Tag Archives: Idiom

July 10, 2013 · 4:12 am

Blue Bird Opportunity

Volume 3. Issue 6.

What was said? “If they are all the right ‘blue birds,’ then no action is required”

Did someone really say that? Yes, in an email referencing a list of potential project / sales opportunities.

What does it mean? An easily made sales opportunity that is unexpected or very profitable.

Origin: Bluebird is defined as ‘happiness’ by the Oxford English Dictionary with its origin dating back to 1909. Most of us know the bluebird (also blue-bird and blue bird) as an actual bird found commonly in North America. The first mention of bluebird was in the “l’Oiseau bleu” 1909 play by Belgian dramatist and poet Maurice Maeterlinck, literally translating to “The Blue Bird” with the figurative speech used in the play “the bluebird of happiness.” Bluebirds tend to elicit happiness as seen in the song “ Somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly” from the Wizard of Oz from 1939. The term has been increasingly used in corporate circles in the past few years and “Bluebirds are those new business opportunities, which seem to fly in through the window. Many professional services firms are tempted to pitch for every bluebird that comes their way, but this may not be a profitable use of their resources in the long-term (How to Manage Bluebirds). In a nutshell it’s sales slang for an opportunity (or actual sale) that presents itself to the salesperson or the selling organization without having made much direct effort in securing it.

[image: slideshow]

Side Note: Most school buses in the US are made by the Blue Bird Corporation, which began in 1927 and is based in Fort Valley, GA.

Sources:
http://salesdictionary.com/index.php?term=b&tab=%3F
http://onlineslangdictionary.com/meaning-definition-of/bluebird
http://www.waywordradio.org/bluebird/
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=hermann+maurice+saxe
http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/new-words-in-business/1/13969.html
http://www.infobarrel.com/The_Blue_Bird_of_Happiness_Phrase:_Origins_and_Meanings

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March 22, 2013 · 3:01 pm

Kit and Kaboodle

Volume 3. Issue 5.

What was said? “So… I mean the whole kit and kaboodle on the job front is…”

Did someone really say that? Yes, in an email to me about what’s really going on with a friend’s job.

What does it mean? The whole shebang, the works, the full story.

Origin: “Kit and Kaboodle” has origins in the 18th century, England. Kit, which comes from the word “kith” meaning “estate.” So the “Whole Kith” would mean everything one owns. Soldiers in the 1700’s also carried a bag with everything they needed called a Kitbag. Kaboodle (or Caboodle) has a few more variations of origin. Some say it comes from “boodle” which was known to describe a collection of items or people. Caboodle was also used at times as a legal term for “estate”.  Some believe it’s from the Dutch boedel, meaning one’s inheritance or estate. In the US, boodle came to mean money attained illegally / through corrupt means. The phrase “the whole boodle” can also be used to describe the same thing. The phrase also appears in Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue in 1785, a dictionary of slang words, pretty much the precursor to Urban Dictionary.

Commercially, Purina’s “Kit and Kaboodle” pet food means your precious little cat is getting “the works”.

In the 90’s, there was an extremely popular product: the “Caboodle”… it was a magical place for teenage girls to store the makeup they weren’t allowed to wear.

Sources:
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-who2.htm
http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/2/messages/329.html
http://ahoy.tk-jk.net/macslog/MurrayWaldrenscolumnThats.html

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February 21, 2013 · 3:00 pm

Month of Sundays

Volume 3. Issue 4.

What was said?  It will take you a month of Sundays to get through all the revisions.

Did someone really say that? Yes, in a client meeting discussing product promotions at retailers and the many revisions that are made before the promotion goes live.

What does it mean? Something that is going to take a LONG TIME…. A seemingly endless or prolonged period of time.

Origin: The expression is said to mean 30/31 weeks (the amount of time it takes a month of Sundays to pass) and has is believed to have origins from the Christian Holy Day of Sunday, the Sabbath. This day was a “day of rest” and was a long, solemn day devoid of amusement. Activities were even regulated on Sunday by law at times and therefore Sunday could seem long and tiresome (out of boredom)… therefore a month of Sundays could feel like an eternity. It is also sometimes used to denote something that will never happen.

The Oxford English Dictionary cites the first printed use of the phrase from 1759:

“The commander..swore he should dance to the second part of the same tune, for a month of Sundays.”
H. MURRAY Life & Real Adventures Hamilton Murray I. x. 121

NOTE: There are some variations on this, such as: Week of Sundays, Week of Saturdays, etc.

A whole month of Sundays

Sources:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/month+of+sundays,+a

http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/59/messages/129.html

http://www.wordwizard.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?t=20154

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-does-the-idiom-a-month-of-sundays-mean.htm#did-you-know

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January 8, 2013 · 9:58 pm

Six Ways To/From Sunday

Volume 3. Issue 3.

What was said?  We can go about it 6 ways from Sunday, but we need to just pick an approach and go with it.

Did someone really say that? Yes, in a meeting a few months ago when we needed to just get started on the work and we were belaboring how we were going to do it.

Another example from Urban Dictionary: “There are six ways from Sunday to calculate that physics problem but only one answer.”

What does it mean? To do something thoroughly, completely and in every way imaginable.

Origin: Unfortunately there is no clear origin to this expression, and at times it is said to Sunday, from Sunday and the number can range from 2 ways to 100 ways and so on (in the movie “Silver Lining Playbook” Bradley Cooper uses “10 ways to Sunday”)… There are even tales of “beating people who didn’t go to church on time six ways to Sunday” but none of them seem to hold any water.

What we do know is that on the calendar, there are six days after Sunday, and six days before Sunday. The phrase points out the inevitability of arriving to Sunday, no matter what day is the starting point. Implying there are six different ways to Sunday illustrates that any task/problem  has more than one way to approach it. To discuss a topic and use this idiom means that there are multiple options to follow to arrive at the same conclusion.

Whatever the number or preposition used, the expression “__ ways to/from Sunday” means “every possible way” or “all the ways I can think of.”

“Six Ways to Sunday” is also a title of a 1997 mob-related movie staring Deborah Harry.

Sources:

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-does-the-idiom-six-ways-to-sunday-mean.htm

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=six%20ways%20from%20sunday

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