Origin of Phrases - T

Tie the knot

Meaning: To get married.

Example: I understand you want a baby, but don't you think you should tie the knot first. In fact maybe you should get a girlfriend first.

Origin: Some marriage ceremonies actually tie together the wrists of the bride and groom.

Webster defines "tie" as "to unite in marriage".

Origin of Phrases - T

The writing is on the wall

Meaning: One can see the inevitable result of circumstances.

Example: We are having a downsizing and the writing is on the wall: we'll all be cut loose.

Origin: From the Book of Daniel in the Bible's Old Testament. Belshazzar, the king of Isreal, had stolen from the temple in Jerusalem. At a party where wine was being consumed, the fingers of a man's hand appeared and wrote on the wall.

The interpretation of the writing was that the King's days were numbered. He had been weighed on the scales and found deficient and his kingdom was divided and given to the Medes and Persians. That same night, Belshazzar was killed.

Origin of Phrases - T

Toe the line

Meaning: Follow the group, don't disagree, do what others are doing.

Example: Your lifestyle has gone on for too long. It is time for you to toe the line - get a wife, a job, some kids, and be miserable just like everyone else.

Origin: Many mistakenly think the phrase is "tow the line", thus obscuring the meaning.

This term comes from military line-ups for inspection. Soldiers are expected to line up, that is put their toes on a line, and submit to the inspection.

Alternatively but similar, The space between each pair of deck planks in a wooden ship was filled with a packing material called "oakum" and then sealed with a mixture of pitch and tar. The result, from afar, is a series of parallel lines a half foot or so apart, running the length of the deck.

Once a week, as a rule, usually on Sunday, a warship's crew was ordered to fall in at quarters -- that is, each group of men into which the crew was divided would line up in formation in a given area of the deck. To insure a neat alignment of each row, the sailors were directed to stand with their toes just touching a particular seam.

Another use for these seams was punitive. The youngsters in a ship, be they ship's boys or student officers, might be required to stand with their toes just touching a designated seam for a length of time as punishment for some minor infraction of discipline, such as talking or fidgeting at the wrong time. A tough captain might require the miscreant to stand there, not talking to anyone, in fair weather or foul, for hours at a time.

Hopefully, he would learn it was easier and more pleasant to conduct himself in the required manner rather than suffer the punishment. From these two uses of deck seams comes our cautionary word to obstreperous youngsters to "toe the line."

Origin of Phrases - T

Taken Down A Notch

It comes from the way people used to be ranked. Ships, for instance, used to be classified by colored pegs, which were based on the honor that the ship had gained through the years. As other ships earned their reputations, their pegs' colors were changed, sometimes knocking a ship down a notch.  One of the earliest known uses of this expression is from the 1589 John Lyly story, Pappe with an Hatchet: "Now haue at you all my gaffers of the rayling religion, tis I that must take you a peg lower."