Example: If you want the real story you have to get it straight from the horses mouth.
Origin: This is a boast of confidence from a racetrack tipster, who says he gets his information from the horses themselves—thereby assuring the bettor that the info is the correct.
Alternatively, A horse trader would bend the ear of a prospective buyer with all kinds of talk about the animal, but for a clear measure of its worth, one can simply look in the animal's mouth. You can tell a great deal about a horse from its mouth. Age, nutrition, general health of the horse, and if it had been over reined.
If a horse is unruly you have to rein it in a lot, and this shows in the horse's mouth.
Meaning: To reveal your true intentions, personality, or behaviors.
Example: Everyone is on best behavior on the first date, but soon enough you will show your true colors.
Origin: Color(s) has numerous meanings. An early use of the word is flag, pennant, or badge.
Early warships often carried flags from many nations on board in order to elude or deceive the enemy. The rules of civilized warfare called for all ships to hoist their true national ensigns before firing a shot.
Someone who finally "shows his true colors" is acting like a warship which hails another ship flying one flag, but then hoisted their own when they got in firing range.
Example: I am overweight because my wife's cooking is delicious but full of fat and sugar. The only way to get a good square meal is to eat out.
Origin: British war ships in the 1700s including the HMS Victory did not have the best of living conditions. A sailors breakfast and lunch were sparse meals consisting of little more than bread and a beverage. But the third meal of the day included meat and was served on a square tray. Eating a substantial meal onboard a ship required a tray to carry it all. Hence a "square meal" was the most substantial meal served.
Example: I'll be a son of a gun. I didn't think you could keep a job for more than six months.
Origin: Early warships had very cramped quarters. Sailors slept between the cannons because that was the only space available.
They sometimes had female company on board. Some ships actually carried prostitutes. Other times a sailor's wife would be allowed on board so that he would not have to leave the ship, and potentially desert.
In any case, many children were conceived between the cannons, or guns. Woman who gave birth on the ships typically also did so between the guns.
The male children were thus called "son of a gun".
Example: California is a strange place. In restaurants and bars the smoking lamp is out, but in the cannabis buyers club you can smoke all you like.
Origin: The smoking lamp probably came into use during the 16th Century when seamen began smoking on board vessels. The lamp was used to light the smoke before matches were invented.
The smoking lamp was also a safety measure. It was devised mainly to keep the fire hazard away from highly combustible woodwork and gunpowder.
Most navies established regulations restricting smoking to certain areas on board. Usually, the lamp was located in the forecastle or the area directly surrounding the galley indicting that smoking was permitted in this area.
Even after the invention of matches in the 1830s, the lamp was an item of convenience to the smoker. When particularly hazardous operations or work required that smoking be curtailed, the unlighted lamp relayed the message.
"The smoking lamp is lighted" or "the smoking lamp is out" were expressions indicating that smoking was permitted or forbidden. The smoking lamp has survived only as a figure of speech. When the officer of the deck says "the smoking lamp is out" before drills, refueling or taking ammunition, that is the Navy's way of saying "cease smoking."
