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."
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.
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.
In the 16th and 17th centuries men of wealth wore wigs made of wool, whether they were bald or not. If you wanted to put something over a man with a wig you just tilted it down so he couldn't see.
