Example: "Hey! I bought you a new car!" said Sid to her daughter one sunny afternoon, "Does it have air conditioning?" asked Sid's daughter. "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth young lady" replied Sid.
Meaning: this idiom basically means not to be ungrateful for things you are given. In the horse world, when buying a horse from someone, the condition of their teeth is a big reflection on how healthy they are. If your horse has very healthy, clean teeth, it is healthier than a horse with rotting gums. If you are given a horse, it's rude to look at it's teeth before thanking someone for it, which is ungrateful.
Example: "Are you ready yet?" Johnny asked his girlfriend. "Hold your horses! I'm coming!"
Meaning: This idiom comes from the racing part of the horse world. Before racing, race horses become very excited and ready to go so much so that they become overly excited and try to leave their gate early. Trainers were told to hold their horses and be patient, which is what the saying means.
Example: "Look! The marathon runners are neck and neck! Richard may win, but just by a nose!"
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| The Horses are neck and neck |
Horse related idioms and sayings are everywhere, and most of the time we use them without even realizing the relation to equestrianism. You heard this straight from the horse's mouth!
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This is such a good idea for a blog post. Now I have a fun horse fact for ya! Back in the day when marching percussion was used in the military they would mount timpani (the big-ass drums that I play at OSSIA) on horses. The smaller timpani would be mounted on the left side of the horse (so it's easier for the player to mount the horse and apparently you usually mount a horse on the left side) and the larger timpani is mounted on the right side of the horse. In europe they still play timpani smallest on the left and biggest on the right but in north america we have changed the position of the timpani to reflect the piano keyboard and strayed away from the military tradition. Also timpani are no longer played on horses but on stages. That is all.
ReplyDeletehahahahhaha that is actually so cool!
ReplyDeleteWow! My family is really big on these kind phrases all the time. I never really thought about where they come from. Are there any horse related ones that are big in your household?
ReplyDeletelololololol I always love phrases like these,. They never fail to make me laugh and I love when people use them in the most awkward ways. It's interesting to know what these phrase actually mean though! What phrases do you personally like the most and which ones do you enjoy saying or find funny?
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