Jump on the Bandwagon with Cliches Quiz

Answer: a jaundiced eye

To have a "jaundiced eye" is to have a prejudiced view, perception, or understanding of something or of another person. Jaundice, a derivative of the French word for "yellow"--"jaune", is a symptom of many diseases and is characterized by the yellowing of various body parts.

The whites of people's eyes are often the victims of jaundice, and it was once believed that the person looking through eyes that had become discolored was seeing everything yellow that he or she looked at with those yellowed eyes. By extension, the jaundiced eye came to mean a prejudiced view, usually rather negative or critical. Bishop Joseph Hall claimed in 1640: "Jaundiced eies seem to see all objects yellow". Furthermore, Alexander Pope wrote in the early 1700s in his "Essay on Criticism": "All seems infected that the infected spy, / As all looks yellow to the jaundiced eye".

Answer: just deserts

Most people have little problem with the "just" part of the expression, for they understand that the phrase is referring to justice occurring when someone receives what he or she deserves or when someone finally gets what's coming to him or her. On the other hand, many people misspell the "deserts" part, and for good reason. We are taught that "desert" refers to a tremendous area of land that receives little precipitation whereas "dessert" refers to a sweet food item one eats, in American culture, after a meal. However, the word "desert", in the case of the expression, is a noun form of the word "deserve" and means "that which is deserved". Of course, this word is rarely used in this manner today except in the popular cliche.

The earliest recording of "just deserts" is in the 1599 publication "Warnings Faire Women": "Upon a pillory--that al the world may see, / A just desert for such impiety".

Answer: He recognized the hardware store's young employee, who had recently moved to town.

A "Johnny-come-lately" is a newcomer or someone who is inexperienced in the field under discussion and perhaps believes him or herself to be just as knowledgeable or as skilled as those with much experience. A British expression from the early nineteenth century is "Johnny Newcome", applied to a sailor newly assigned to a naval ship. Sometimes, it was "Johnny Raw". "Johnny-come-lately" is apparently the American version of the same idea and dates also from the nineteenth century.

It appeared in "The Adventures of Harry Franco" by Charles F. Briggs in 1839: "'But it's Johnny Comelately, aint it, you?' said a young mizzen topman".

The expression frequently occurs in The Eagles' song "New Kid in Town".

Answer: the dot over a lower case "i"

A tittle is, indeed, the name for the dot over a lower case letter "i", and, appropriately, jot refers to "iota", one of the smallest of letters in the first place. The idea of pairing the two words to create an expression may be Biblical in its origin.

In Matthew 5:18, Jesus says, "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fullfilled" (KJV).

Answer: sailing

The expression "jury-rigged" is derived from the term "jury mast", which is defined as follows in the 1627 "Seaman's Grammar": "A Iury [Jury] Mast, that is, when a Mast is borne by the boord, with Yards, Roofes, Trees, or what they can, spliced or fished together they make a Iury-mast". Later, Thomas Newte explained "jury-rigged" in his "A Tour of England and Scotland in 1785": "The ship is to be jury-rigged: that is, to have smaller masts, yards, and rigging, than would be required for actual sailing".

As for the source of the word "jury" in the first place, no one knows with certainty. Some speculate that it may be the French word for "day", which is "jour". The reasoning is that something rigged temporarily would have been rigged for perhaps just a day or so until more adequate repairs could be made.

Answer: master of none

The "jack" in "jack of all trades" does not refer to a specific individual named Jack. Rather, it is the form of "jack" used in medieval English to refer to a low-bred individual or knave or to refer to an everyday common man of the people. While such associations seem negative, the term "jack" began to be attached to occupations to refer to a specific individual who worked a specific trade, such as a steeplejack, a lumberjack, or a jack-tar (sailor) while a jack out of work would be someone with no current employment.

A jack of all trades, then, would be a multi-talented worker, one with expertise in several areas. Thus, to be known as such was not only flattering but also profitable. However, around 1677, the poet John Dryden wrote, "Your Writings are like a Jack of all Trades Shop, they have Variety, but nothing of value".

In 1770, a writer in "Gentleman's Magazine" expressed the following view: "Jack at all trades, is seldom good at any". Finally, in 1786, one reads in Charles Lucas's "Pharmacomaxtix" these words, which are very close to the expression as we say it today: "Jack of all trades, and in truth, master of none". Lucas was critically describing a pharmacist who considered himself an expert in many different fields of science.

Answer: Jack Robinson

To do something "before you can say Jack Robinson" is to do something quickly or suddenly. There is no evidence of whether the "Jack Robinson" in the expression is entirely fictional or is an historical figure known for his speediness. Some have speculated that the name may be a reference to Sir John Robinson, who was Constable of the Tower of London in the late seventeenth century who may have been rather quick about dispatching those sentenced to a beheading.

However, there is no evidence to support such a claim or that Sir Robinson had any such reputation as a speedy executioner.

This also would not explain why people waited a hundred years to start using this expression, such as when the author Fanny Burney used it in her 1778 novel "Evelina": "Why, then, 'fore George, I'd do it as soon as say Jack Robinson".

In 1811, Francis Grose explained his belief about the expression's origin in his "Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue": "[A] saying to express a very short time, originating from a very volatile gentleman of that appellation, who would call on his neighbours, and be gone before his name could be announced".

However, no evidence exists of any such "volatile gentleman" or to support Grose's claim.

Answer: Jack the lad

Again, this is one of the numerous expressions involving an anonymous Jack, for there is no evidence of any particular person to which this expression refers. As has been pointed out earlier, "Jack" was a term for any common man, and more than likely this understanding of the term accounts for its use in this expression.

However, some have speculated that the expression may refer to Jack Sheppard, a young thief who was jailed five different times and escaped four times before being hanged in 1724 at the age of twenty-two. Each time he escaped from jail, he would brashly commit another crime and end up recaptured. During his fifth imprisonment, he was guarded around the clock until he could be executed.

He became quite a popular hero and sensationally the inspiration for several stories, plays, and drawings.

However, the earliest known use of the expression doesn't occur until 1840 in a song entitled "Jack's the Lad", which was about another young rogue.

Answer: Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass"

In 1871, Lewis Carroll published "Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There". In this book a reader will find the following conversation between the White Queen and Alice:

"I'm sure I'll take you with pleasure!" the Queen said. "Twopence a week, and jam every other day."
Alice couldn't help laughing, as she said, "I don't want you to hire ME - and I don't care for jam."
"It's very good jam," said the Queen.
"Well, I don't want any TO-DAY, at any rate."
"You couldn't have it if you DID want it," the Queen said. "The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday - but never jam to-day."
"It MUST come sometimes to 'jam to-day,'" Alice objected.
"No, it can't," said the Queen. "It's jam every OTHER day: to-day isn't any OTHER day, you know."
"I don't understand you," said Alice. "It's dreadfully confusing!"

One can see from this dialogue that the White Queen promises a salary that she never intends to deliver, for when tomorrow comes, it will then be today, and one cannot have jam today.

Answer: Happy Days

In an episode of "Happy Days" that was entitled "Hollywood: Part 3" and that aired on September 20, 1977, a character known as The Fonz accepted a challenge to his courage by jumping over a confined shark while he was water skiing and wearing his trademark leather jacket with swimming trunks. Despite running for a few more years after this episode, most critics agreed that the show had run its course and that its writers and producers had run out of creatively interesting ideas for the characters.

The expression has "jumped" from the world of television to refer to any long-running event, franchise, fashion, or tradition that has run its course.