having fun with the cliched conversation.....

I sat through a meeting with two consultants and a staff member three days ago. Between them I counted what seemed to be some endless clichés that have become part of our everyday conversations in business. I make note of it not because I want to embarrass anyone, in fact the opposite. What made these clichés or commonly used adages of value was at the end of the meeting I asked one of the consultants if they knew where the origins of some of the sayings they had used had come from – the third degree, running amuck (even though its Amok), by and large, and white elephant.

To my utter surprise one of the consultants, the older of the two gave me some great responses and I thought I would share them. The meanings don’t change that much for me, but they did take on a new interest….and the meeting went over by another half hour. We all laughed at the end, as we looked at our watches, saying time was precious, but telling stories and connecting at a different level was the real winner on the day, possibly giving us confidence to work together in the future.I asked them that our next challenge together was to have a conversation without using one! Here's a meaning of the others......

By and large - Many everyday phrases are nautical in origin— “taken aback”, “loose cannon” and “high and dry” all originated at sea—but perhaps the most surprising example is the common saying “by and large.” As far back as the 16th century, the word “large” was used to mean that a ship was sailing with the wind at its back. Meanwhile, the less desirable “by,” or “full and by,” meant the vessel was traveling into the wind. Thus, for seafarers, “by and large” referred to trawling the seas in all directions relative to the wind. Today, many use the phrase as a synonym for “all things considered” or “for the most part.”

The third degree - There are several tales about the origin of “the third degree,” a saying commonly used for long or arduous interrogations. One theory is the phrase relates to the various degrees of murder in the criminal code; yet another credit it to Thomas F. Byrnes, a 19th-century New York City policeman who used the pun “Third Degree Byrnes” when describing his hardnosed questioning style. In truth, the saying is most likely derived from the Freemasons, an organisation whose members undergo rigorous questioning and examinations before becoming “third degree” members, or “master masons.”

Turn a blind eye - often used to refer to a refusal to acknowledge a reality — it dates to an incident in the career of the British naval hero Horatio Nelson. During 1801’s Battle of Copenhagen, Nelson’s ships were fighting a large Danish-Norwegian fleet. One of Nelson’s officer flagged for him to withdraw, but the one-eyed Nelson supposedly brought his telescope to his bad eye and casually proclaimed, “I really do not see the signal.” They went on to score a decisive victory. Some historians have since dismissed Nelson’s famous quip as merely a battlefield myth, but the phrase “turn a blind eye” persists to this day.

White elephant -  were once considered highly sacred creatures in Asia. According to legend, if an underling or rival angered a Siamese king, the royal might present the unfortunate man with the gift of a white elephant. While ostensibly a reward, the creatures were tremendously expensive to feed and house, and caring for one often drove the recipient into financial ruin. Whether any specific rulers bestowed such a passive-aggressive gift is uncertain, but the term has since come to refer to any troublesome possession.

Crocodile tears - we use the phrase “crocodile tears” to describe a display of insincere or untrue sorrow, but the saying derives from an ancient belief that crocodiles shed tears of sadness while they killed and consumed their prey. One myth dates back as far as the 14th century and comes from a book called “The Travels of Sir John Mandeville.” It recounts a brave knight’s adventures during his travels through Asia. Among its many inconsistencies, the book includes a description of crocodiles that says, “These serpents slay men, and eat them weeping, and they have no tongue.” Mandeville’s account of weeping reptiles later found its way into the works of Shakespeare, and “crocodile tears” became an idiom as early as the 16th century.

Diehard- no not a Bruce Willis movie, but it refers to someone with a strong dedication to a set of beliefs. The term “diehard” originally had a series of much more literal meanings. In its earliest incarnation in the 1700s, the expression described condemned men who struggled the longest when they were executed by hanging. The phrase became even more popular after 1811’s Battle of Albuera during the Napoleonic Wars. Amid the fight, a wounded British officer named William Inglis supposedly urged his unit forward by bellowing “Stand your ground and die hard … make the enemy pay dear for each of us!” Inglis’ 57th Regiment suffered 75 percent casualties during the battle, and went on to earn the nickname “the Die Hards.”

Read the riot act - These days, angry parents might threaten to “read the riot act” to their unruly children. But in 18th-century England, the Riot Act was a very real document, and it was often recited aloud to angry mobs. Instituted in 1715, the Riot Act gave the British government the authority to label any group of more than 12 people a threat to the peace. In these circumstances, a public official would read a small portion of the Riot Act and order the people to “disperse themselves, and peaceably depart to their habitations.” Anyone that remained after one hour was subject to arrest or removal by force.

Paint the town red- one theory suggests the phrase was born out of the brothels of the American West, and referred to men behaving as though their whole town were a red-light district. Another version of the phrase “paint the town red” most likely owes its origin to one legendary night of drunkenness (or two). In 1837, the Marquis of Waterford—a known lush and mischief maker—led a group on a night of drinking through the English town of Melton Mowbray. The bender culminated in vandalism after Waterford and his fellow revellers knocked over flowerpots, pulled knockers off doors and broke the windows of some of the town’s buildings. To top it all off, the mob literally painted a tollgate, the doors of several homes and a swan statue with red paint. The marquis and his pranksters later compensated Melton for the damages, but their drunken jaunt is the reason that “paint the town red” became shorthand for a wild night out.

Running amok - is commonly used to describe wild or erratic behaviour, but the phrase began its life as a medical term. The saying was popularised in the 18th and 19th centuries, when European visitors to Malaysia learned of a peculiar mental affliction that caused otherwise normal tribesmen to go on brutal and seemingly random killing sprees. Amok—derived from the “Amuco,” a band of Javanese and Malay warriors who were known for their penchant for indiscriminate violence. Writing in 1772, Captain James Cook noted “to run amok is to … sally forth from the house, kill the person or persons supposed to have injured the Amock, and any other person that attempts to impede his passage.” Once thought to be the result of possession by evil spirits, the phenomenon later found its way into psychiatric manuals. It remains a diagnosable mental condition to this day.