- The early bird catches the worm
Meaning: Success comes to those who preapre well and put in effort.
Origin: This is first recorded in John Ray's A collection of English proverbs 1670, 1678: "The early bird catcheth the worm."
Clearly the title of the work indicates that this was considered proverbial even at the early date.
- Just in time
Meaning: A manufacturing/delivery process where a minimum of goods are kept in stock. Items are planned to arrive precisely at the time they are required for use or despatch.
Origin: Just In Time, or JIT, was coined to name and describe a manufacturing processes developed by Toyota in Japan in the 1950s and which spread to the US and UK in the 1970s. Nevertheless, the credit for the initiative should go to Henry Ford. He described essentially the same process, although it wasn't then named, in his autobiography My Life and Work, 1922:
This is applicable to ALL aspects of one's life, I believe. Time is of the essence! Time waits for no man! Time is money! Good timing!
It is about TIME
- Laugh like a drain
Meaning: To laugh coarsely or loudly, especially at the discomfort of others.
Origin: This is a UK phrase, from around the time of WWII. It is first recorded by Eric Partridge in A dictionary of forces' slang 1939–45, 1948. He describes it as 'Ward-room and also Army officers’ slang'.
The reason why drain was picked for this simile isn't clear. Most similes include items that especially display the property being described, e.g. as white as as snow. Drains don't immediately make one think of laughter, although the gurgling sound might have been thought of as being similar to chuckling.
I am sure we all know somebody who laughs like a drain, I know quite a few people who laugh like a horse...
- Get over it
Meaning: Don't concern yourself with something that's already in the past; accept it and move on to more productive pursuits.
Origin: We have been told to 'get over' our problems for centuries. For example, in Thirty-six Years of Seafaring Life, 1839, we have:
"Such was his state, that no one supposed he ever could get over it." [an amputation]
Something changed in the USA in early 1990s though and 'Get over it.' began to be used as a single sentence.
A pre-cursor to 'get over it' as a standalone phrase were a spate of articles relating to the USA's ongoing pre-occupation with the Vietnam War. In an article in the Kingston newspaper, The Gleaner, Oct. 1990 there was a report of a meeting between US Secretary of State James Baker and Vietnam's Foreign Minister Nguyen Co Thach. Following the meeting a diplomat said:
"The Americans have a serious emotional problem when it comes to Vietnam and the war. They have to get over it."
The single-sentence form came soon after. The earliest citation I can find is from a syndicated article by Anna Quindlen entitled 'Give Hilary a role that suits her ability', which appeared in various US newspapers in November 1992 (co-incidentally, also involving James Baker):
"Breaking new ground is never easy, and Hilary Clintom surely knows about the people who said they wanted to 'get the pants off Eleanor and onto Franklin.' (Gee how times have not changed.) There will be people who complain that they didn't elect her. Get over it. You didn't elect James Baker either."
The phrase was unofficially adopted by the gay community as a part of the slogan "We're here and we're queer - get over it".
- A little knowledge is a dangerous thing
Meaning: A small amount of knowledge can cause people to think they are more expert than they really are.
Origin: First used by Alexander Pope (1688 - 1744) in An Essay on Criticism, 1709:
"A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again."
Origin: This arose as a quotation by Lord Acton in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887:
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."
William Pitt the Younger, The Earl of Chatham and British Prime Minister from 1766 to 1778, is sometimes wrongly attributed as the source. He did say something similar though, in a speech to the UK House of Lords in 1770:
"Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it"
I know some people who have a little bit of authority and think they know a lot, and the "power" rushes to their heads resulting in disastrous consequences
Origin: A deliberate jokey corruption of the French phrase 'a ne fait rien' - it doesn't matter.
I just threw this one in, coz it has my name on it!
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