Weird sayings in the English language

[cromwell]

I was just musing.
Around here they used to say that if a couple are living together but weren't married they were "Living over the brush".
I mean - ????
Where do sayings like this come from?
Do you know any?

[Workingman]

"How are you?"

"I'm as right as rain."

What does that even mean?

[Kaz]

Crommers it comes from Gypsy weddings, where they held hands and literally jumped over a broom Also during winters in olden times, if a vicar or priest couldn't get to isolated villages or homesteads, it was a form of temporary marriage, until the legal ceremony

[Kaz]

My mum used to say "Over Will's mother's" in relation to the weather in the distance - as in "Looking cloudy over Will's mother's" Who Will was, I have no idea

[Kaz]

"Daft as a brush" That makes no sense whatsoever

[cromwell]

Thank you Kaz!
As right as rain.
That's a bit like "As fit as a fiddle"!

[JoM]

My mum used to say "Over Will's mother's" in relation to the weather in the distance - as in "Looking cloudy over Will's mother's" Who Will was, I have no idea

Around here we say “it’s a bit black over Bill’s mother’s”.
It’s said that the Bill referred to was William Shakespeare but that could just be in this area, with Stratford being nearby.

[Kaz]

Mum grew up just outside London, my nan used to say it too, and she grew up on the Suffolk/Norfolk border

[JoM]

I wonder who Will was in that area then

One we have around here is “going/went all around The Wrekin”. The Wrekin is a hill in Shropshire, we can see it from the common, and the phrase means that you went the long way round on what should be a short journey, or a person rambles and takes a while to get to the point when saying something.

[cromwell]

Apparently fit as a fiddle comes from the middle ages. A fiddle had to be kept in good order - fit - so that it could be played. Hence, fit as a fiddle.

And "Sling your hook" comes from a nautical origin. Hook was a name given to the ship's anchor, and the sling was the cradle that housed the anchor. Therefore, to sling your hook meant to lift anchor, stow it and sail away.

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