Why Do we say that?

There are several terms we use in our everyday but I have no idea where the term came from. I took the liberty of researching a few of the common ones I could think of and how they came to be...

- "riding shotgun": stagecoach guards rode shotgun - they just didn't call it that in the 1880s, as far as anyone has yet discovered. The term "riding shotgun" to refer to the guard sitting next to the driver doesn't emerge from the Old West but rather from movies and TV shows about the Old West. To date no one has found a cite for "riding shotgun" during the time stagecoaches were actually used.

- "three sheets to the wind": It refers to having three sails rigged on a sailing boat, a sail was also known as a sheet. I think it was a tactic used in runnng a boat through a storm, erratically, hence becoming a simile for being drunk and unable to walk in a straight line...

- "bakers dozen": means thirteen. This old saying is said to come from the days when bakers were severely punished for baking underweight loaves. Some added a loaf to a batch of a dozen to be above suspicion.

- "earmark a page": comes from the days when livestock had their ears marked so their owner could be easily identified.

- "from the horse's mouth": You can tell a horse’s age by examining its teeth. A horse dealer may lie to you but you can always find out the truth 'from the horse’s mouth'.

- "kick the bucket": When slaughtering a pig you tied its back legs to a wooden beam (in French buquet). As the animal died it kicked the buquet.

- "mind your p's and q's": In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them to mind their own pints and quarts and settle down.

- "give the cold shoulder": In the Middle Ages when someone had over stayed their welcome in someone's home, instead of the invitation to dinner, a "cold shoulder" of lamb would be sent to their room at dinner time.