She have the spirit in her of twenty school-mistresses, looking with her Pigs-eyes so narrowly to her charge".

However, "in a pig's eye" remains overwhelmingly an American expression while many British citizens claim never to have heard the expression.