Meaning: Act quickly while the opportunity is still available.
Example: If you want the job, you need to strike while the iron is hot.
Origin: Blacksmiths working iron by hand heat the iron in a fire to red-hot making it malleable. The Smith removes the iron from the fire and shapes it with blows from a hammer. They need to work quickly before the iron cools. Once the iron is cool, it becomes brittle and the opportunity to hammer it into shape has passed.
Meaning: Having a lack of confidence in ones own abilities.
Example: Don't sell yourself short, you are a good dancer.
Origin: Comes from short selling of stocks. To sell a stock short is to sell shares that you don't own. These shares must be bought at a future time to complete the transaction. Selling short is used when investors believe the price of the stock is going down, and they wish to profit from that drop in price. They can sell a stock at today's price in anticipation of acquiring the stock at a lower future price.
Selling a stock short is a bet that the value of the stock is going down. Hence selling yourself short is an expectation that you are on the decline.
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."
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: 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.
