Example: Pardon my French, but if the neighbors don't like the lovely purple color I painted the house, they can kiss my ass.
Origin: The French have been enemies of Britain for the past thousand years (on and off), and are even today thought of with some suspicion by a lot of British people.
Perhaps because of this, the British (a very polite society) have considered the French to be vulgar and rude. To say "pardon my French" is to say that you are about to behave as a Frenchman would, i.e. you are about to say something vulgar.
Other examples of the British perspective on the behavior of the French have also found there way into the English language.
Example: In times of trouble, my old boss was quick to pass the buck. But when things went well, her mantra became "the buck stops here".
Origin: Some card games use a marker called a buck. Players take turns acting as dealer with the buck marking the current dealer. When the buck is passed to the next player, the responsibility for dealing is passed.
Spawned the phrase "The buck stops here" popularized by President Harry Truman.
A buck-slip is also a small piece of paper that is sometimes preprinted, or hand-written, and included the names of the people who were to receive a memo or report. It is a routing list.
In the days before copy machines and computers people typed one memo, with a carbon copy, then passed the one copy of the memo around to the people listed on the buck slip. Each person initialed next to their name on the buck slip and passed the memo on to the next person on the buck slip.
A tactic used to delay or delegate something was to pass the document on to the next person, without initialing the buck slip -- pass the buck (slip). When Harry said the buck stopped here he meant he wasn't going to pass the responsibility along.
Although the buck slip was a popular use of the term, that usage may have originated with the gambling usage.
Example: If I can put my two cents in, maintenance on that Ferrari will kill you.
Origin: "Put my two cents in" originates from the older "put my two bits in" and has its origin in the game of poker. When playing poker you have to make a small bet before the cards are dealt called an "ante" to begin play in that hand.
This phrase draws an analogy to the poker ante (two bits) and gains your entry into the conversation.
Two bits means one quarter (currently the American twenty five cent piece). This comes from the older term "piece of eight".
Today we have coins minted in different denominations - nickel, dime, and quarter in the U.S. - but this was not always so. Gold and silver coins once served as currency, with the value of the coin equal to the value of the gold or silver contained in the coin. To obtain currency valued at less than a full gold coin, coins would be scored and split into pieces. This is how one would make change so to speak.
Coins could be split into halfs, quarters, and eighths. One eighth of a coin was called a "piece of eight" and also called a "bit". Two pieces of eight is equal to one quarter. Hence "two bits" is a quarter.
"Smashed to bits" literally means to break something into eighths.
Meaning: To exceed expectations, to do better than expected.
Example: The California smog test is tough, but my car passed with flying colors.
Origin: Color(s) has numerous meanings. An early use of the word is flag, pennant, or badge.
"Passed with flying colors" comes from sailing ships that, when passing other ships at sea, would fly their colors (flags) if they wanted to be identified.
Alternatively, A metaphor drawn from parades, which do not merely pass, but rather do so with flags raised, "with flying colors."
Meaning: To impart a spin to something in an effort to make it hard to control, usually a ball in sports like tennis.
Example: Your cue shot is dangerous when you put english on it.
Origin: "The English way" or "English" comes from the British game of Snooker. Snooker is a forerunner to the game of Billiards or pool. Similar to pool, Snooker uses cue sticks, balls, and a table however the table has no pockets. A technique used in Snooker is to impart an unusual spin to the ball to alter its travel.
The phrase has since been grandfathered into many sports, including basketball, tennis, golf and baseball, among others.
