The origin of common phrases

10 years ago

What common phrases do you say, and do you know the actual original meaning?

Living the Life of Riley

I laughingly referred to a young man the other day, as "living the life of Riley" -- he was living at home, casually employed, lovely girlfriend, paid no rent etc. The I got to thinking, who was Riley?
My grandmother was Irish, my mom used to say this and it appears I've inherited the saying. So I found this on the internet:

"Origin
The phrase originated in the Irish/American community of the USA, in the early part of the 20th century. The first printed citation of it that I have found is from the Connecticut newspaper The Hartford Courant, December 1911 - in a piece headed 'Bullet Ends Life of Famous Wild Cow':

The famous wild cow of Cromwell is no more. After "living the life of Riley" for over a year, successfully evading the pitchforks and the bullets of the farmers, whose fields she ravaged in all four seasons.

The quote marks that the writer added around the phrase are often an indication that the phrase in question isn't familiar to the readership, which is an indication of it being newly coined.

The phrase was much used in the military, especially amongst the Irish soldiery in WWI. The first known citation in that context is in a letter from a Private Walter J. Kennedy (who surely had parents or grandparents who hailed from the old country), stationed at Camp Dix, New Jersey, which was published in The Syracuse Herald on 29th June 1918. The piece was headed "Great Life, Writes Soldier at Camp":

"This is surely one great life." writes Kennedy. "We call it the life of Riley. We are having fine eats, are in a great detachment and the experience one gets is fine."

Later that year, on 22nd October, The Bridgeport Telegram published a letter from Private Samuel S. Polley, 102 Regiment, stationed in France.

"They [German officers] must have led the life of Reilly as we caught them all asleep in beds..."

Who Riley (or Reilly, or Reiley) was isn't clear. If he had been a known individual then it surely would have been recorded. The lack of any such records points to the name being chosen as that of a generic Irishman, much as Paddy is used now.

The phrase may have been brought to America by Irish immigrants, although there's no known use of it in Ireland prior to 1918, or, more likely, it originated in the Irish community in the USA.

There had been various Victorian music hall songs that had referred to a Reilly who had a comfortable and prosperous life; for example, there's the 1883 song, popularised by the Irish/American singer Pat Rooney - Is That Mr. Reilly? It included in the chorus "Is that Mr. Reilly, of whom they speak so highly?". Like most other Irish songs of the era, it played to the Irish audience - this one with a dash of anti-Chinese racism thrown in for luck (the Chinese were 'Reilly's' principal competitors for manual work in the USA at the time):

I'll have nothing but...

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Comments (8)

carolyn_ky
10 years ago
I don't think of any in particular, but during our month's tour of Great Britain several years ago, the guide told us over the duration a great number of tales about where our common sayings came from--all originating in Britain, of course. My husband got quite exercised about it toward the end, asking if we didn't have any U.S.-based sayings. I'll have to tell him I have another Irish phrase, even if it was Irish-American.
veer
10 years ago
Carolyn, don't forget we English and Irish have had many a hundred years head-start on expressions/sayings. Add to these the rich mix you in the US must have garnered from the influx of incomers from round the world especially if translated from German/Spanish/Polish/Jewish whatever.
Include in the mix all those nautical terms that cross international boundaries . . . there is no need for your husband's National Pride to have taken a knock. We are just one big happy family divided by our shared language (paraphrasing here) ;--)

Here is a link that might be useful: Nautical Phrases
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yoyobon_gw
10 years ago
Guff

The expression Ã¢ÂÂdonÃ¢ÂÂt give me any of your guffÃ¢ÂÂ made me curious as to the origin of guff.

Apparently the word guff was once used in standard English and in Scots to mean a puff or a whiff of a bad smell. It may be linked through Old Norse to the Norwegian gufs, a puff of wind. But either way itÃ¢ÂÂs basically imitative and doesnÃ¢ÂÂt seem to be connected to gust, though that, too, has an Old Norse origin. So talk that was just idle chatter or nonsense was rudely said to be just a puff of wind (or perhaps a bad smell).
janalyn
Original Author
10 years ago
...so...you are politely trying to tell me that guff=fart?

I will definitely say this with more than the usual emphasis from now on!! :)
yoyobon_gw
10 years ago
No.......
I was just adding another phrase to this link that has recently fascinated me .............one that I recalled from the past and wondered where it came from.

Perhaps this is the wrong thread for that?
janalyn
Original Author
10 years ago
I was teasing you though actually when you think of a puff and a bad smell...well...maybe it isnt so far off. And I am laughing here.
Acutally I remember long long ago, we had a similar thread and I think you may have started it, but I found it fascinating. Sayings I often used but never really understood. Like "He was three sheets to the wind." I think the Australians have their own dictionary of sayings, btw. Very colourful. I'll see if I can find a link to that.
yoyobon_gw
10 years ago
"Three sheets to the wind" is an interesting saying.
Once when we were on Nantucket we were looking at an old windmill and a local explained to us that back in the day they had to whip big canvases to the blades of the windmill so that it could catch the wind and turn.
It was important to have all four sheets whipped onto the blades because if you only had three sheets on, the blades would wobble terribly and not be efficient.

Thus.....someone who has had too much to drink and is staggering is said to be "three sheets to the wind" !

Sounds right to me :0)
Rudebekia
10 years ago
It seems to me that there was a thread awhile back about idiomatic sayings that noted "all redd up"--ie. to fix or clean up. I remember thinking I had not heard that before. But here I am re-reading for the nth time the last couple chapters of Jane Eyre--Jane to Rochester: "There, sir, you are redd up and made decent."
Never noticed this before!