Meaning: A district in which houses of prostitution are numerous.
Example: Like a salmon swimming upstream to spawn, Tad makes his annual visit to the red-light district in Amsterdam.
Origin: The phrase red-light district is no doubt because of the fact that at least in the most famous of these, Amsterdam, they do in fact have red lights in the windows. This to let prospective customers know that it is a house of prostitution.
The term originated around 1900 and seems to have come about from visiting railroaders leaving their lanterns on the porch of the cat house while conducting business inside.
Red lanterns where required equipment for all railroad crew members, with the possible exception of the engineer. Prior to 1900, a train would likely have an engineer, conductor, fireman, and two or more brakemen (brakes being manually applied on a car by car basis). They were used for signaling as well as lighting, since red light does not affect night vision as much as white.
A train being brought into a yard would have its crew surrounding it, most carrying red lanterns to signal the engineer that all was well. They would then use these same lanterns to illuminate their path to wherever they chose to go. Strangely enough, red lights were also used to identify the homes of spiritualists of that era. I don't know why, since I would not equate a seance with sex, but . . .
And the question is why did the railroaders leave the lanterns on the porch? Apparently to indicate to other prospective visitors that the venue was in use.
Example: We decided to cancel our trip, it was raining cats and dogs that day.
Origin: When the bubonic plague was rampant in London, humans where apparently not the only victims of the plague. Cats and dogs were also afflicted, many died in the streets. After a particularly hard rain, street gutters could be awash in the bodies of cats and dogs.
Another theory suggests that thunder and lightning represent a cat and dog fight.
Yet another traces the origin of the phrase to ideas in ancient mythology that cats could influence the weather, and that dogs were a symbol of the wind.
This phrase goes back many hundreds of years to the Dark Ages. The cat was thought by sailors to have a lot to do with storms. Witches that were believed to ride in the storms were often pictured as black cats.
Dogs and wolves were symbols of winds and the Norse storm god Odin was frequently shown surrounded by dogs and wolves. In the phrase "raining cats and dogs", cats symbolize the rain and dogs represent the wind of the storm.
Example: I don't remember meeting him, but the name John Smith rings a bell.
Origin: Bells such as the type used in churches are large and loud. Their sound can be heard from a great distance. Bells sound a single, clear note so their sound is distinctive and not easily confused.
Before electric sirens and amplification systems, bells were a valuable means of signaling people and alerting of important events.
Further, accurate timepieces were not always as available as they are today. Bells were used to signal people of the start of events such as a church session, the start of school, or a celebration. The bells acted as a reminder of the start of the event for people who had an out of synch timepiece or no timepiece.
Someone would literally ring a bell as a reminder.
As an aside bells were later used on clocks to mark the hour. A large clock usually in the town square could be heard throughout the town. This clock acted as a master time reference for the town. The hourly bell ringing gave people an opportunity to synchronize their respective timepieces, and early watches required frequent adjustment.
Meaning: Weather through tough times, able to deal well with difficulties or criticism.
Example: Sometimes in life you just have to roll with punches, tomorrow is a new day.
Origin: Rolling with the punches is a technique used in boxing. The objective is to avoid receiving a direct hit with solid contact. The technique is to step back or to one side as you are being hit or at least create a glancing blow. A glancing blow being preferable to a direct hit.
Meaning: Repeatedly taking successive turns in the same order.
Example: Everyone in this family will take round robin turns putting out the trash, everyone that is except me.
Origin: "Round robin" originated in the British nautical tradition. Sailors wishing to mutiny would sign their names in a circle so the leader could not be identified.
