SPILLING THE BEANS ON THE CAT’S PAJAMAS
- Author: Judy Parkinson
- Hardcover: 176 pages
- Publisher: Readers Digest (September 30, 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1606521713
- ISBN-13: 978-1606521717
Oh, the images that title provokes! Figurative language’s popular expressions come and go with time. Language changes so phrases like “spilling the beans” and “the cat’s pajamas” are cliches today long removed from their original meanings. All the times I wished someone to break a leg, I hurried to explain I was wishing him luck. Had he read Judy Parkinson’s Spilling the Beans on the Cat’s Pajama’s, it would have been unnecessary.
This morning again falling snow kept me housebound. Since hubby was still sleeping I decided to be quiet as a mouse. Luckily lights and turning pages do not wake up my man so instead of turning on the TV, I started reading. Expressions my father frequently used like blow hot and cold and cock and bull story jumped out at me. I knew they meant being inconsistent and a lie. What I did not know until today is their derivation from ancient tales.
I grew up in a world of books and was familiar with great books and classics. Greek mythology, Aesop’s Fables, Homer’s Illiad and The Odyssey, Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass had been my bedtime companions throughout my school years. I saw sour grapes, the face that launched a thousand ships, beware of greeks bearing gifts, mad as a hatter, and mad as a March hare as part of literature long before Hollywood moved them to the big, big screen.
I smiled at kiss of death remembering how years ago my youngest sons then in grade school received detention and how I greeted them there in front of their friends–a fate far worse than any scolding or punishment. I already knew that a baker’s dozen was thirteen. What I never heard was its medieval origin. England’s Henry III instituted his Assize of Bread and Ale reign on bakers caught shortchanging customers.
I doubt if any couch potato will enjoy Spilling the Beans’s catch phrases as much as I did. This Reader’s Digest publication is worth browsing through. I am putting it with my table books on on the coffee table not under the table to be appreciated. Reading means work not tuber eyes on the television as it opens our minds and brains. Don’t wait (I am only having some fun playing on words) until the dog days of summer to take a look at a copy of it and its 233 entries organized in alphabetical order.
Spilling the Beans on the Cat’s Pajamas lists at $14.95 and can be ordered online or bought in stores like Borders.
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ONE winner will receive a copy of Spilling The Beans On The Cat’s Pajamas.
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To enter leave a comment on this post telling me an expression you like that you’re curious about the origin of.
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THE SMALL PRINT.
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The product(s) featured in this review was provided free of cost to me for the sole purpose of product testing and review. This review has not been monetarily compensated and is based on the views and opinions of my family and/or self. Please note that the opinions reflected in this post have not been influenced by the sponsor in any way.
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on Jan 28th, 2011 at 6:47 am
I played bridge with a refined lady who used to say when her good card was trumped ” Doesn’t that frost your drawers?” Drawers was an old expression for panties. It put a smile on my face. Thanks for the wonderful giveaway
on Jan 28th, 2011 at 6:48 am
I am an email subscriber. Thanks
on Jan 28th, 2011 at 8:16 am
I would like to know about don’t cry over spilt milk expression.
twoofakind12@yahoo.com
on Jan 28th, 2011 at 8:16 am
I am a email subscriber.
twoofakind12@yahoo.com
on Jan 28th, 2011 at 3:33 pm
Thanks for the excellent post. Just one quick question as well, where can I find the design you have on your site? Cheers mate.
on Jan 28th, 2011 at 6:49 pm
go figure
ABreading4fun [at] gmail [dot] com
on Jan 28th, 2011 at 6:50 pm
newsletter subscriber
ABreading4fun [at] gmail [dot] com
on Jan 28th, 2011 at 6:51 pm
button on blog
http://abis-scrapsoflife.blogspot.com/
ABreading4fun [at] gmail [dot] com
on Jan 28th, 2011 at 7:21 pm
I’ve always wondered where “Toe the Line” came from.
on Jan 28th, 2011 at 7:21 pm
Email Subscriber!
on Jan 28th, 2011 at 7:21 pm
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on Jan 28th, 2011 at 7:22 pm
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on Jan 28th, 2011 at 9:36 pm
How about “strike while the iron’s hot”?
on Jan 29th, 2011 at 11:28 am
That’s a hard nut to crack is one I wonder what the origin is from.
gourdsrmylife(at)yahoo(dot)com
on Jan 29th, 2011 at 11:29 am
I’m an email subscriber.
gourdsrmylife(at)yahoo(dot)com
on Jan 29th, 2011 at 11:30 am
Your button is posted on my website’s sidebar.
gourdsrmylife(at)yahoo(dot)com
on Jan 30th, 2011 at 5:35 pm
“good riddance to bad rubbish” –huh? haha.
on Jan 31st, 2011 at 7:15 am
My mom always told us “we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it” I just wonder where the phrase first came from!
on Jan 31st, 2011 at 2:54 pm
[...] Here and There-Spilling the Beans on the Cats Pajamas/2/8/11 [...]
on Jan 31st, 2011 at 8:25 pm
One in the hand beats two in the bush.
nhmummab@comcast.net
on Feb 1st, 2011 at 5:05 am
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
misteedawnw at aol dot com
on Feb 2nd, 2011 at 5:05 am
[...] Here And There – Spilling The Beans On The Cat’s Pajamas (Feb Mom Knows It All – Get Fit With Mel B for PS3 (Feb 12) Three Different Directions – Chicken Soup for the Soul: Shaping the New You (Feb 13/US & Canada) [...]
on Feb 5th, 2011 at 3:49 pm
What exactly are the ‘bee’s knees’?
lkish77123 at gmail dot com
on Feb 6th, 2011 at 6:02 am
I guess I’ve always been curious where the origin of the phrase “If you tinkle when you sprinkle be a sweety and wipe the seaty” came from. I think it came from a wife that had boys and just couldn’t deal with the wet seat, went nuts, wrote about it, then it became a “known” phrase.
flophasit at yahoo dot com
on Feb 6th, 2011 at 6:04 am
I follow you on twitter – I’m @win_giveaways
flophasit at yahoo dot com
entry 1
on Feb 6th, 2011 at 6:04 am
I LIKE you on facebook – I’m victoria liester
flophasit at yahoo dot com
entry 1
on Feb 6th, 2011 at 6:05 am
I subscribed via email and confirmed
flophasit at yahoo dot com
entry 1