Example: For the love of Pete, can we just pick a restaurant and stop searching? I am hungry.
Origin: This phrase and phrases like "for Pete's sake" are euphemisms for the phrases "for the love of God/Christ" or "for God's/ Christ's sake" and hail from a time when those phases were considered blasphemous. Nowadays phrases like "for the love of god" are commonly used, but the euphemisms are still used.
Why Pete? Most likely it is a reference to the catholic Saint Peter.
Other phrases with similar origins are: "Zounds!" (archaic British slang), is a contraction of "christ's wounds", "oh my goodness" and "oh my gosh" for "oh my God", and "gosh darn it" for "God damn it"
Human anatomy was largely a mystery in the early days of science. Because skeletons were abundant, bones were the first body parts to be the subject of intense study. Terms were chosen from Latin because it was viewed as the universal language of scholarship. The big bone that runs from the shoulder to the elbow became known as the humerus, Latin for "upper arm." There is no record of the person who called the tip of the humerus the funny bone, but it's believed the name came about in some part because of the distinctively unusual (funny?) sensation a person feels when it's struck against a hard surface.
Linguists believe that "fuck" comes from any of three words: the Middle English word "fucken," which meant "to strike, move quickly, penetrate;" the German word "ficken," which pretty much had the same meaning; or the Middle Dutch word "fokken," which meant "to strike, copulate with." Any way you look at it, the word can be traced back to between 1495 and 1505.
Meaning: To do something without planning, to change course midstream, to figure things out as you go.
Example: Most stock investors are not making educated decisions, they are just flying by the seat of their pants.
Origin: Before airplanes had sophisticated instruments and flight control systems, and even today, planes are piloted by feel. Pilots can feel the reactions of the plane in response to their actions at the controls.
Being the largest point of contact between pilot and plane, most of the feel or feedback comes through the seat of the pants.
If you are "flying by the seat of your pants" your are responding to the feedback received.
Meaning: Something that shows great promise, then disappoints by being over too quickly.
Example: Ross Perot's political career turned out to be a flash in the pan.
Origin: Flintlock muskets have small pans to hold the gunpowder fuse. Sometimes the gunpowder in the pan would flare up without firing the gun. That would be a "flash in the pan".
Alternatively, Derives from the early gold prospectors who would literally see a flash of light as they panned for gold, but who would often fail to find the nuggets on closer inspection. See the related expression "pan out".
