Never play leap frog with an elephant...

I used to love to listen to Paul Harvey on the radio. I like his stories and the history he would give to the origin of old sayings. I thought today I would share as many of those as I can remember.

"Stuck in a rut". Very common expression to indicate that a person routine or way of life has become mundane with no variation. It comes from the days of the wagon trains traveling west. The wheels on the wagon would carve such deep ruts in the ground that once a person got the team of horses or oxen started, they could actually let go of the reins, go to the back of the wagon and take a nap. The ruts would guide the wagon down the path like auto pilot. In fact the ruts were extremely difficult to get out of. The team would have to be disconnected from the wagon and then the wagon would have to be lifted out of the ruts and set on level ground.

"Don't throw the baby out with the bath water". Just because one part of something, a meal, a machine, a gadget, doesn't work; it doesn't mean that the rest of it is of no value. Origin is again from the early years of our country. The order for bathing was this: first-father, second-mother, third-oldest child, forth-next to the oldest.... you get the idea. Last to bath was the baby and usually by this point the water was so dirty, you could easily lose site of the baby in it. I don't know if any one has ever actually thrown a baby out with the bath water but it is a wonder any of the babies survived such filth!href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:KidsBathingInASmallMetalTub.jpg"><Image via Wikipedia

"You can't have your cake and eat it to". You sometimes have to give something up in order to get something you want. Not sure where this expression started but simply if you eat your cake, you no longer have it, conversely if you want to keep your cake, you can't eat it.

"Don't let them get your goat". Don't let what someone does, get you so upset that you can't maintain self control. Again from the days of the west. Horse racing was just a popular back then as it is today. When the horse was young, it would have a goat placed with it to bond with. This goat would travel with horse from one race to another to help keep the horse calm when in unfamiliar stables. Opponents would sometimes steal the goat during the night before the race day. This would upset the horse and prevent it from racing at peak performance, thus less likely to win the race.

"Don't judge a book by its cover". Best example for this recently would have to be Susan Boyd who stunned the judges with her incredible voice. Not much to look at but what a fantastic voice. Not sure where this got started but I would assume it would have to be back when the only thing on the cover of a book was the title and the name of the person who wrote it. Now days, since we do tend to judge a book by its cover, the publisher tries to make the cover as exciting and enticing as possible just to get us to pick it up.

"You don't go to a gun fight with nothing but a knife". When you are going into a challenge, be it a sell, a request for a raise, a confrontation for a wrong doing, you don't go in unprepared. Better to be over prepared then to come up short. My favorite example of this was in one of the Indiana Jones movie. He is confronted by a man wielding a big sword, swinging it this way and that showing how much control he has of his weapon. Indiana pulls out his pistol and shoots the guy. Confrontation over.

Finally, "Never play leap frog with an elephant". Elephants are the only mammal that can't jump. Enough said.