Mad as a Hatter

Why do we say what we say ? There are certain expressions that creep into every language which with time people use almost on an everyday basis, but if we stop and ponder we are left to wonder why we say that in the first place.

It is monsoon time and though this year we are not having the monsoon as strong as we need it, there are some days when it really pours. We have a term for that: Raining cats and dogs. What does it signify ? That the clouds are actually throwing our feline friends and man’s best friend from the skies ? Or that these poor creatures have to run for cover too as have their human benefactors ?

It does not get over so easily by a long chalk, we sometimes say. As I remember from my school days and people engaged in education would also endorse, the chalk is generally about three and a half inches long and gets shorter by the minute smearing the fingers of the writer with regularity. I have never seen a longer chalk. So where from did the British (presume they invented this in their language ) get it ?

Sometimes we are pleased as a punch. Never really understood whether the pleasure comes from receiving the punch (as in stationery used to make holes in sheets of paper) or delivering the punch (as in boxing).

Some we try to do new things for the first time and those who are experts in that field feel we have not cut the mustard. Well mustard is used in Indian cooking and is also there in British culinary delights of having a salad dressing for savouring the fish, but have you ever seen anyone cut a piece of mustard ? It would surely be a sight.

Well there are many, and now that I am wasting time trying to understand them, it may tempt people to think I am mad as a hatter !!! So better sign off before the same….