January 6, 2026 • 7 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Andrew Thompson shares another slice of his guide to understanding the baffling mini-mysteries of the English language, this time exploring the terms “nest egg,” “no dice,” and others. His book, Hair of the Dog to Paint the Town Red: The Wonderful Origins of Everyday Expressions and Fun Phrases, uncovers the quirky roots behind the words we use every day. Be sure to check it out!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
including your stories. Send them to our American Stories dot com.
There's some of our favorites. Up next, we continue with
our recurring series about the curious origins of everyday sayings,
the stories behind them. Here to join us again is
(00:31):
Andrew Thompson as he continues to share another slaves from
his Ultimate Guide to understanding these mini mysteries, these mini
stories of our precious English language.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
A nest egg is savings that are set aside for
later use, which a person tries to add too, and
that phrase has been used from as early as the
fourteenth century in England. In those days before commercial factory
chicken farming, chickens would lay their eggs in nests in
a coop. Means of giving the chickens hope and encouraging
them to lay more eggs, farmers used to place a
(01:04):
porcelain or china egg in the nest or the coop area.
The dummy egg was known as a nest egg and
did often induce the chickens to be more productive. The
expression then came to mean someone's financial savings by the
late sixteen hundreds. In the nick of time means without
a second despair, and it began in England. In the
Middle Ages at that time, during team games, there'd be
(01:27):
a tally man to keep score. He would carry a
tally stick and each time a team scored, he would
carve a small nick or notch or groove into the stick.
If the winning nick was added just before the end
of the match, it was known as the nick in time.
The expression later became known as in the nick of
time nineteen to the dozen means to be going at
(01:49):
a very fast pace, and it originated in the Cornish
copper and tin mines in the eighteenth century in England.
Pumps were a necessary piece of equipment at the mines
and were used to clear out the excess water that
had been used in the mining or that had come
in as a result of flooding. Hand pumps were used
to clear the water until the advent of steam driven pumps.
(02:09):
While the traditional hand pumps were slow and labor intensive,
the steam pumps were fueled by coal and highly efficient.
When running at maximum capacity, they could clear nineteen thousand
gallons of water for every twelve bushels of coal burned.
And that's where the nineteen to the dozen came from.
To say, no dice means something is futile or nothing
(02:31):
is happening, And it began in America in the early
twentieth century. Gambling was illegal in many states at the time,
so if game was interrupted by the police in a raid,
men went to great lengths to hide their dice. When challenged,
courts would throw out illegal gambling cases if no dice
could be profited as evidence. No dice meant no conviction.
(02:52):
This led some gamblers to even swallow their dice to
avoid arrest. The expression was then used colloquially by the
nineteen twenties. No such thing as a free lunch means
you never get anything for nothing, and there's always a
hidden cost, And it began during the eighteen forties in America.
Bars and restaurants at the time began offering a free
(03:12):
lunch to any customer who'd buy a drink. However, the
free lunch was usually something insubstantial, like a salty snack,
which did a little more than encourage the patron to
drink more and spend more money. It soon became apparent
that after a free lunch, people were spending more money
than if they just paid for a proper lunch in
the first place. This technique became a lucrative way for
(03:33):
US establishments to make money, and many even advertised the
free lunch in local newspapers. Not worth his salt means
to be ineffective or not deserving of one's pay, and
it drives from Roman times. Before the invention of can
goods and refrigeration, salt was a valuable commodity in the
preservation of food. Roman soldiers received some of their wages
(03:55):
as an allowance of salt. This was known as a solarium,
which takes us root from the sal the Latin word
for salt, and our modern day word salary actually derives
from it. If a soldier did not perform well and
was not up to scratch, it was said that he
was not worth his salt. The expression nothing is certain
except for death and taxes means literally that only those
(04:18):
two things are the certain things in life, and it
began in seventeen twenty six with a book by Daniel Dafoe,
who wrote Robinson Crusoe, but the book was The Political
History of the Devil, where he wrote things as certain
as death and taxes can be more firmly believed. But
it was Benjamin Franklin who coined the phraser made it
(04:38):
widespread in writing about the new Constitution in a letter
in seventeen eighty nine, he wrote, our new Constitution is
now established and has an appearance that promises permanency. But
in this world nothing can be certain except death and taxes.
Off the cuff means to carry out a task spontaneously
or without preparation. Phrase that relates to public speaking from
(05:02):
the eighteen hundreds, when men wore shirts with detachable collars
and cuffs, which made them easy to clean. Politicians and
keynote speakers generally wanted to give an audience the impression
that they were good speakers and could hold people's attention
without any preparation or the need to refer to notes.
It was a common practice at the time to write
notes on their shirtcuffs before a speech. Only they could
(05:24):
see the notes, so the audience had be none. The
wiser politicians would also make additional last minute notes on
their cuffs to counter the arguments of their opponents, and
so the expression came off the cuff. On a wing
in a prayer means to be hopeful but unlikely to succeed.
And it's another expression that stems from World War II.
(05:45):
The story goes that an American pilot flew back to
base with one wing of his plane badly damaged. The
other men at the base were amazed that he hadn't crashed,
and he told them that he'd been praying the whole
way in. Another pilot then coined the phrase when he
said a wing and a prayer brought you back. The
phrase then got worldwide attention when it was referred to
(06:06):
in two Hollywood films, Flying Tigers starring John Wayne in
nineteen forty two and A Wing and a Prayer in
nineteen forty four. Coming in on a Wing and a
Prayer was also a patriotic song released in nineteen forty
three that popularized the expression.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
And a great job as always on the production by
Greg Hangler and a special thanks to Andrew Thompson. He
had us laughing out loud here in the studio, the
whole crew. So many of these short stories, and they
are a series of short stories about phrases, are laugh
out loud funny. And Andrew Thompson is the narrator and
the voice. You were listening to and he's written a
(06:43):
terrific book called Hair of the Dog to paint the town.
Read the curious origins of everyday scenes and fun phrases.
I particularly was laughing at Neste because we're well, we're
raising eight chickens, and at key times when we want
the chickens to be a little more productive, we throw
in a fake egg and it works. They think somehow
(07:05):
that they need another one. We have no idea why
it works, but the fake egg has proved to be well,
a great way to get more eggs. So many good stories.
Andrew Thompson on the Curious Origins of everyday saying here
on our American Stories, folks, if you love the great
(07:31):
American stories we tell and love America like we do,
we're asking you to become a part of the Our
American Stories family. If you agree that America is a
good and great country, please make a donation. A monthly
gift of seventeen dollars and seventy six cents is fast
becoming a favorite option for supporters. Go to our American
Stories dot com now and go to the donate button
(07:52):
and help us keep the great American stories coming. That's
our American stories dot com,
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
including your stories. Send them to our American Stories dot com.
There's some of our favorites. Up next, we continue with
our recurring series about the curious origins of everyday sayings,
the stories behind them. Here to join us again is
(00:31):
Andrew Thompson as he continues to share another slaves from
his Ultimate Guide to understanding these mini mysteries, these mini
stories of our precious English language.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
A nest egg is savings that are set aside for
later use, which a person tries to add too, and
that phrase has been used from as early as the
fourteenth century in England. In those days before commercial factory
chicken farming, chickens would lay their eggs in nests in
a coop. Means of giving the chickens hope and encouraging
them to lay more eggs, farmers used to place a
(01:04):
porcelain or china egg in the nest or the coop area.
The dummy egg was known as a nest egg and
did often induce the chickens to be more productive. The
expression then came to mean someone's financial savings by the
late sixteen hundreds. In the nick of time means without
a second despair, and it began in England. In the
Middle Ages at that time, during team games, there'd be
(01:27):
a tally man to keep score. He would carry a
tally stick and each time a team scored, he would
carve a small nick or notch or groove into the stick.
If the winning nick was added just before the end
of the match, it was known as the nick in time.
The expression later became known as in the nick of
time nineteen to the dozen means to be going at
(01:49):
a very fast pace, and it originated in the Cornish
copper and tin mines in the eighteenth century in England.
Pumps were a necessary piece of equipment at the mines
and were used to clear out the excess water that
had been used in the mining or that had come
in as a result of flooding. Hand pumps were used
to clear the water until the advent of steam driven pumps.
(02:09):
While the traditional hand pumps were slow and labor intensive,
the steam pumps were fueled by coal and highly efficient.
When running at maximum capacity, they could clear nineteen thousand
gallons of water for every twelve bushels of coal burned.
And that's where the nineteen to the dozen came from.
To say, no dice means something is futile or nothing
(02:31):
is happening, And it began in America in the early
twentieth century. Gambling was illegal in many states at the time,
so if game was interrupted by the police in a raid,
men went to great lengths to hide their dice. When challenged,
courts would throw out illegal gambling cases if no dice
could be profited as evidence. No dice meant no conviction.
(02:52):
This led some gamblers to even swallow their dice to
avoid arrest. The expression was then used colloquially by the
nineteen twenties. No such thing as a free lunch means
you never get anything for nothing, and there's always a
hidden cost, And it began during the eighteen forties in America.
Bars and restaurants at the time began offering a free
(03:12):
lunch to any customer who'd buy a drink. However, the
free lunch was usually something insubstantial, like a salty snack,
which did a little more than encourage the patron to
drink more and spend more money. It soon became apparent
that after a free lunch, people were spending more money
than if they just paid for a proper lunch in
the first place. This technique became a lucrative way for
(03:33):
US establishments to make money, and many even advertised the
free lunch in local newspapers. Not worth his salt means
to be ineffective or not deserving of one's pay, and
it drives from Roman times. Before the invention of can
goods and refrigeration, salt was a valuable commodity in the
preservation of food. Roman soldiers received some of their wages
(03:55):
as an allowance of salt. This was known as a solarium,
which takes us root from the sal the Latin word
for salt, and our modern day word salary actually derives
from it. If a soldier did not perform well and
was not up to scratch, it was said that he
was not worth his salt. The expression nothing is certain
except for death and taxes means literally that only those
(04:18):
two things are the certain things in life, and it
began in seventeen twenty six with a book by Daniel Dafoe,
who wrote Robinson Crusoe, but the book was The Political
History of the Devil, where he wrote things as certain
as death and taxes can be more firmly believed. But
it was Benjamin Franklin who coined the phraser made it
(04:38):
widespread in writing about the new Constitution in a letter
in seventeen eighty nine, he wrote, our new Constitution is
now established and has an appearance that promises permanency. But
in this world nothing can be certain except death and taxes.
Off the cuff means to carry out a task spontaneously
or without preparation. Phrase that relates to public speaking from
(05:02):
the eighteen hundreds, when men wore shirts with detachable collars
and cuffs, which made them easy to clean. Politicians and
keynote speakers generally wanted to give an audience the impression
that they were good speakers and could hold people's attention
without any preparation or the need to refer to notes.
It was a common practice at the time to write
notes on their shirtcuffs before a speech. Only they could
(05:24):
see the notes, so the audience had be none. The
wiser politicians would also make additional last minute notes on
their cuffs to counter the arguments of their opponents, and
so the expression came off the cuff. On a wing
in a prayer means to be hopeful but unlikely to succeed.
And it's another expression that stems from World War II.
(05:45):
The story goes that an American pilot flew back to
base with one wing of his plane badly damaged. The
other men at the base were amazed that he hadn't crashed,
and he told them that he'd been praying the whole
way in. Another pilot then coined the phrase when he
said a wing and a prayer brought you back. The
phrase then got worldwide attention when it was referred to
(06:06):
in two Hollywood films, Flying Tigers starring John Wayne in
nineteen forty two and A Wing and a Prayer in
nineteen forty four. Coming in on a Wing and a
Prayer was also a patriotic song released in nineteen forty
three that popularized the expression.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
And a great job as always on the production by
Greg Hangler and a special thanks to Andrew Thompson. He
had us laughing out loud here in the studio, the
whole crew. So many of these short stories, and they
are a series of short stories about phrases, are laugh
out loud funny. And Andrew Thompson is the narrator and
the voice. You were listening to and he's written a
(06:43):
terrific book called Hair of the Dog to paint the town.
Read the curious origins of everyday scenes and fun phrases.
I particularly was laughing at Neste because we're well, we're
raising eight chickens, and at key times when we want
the chickens to be a little more productive, we throw
in a fake egg and it works. They think somehow
(07:05):
that they need another one. We have no idea why
it works, but the fake egg has proved to be well,
a great way to get more eggs. So many good stories.
Andrew Thompson on the Curious Origins of everyday saying here
on our American Stories, folks, if you love the great
(07:31):
American stories we tell and love America like we do,
we're asking you to become a part of the Our
American Stories family. If you agree that America is a
good and great country, please make a donation. A monthly
gift of seventeen dollars and seventy six cents is fast
becoming a favorite option for supporters. Go to our American
Stories dot com now and go to the donate button
(07:52):
and help us keep the great American stories coming. That's
our American stories dot com,
Host
Lee Habeeb
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