Dating back to the 13th century, architects needed a way of dealing with rainwater that accumulated on the cathedrals they were building, rather than having the water fall along the walls of the buildings. Sculptors set about creating ornamental creations to handle the water, inevitably ending up in a game of one-upsmanship with each other. Some were amusing designs and others were angels and demons. But whatever was represented in stone, they all spewed streams of water from their throats and mouth. The French word for throat at that time was gargouille, which translated into English as gargoyle.
Example: If you don't get your ducks in a row, you will be fired.
Origin: Baby ducklings swim in a straight line behind the mother duck. If the ducklings stray to far, the mother duck will get them back in line, that is get her ducks in a row.
Refers to setting up bowling pins. They were called duckpins in early America because people thought they looked like ducks.
This phrase for the one-fingered salute's originally referred to the hissing sound audiences made when they didn't like a performance. Hissing is the sound that a goose makes when it's threatened or angry.
In 1555, Richard Eden created this expression in his novel, The Decades of the Newe Worlde. "As wee reade of them whiche in oulde tyme lyued in the golden age."
