What was said? “Why is she putting me through all this red tape?”
Did someone really say that? Yes – when asking a colleague for information on a program and the answer kept coming in piecemeal!
What does it mean? Red tape refers to a “roadblock” … or something “off limits.”
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What was said? “They are totally ham and egging us.”
Did someone really say that? Yes, while playing golf with friends in a light 2 vs. 2 scramble.
What does it mean? In the context above, it was meant to say that they are managing to do well/better than us relying/complementing one another to get a decent score despite not even playing that well.
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What was said? “That slide is very ‘inside baseball’ and i’m not sure we’ll present it.”
Did someone really say that? Yes, when reviewing a client presentation and seeing what slides we could cut/move to the appendix.
What does it mean? It basically means we are showing too much detail, that we are “in the weeds” (another idiom!).
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What was said? I’m behind the “8 ball” this year.
Did someone really say that? Yes, my friend Jenna texted me that when explaining her tardiness in sending out her annual valentine’s day party invitation.
What does it mean? It basically means at a disadvantage / in a bad situation / out of luck and in the case of the text, it meant the invite was delayed / she had to play catch up!
Origin: The game of Pool / Billiards. When playing pool, if you are lined up with the cue ball and the eight ball is between the cue ball and the ball your object ball (the ball you are aiming for), you are trapped and have no straight shot. Since you cannot hit the eight ball before you have made all in your group, you are at a disadvantage. The phrase has been traceable to 1919 per the wikipedia source below.
There are other forms of pool/billiards where the expressions is believed to have originated – from Kelly pool to others, but they all seem to signify that you are out of luck or at a disadvantage.
Sources:
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=behind%20the%20eight%20ball
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/behind-the-eight-ball
https://www.davemanuel.com/investor-dictionary/behind-the-eight-ball/
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/behind-the-eight-ball.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_pool#”Behind_the_eight_ball”
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What was said? I’m having another CHARLEY HORSE!
Did someone really say that? Yes, I did when my leg was cramping for the 100th time (common pregnancy symptom apparently).
What does it mean? It refers to a leg cramp / stiffness / spasm that occurs in the calf or quad muscles and usually comes on suddenly and lasts a few seconds (that feel like minutes).
Origin: Charley horse (sometimes spelled “Charlie”) has origins in American baseball, although the exact origin has many theories. One of the most popular theories refers to a lame grounds keeping horse named Charley that would pull the roller at the Chicago White Sox ballpark in the late 1800s. In 1907, the Washington Post printed a story about an MLB pitcher Charley Radbourne (nickname “Old Hoss”) who would frequently get leg cramps during games in the 1880s. One theory is that his “walk” resembled that of a lame groundskeeping horse and the nickname “Charley Horse” came to be; another is that his first name “Charley” and his nickname “Hoss” combined produced the term we know as “Charley Horse.”
Either way, many say to be rid of Charley Horses you have to up your intake of potassium and magnesium – multivitamins here we come!
Sources:
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/charley-horse.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charley_horse
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-cha1.htmhttps://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/312241.php
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