Idioms and How They Came About
An idiom is a phrase or expression with a special meaning: the meaning often cannot be understood from the meaning of the individual words in it. Idioms become part of a language, and they often make it sound more colorful. Let's look at the origin of some English idioms.
BACKSEAT DRIVER
This idiom comes from the habit many people have of giving unwanted advice from the backseat to the driver of a car. It means someone who tries to control things without having the authority to do so.
BACK TO SQUARE ONE
This idiom was first heard on early BBC radio soccer commentaries, and it means back to the beginning. The expression was first listed in a British magazine in 1927. Since soccer wasn't easy to describe on the radio, the field was divided into eight notional squares, so that listener could be told where the ball was. When the game restarted after the break, it was "back to square one.
DEADLINE
This term originated in the American Civil War, when prisoner would be shot if they crossed a line around a prison camp. It now means the time when a project or assignment has to be completed.
KICK THE BUCKET
Kick the bucket means "to die" It possibly refer to suicide attempts in which people would attempts in which people would attach a rope with a noose to a beam, stand on a bucket, put their head in the noose, and then kick the bucket away, so that they could hang themselves.
SAVED BY THE BELL
This term means saved at the last possible moment. It comes from the time when people were buried with a bell above ground to which a string was attached. The string ran into their coffin. In case someone happened to be buried alive, the person could ring the bell to alert others and be saved from the grave. This idiom is also used a lot during boxing matches in which one boxer is "saved by the round bell" so that the boxer has a short time to rest and recover.