Why do we say, “the cat’s pajamas?”: Real origins of wacky English sayings (22 Photos)
I was golfing with a buddy and asked if I could use his 60º wedge for a lob shot
(instead, I inadvertently rifled my ball into the water).
We laughed, I reached into my bag for another ball, and my buddy said, “well, Bob’s your uncle!”
And I was pretty sure that was the incorrect use of the phrase.
I didn’t say anything to him at the time. Mostly because I hate losing golf balls, and really want to actually hit a lob shot when I mean to shoot a lob shot.
Then I got to thinking.
Where the hell did that term come from: “Bob’s your uncle.” What a strange thing to say. Especially when Bob is actually the name of your dad.
We hear those types of idioms relatively often, so I put on my detective hat, and did some work.
I dug up 22 popular English idioms, and hunted down why we say, when we started saying it, and what they actually means.
You know, those phrases like when people refer to someone as the “cat’s pajamas” … phrases whose meanings you probably didn’t deduce from the individual words.
But now, you can.
That way, next time someone lasers a brand new Titleist Pro V1 into the pond, you appropriately just say, “horrible shot” — and mean every word.
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