The English language is always evolving and changing to give us idioms and expressions whose origins have been long forgotten. Consider a few interesting ones.
Have you ever been in a group conversation and everyone is trying to avoid “the elephant in the room?” There is something that everyone knows about and it’s as large as an elephant but they are trying to ignore it, pretending it doesn’t exist. The phrase has been traced back to 1814 when “Russian writer Ivan Krylov wrote “The Inquisitive Man” — and discussed a character who visits a museum and fails to notice an elephant presumably in the room.”1 Mark Twain used the phrase in 1882 but it seems to have gained its American foothold in a NY Times article from 1959.
What about referring to someone as a “shrinking violet?” This is rather interesting because violets do shrink – sort of. Horticulturists will tell you that “the Sweet Violet (Viola odorata), occasionally toys with passing insects on first flowering, but so revels in the high seed production levels of DIY pollination, that it shrinks away from the insect when it tries to alight.”2
“The phrase is believed to have first appeared in prints in Britain in 1820 in the poetry magazine ‘The Indicator,’ where Leigh Hunt is credited with its earliest known usage. Later, the term appeared in a poem by James Gates Percival titled ‘The Perpetual Youth of Nature,’ published in the United States Literary Gazette on November 1, 1825. The phrase draws on the modest and unassuming nature of the violet flower, which grows close to the ground and often hides its small flowers among its leaves. This association with modesty, shyness, or self-effacement led to the adoption of the phrase to describe people who exhibit these qualities.”3
The last one we will consider is “going cold turkey” or “quit cold turkey.” If someone suddenly decides to stop a bad habit, they are said to have gone cold turkey. What does the cold and a turkey have to do with breaking a bad habit?
“The actual origin of the phrase wasn’t recorded until the early 1900s when law
officials used it to describe how drug addicts would behave when having withdrawals. Their skin would scour with goosebumps, like a plucked turkey.
“But there’s also the fact that cold turkey is a food that requires little to no preparation, just as quitting abruptly requires hardly any prep. This idea was linked to the idiomatic phrase back in 1910.”4
What a language!
The Bible has many phrases and idioms that are nearly lost to a western hemisphere culture. However, a little study and digging will help to clear it up. That’s a good thing because of what we read in Philippians 1:8, “For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.” And, Philemon1:7, 12, and 20 says, “For we have great joy and consolation in thy love, because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother… Whom I have sent again: thou therefore receive him, that is, mine own bowels… Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord: refresh my bowels in the Lord.”
Please forgive me but the sophomoric boy in me giggles at this. Connotatively, we can clearly understand that the usage of bowels is meant in a tender way. However, we will NEVER find this sentiment emblazoned on a Hallmark card. It’s not something we would say in 21st c. America – ever! What does it mean?
First, there is no mystery surrounding the word bowels. The Greek word is splagchnon and means intestines, exactly what we would expect. So, why would you want your bowels refreshed or talk about longing for someone with your bowels?
Chuck Swindoll writes in his book Laugh Again, “In the first century it was believed that the intestines, the stomach, the liver, even the lungs, held the most tender parts of human emotions. That explains why this joyful man would use “bowels” in reference to “affection.” He says, in effect, “As I share with you my feelings, I open my whole inner being to you and tell you that the level of my affection is deep and tender.” Too many people live with the inaccurate impression that Paul was somewhat cold and uncaring. Not according to this statement; in fact, quite the contrary! When he was with those he loved, Paul went to the warmest depths in conversation and affection.”5
Today, we would say, “I love you with all my heart.” Maybe, if the Lord tarries for another century or two, we might say, “I love you with all my eyes, ears, nose, and toes.” Who knows how this crazy language might change!
1https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/why-do-we-say-elephant-room-expressions-origins-3-popular-phrases
2https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1020820/Why-DO-violets-shrink-The-answers-strange-horticultural-quandaries-wont-Chelsea-Flower-Show.html
3https://www.theidioms.com/shrinking-violet/#google_vignette
4https://grammarist.com/idiom/cold-turkey/#more-28722
5https://www.preceptaustin.org/philippians_17-8#1:8
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