Meaning: Living easily without having to work hard, to have an easy life.
Example: While I'm out working hard all day, you are home living the life of Riley.
Origin: "Living the life of Riley" was popularized by a radio show of the 1940s, which spawned a television program in 1948 that originally starred Jackie Gleason but later starred William Bendix as the lead character.
Chester A. Riley was a sort of layabout, working class Brooklyn riveter who always managed to do everything with the minimum of effort, just getting by. The show was very funny and very popular.
"What a revoltin' development this is," was the catch phrase sweeping the country in the summer of 1943. This expression of Riley was a big part of this "typical" family man.
Riley managed to change any ant-hill of a problem into a Grade-A disaster! For 8 years, Riley's weekly mishaps included his wife, their two kids, co-worker Gillis, and the friendly undertaker Digby "Digger" O'Dell. The funeral director ended each appearance with a "Cheerio, I'd better be shoveling off."
"Living the life of Riley" came into the language to indicate a state of being to wished for but, probably, never to be attained. In fact the phrase pre-dated the radio program.
Meaning: A person who is out of control, unpredictable, who may do damage.
Example: The typical Engineer is too honest for his own good, they can be like a loose cannon around customers.
Origin: On sailing ships that had cannons, it was important that they be secured. Cannons are very heavy, and a loose cannon on a ship's deck in a rough sea could be thrown about in an unpredictable fashion, causing a lot of damage.
More than just needing to be lashed down during normal travel, cannons needed to be secured during use, or else the recoil would send the cannon on its way causing injury or damage.
Meaning: You must keep this secret or there will be a price paid.
Example: Do not discuss any of our plans outside this boardroom, remember loose lips sink ships.
Origin: Popularized by US military propaganda during World War II. The phrase was meant as a reminder that classified information was never to be discussed with anyone without proper clearance and a need to know.
Specifically the phrase means that disclosing a military secret to the enemy could result in large loses, such as the sinking of an entire ship.
Example: Don't let the cat out of the bag about Susan's Christmas present.
Origin: At medieval markets, unscrupulous traders would display a pig for sale. However, the pig was always given to the customer in a bag, with strict instructions not to open the bag until they were some way away. The trader would hand the customer a bag containing something that wriggled, and it was only later that the buyer would find he'd been conned when he opened the bag to reveal that it contained a cat, not a pig. Therefore, "letting the cat out of the bag" revealed the secret of the con trick.
Meaning: To be poor, to have difficulty supporting yourself.
Example: Most people who marry young start out living hand to mouth.
Origin: During the Great Depression and other times of economic scarcity, people often did not know when or where the next meal was coming from. In such a case, when you get something in your hand that can be eaten, it goes into the mouth immediately: ergo "hand to mouth."
