Everyday expressions

Where does the phrase “close, but no cigar” come from? 8 idioms' origins

Image: Pisit Heng

Idioms are a rare breed, aren’t they? They confuse non-native speakers to no end, as they can’t simply be deduced from the meaning of individual words. After all, who in their right mind would accuse someone of stealing their intangible thunder? Or complain about having to burn lamp oil at midnight?

English speakers use these idioms all the time but rarely stop to figure out where they come from. If you were ever curious about how spilling beans might connect to confessing a secret, then this article is exactly what you need.

Image: Michał Mancewicz

The very literal origin of this idiom comes from the play "Appius and Virginia," written by English dramatist John Dennis in the early 1700s. For the production of his play, Dennis created a new method to imitate the sound of thunder. Sadly, "Appius and Virginia" had disappointing attendance and was canceled shortly after. However, Dennis soon after discovered that a production of Macbeth was using his thunder device, to critical acclaim. According to literary scholar Joseph Spence, Dennis angrily exclaimed, "Damn them! They will not let my play run, but they steal my thunder."

Image: Yohan Cho

This idiom has a surprising lighthearted aspect to it. While its meaning entails soul-crushing defeat, one can’t help but also imagine a Groucho Marx-looking character chewing on a big cigar. And this lightheartedness might not be completely accidental: After all, this idiom comes from the cheerful world of carnival games.

In the late 19th century, carnival games were targeted for adults, not children. Therefore, instead of handing out oversized stuffed animals of undefined species, winners might receive objects like cigars as prizes. The idiom "close but no cigar" was born from those players that almost won, but didn’t earn a prize.

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The most widely accepted use of this idiom comes from America’s very own national pastime: baseball. In 1916, the New York Giants (now known as the San Francisco Giants) had an incredible winning streak of 26 consecutive games. The Giants believed that, if they were in the lead during the last inning of a game, moving a bag filled with extra baseballs off the field would secure their victory. They had "captured" the game in the bag. This team’s superstition has now evolved into an everyday idiom that means secured and complete success.

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Picture this: You are at work, hanging by the water cooler, and you are trying to get your favorite coworker to reveal a piece of office gossip that promises to be huge. We have all been there, but did you know that by asking your coworker to "spill the beans", you might be referencing one of the very first instances of democracy?

The origins of this idiom are still debated, but the consensus is that it most likely comes from a voting system from Ancient Greece. This process involved placing colored beans in a vase (white for yes, black for no). Tallying up the votes would then literally require someone to spill the vase and count each bean that was cast.

Image: Ritabrata Das

Almost every student can attest to spending many sleepless nights burning the midnight oil in front of a seemingly endless pile of textbooks. While the origin of this idiom comes from oil lamps used in the 17th century, students all across the world still refer to this expression when talking about working late into the night.

The first known use of "burning the midnight oil" comes from a book written by English poet Francis Quarles in 1635. More recently, in 1972, country music legends Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner recorded a collaborative studio album titled The Right Combination • Burning the Midnight Oil.

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While turning a blind eye might make us think about that lenient schoolteacher who occasionally gave us a pass on our missing homework, the most commonly accepted origin of this idiom comes from the nautical world. Specifically, from the iconic 18th century British Admiral Horatio Nelson.

In 1801, Nelson led the British attack alongside fellow Admiral Sir Hyde Parker in the Battle of Copenhagen. Nelson, who was blind in one eye, received a flag message from Parker that urged him to retreat. However, Nelson believed that the British fleet should continue to push forward, so he held his telescope to his blind eye and pretended he hadn’t seen Parker’s message.

Image: Raimond Klavins

Weirdly enough, another unexpected nautical term has found its way into this list! While nowadays feeling "under the weather" means feeling ill, the origin of this idiom dates back to slang used by sailors as far back as the 19th century.

The term "under the weather bow" was used to refer to the side of the ship that was exposed the most during storms. Sailors would seek shelter in their cabins to avoid getting seasick, literally going under the ship’s deck to escape the weather. The first literary use of this term was by American author Donald Grant Mitchell in his 1855 book Fudge Doings. In the book, a character describes a nasty experience in a steamer as feeling "a little under the weather."

Image: Carlos Felipe Ramírez Mesa

Throughout the years, countless parents have repeated the same question to their misbehaving children at the dinner table: "Were you raised by wolves?" And, while the current intention of these parents is to highlight bad manners and improper etiquette, it might hurt their case to learn that several outstanding characters from myths and literature were, in fact, raised by wolves.

Perhaps the first and most famous story of children raised by wolves is that of the founders of Ancient Rome, Romulus, and Remus. In the myth, the brothers are abandoned on the bank of a river, where they are found and nurtured by a she-wolf, before being eventually adopted by a shepherd. Furthermore, the protagonist of Rudyard Kipling’s 1894 novel The Jungle Book is a boy named Mowgli who is raised in the jungle by wolves.

If it rhymes, it must be true

"Because it's there": The 10 most poetic answers to concrete questions

History is full of memorable questions, but every so often, someone answers in a way that outlives the question itself. Whether spoken on a mountain, a battlefield, in a prison, or in the halls of government, these replies became famous because they condensed courage, wit, conviction, or wisdom into just a few unforgettable words. Discover 10 real exchanges in which a simple answer became part of history because of the beautiful way in which it was expressed.

British mountaineer George Mallory offered this famously concise reply during a 1923 interview before another attempt on Mount Everest, then the only major summit that had never been conquered, to the question "Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?" His three words expressed the human desire to explore simply because something remains unexplored.

Mallory disappeared on Everest with fellow climber Andrew "Sandy" Irvine in June 1924, and historians still debate whether they reached the summit before dying. His answer became one of the defining quotations of exploration and later inspired John F. Kennedy's case for going to the Moon.

In 1897, newspapers mistakenly reported that Mark Twain had died while he was living in London. When a reporter contacted him to verify the rumor, the celebrated author responded with the dry wit that had made him America's best-known humorist.

Although the exact wording varies slightly among contemporary accounts, the sentence quickly became one of the most quoted lines in English. More than a century later, it remains the perfect comeback whenever rumors spread faster than the truth.

President John F. Kennedy answered the question "Why go to the Moon?" during his celebrated speech at Rice University in Houston on September 12, 1962. Rather than emphasizing technology or national prestige, he argued that difficult goals reveal the best qualities of a nation.

In the same address, Kennedy even referenced George Mallory's explanation for climbing Everest, linking mountaineering with space exploration. Seven years later, Apollo 11 fulfilled the challenge by landing the first humans on the Moon.

Abraham Lincoln was frequently criticized during the Civil War for showing compassion toward former enemies instead of seeking revenge. Rather than defending himself with a lengthy argument, he replied with a rhetorical question that completely reframed the criticism.

The answer reflected Lincoln's belief that reconciliation could achieve what military victory alone never could. It has endured as one of history's most elegant expressions of forgiveness, leadership, and political wisdom.

After becoming, with Tenzing Norgay, the first confirmed climber to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 1953, Edmund Hillary continued exploring some of the world's most remote places. His curiosity never disappeared simply because one great goal had been achieved.

When asked why he kept climbing, Hillary's understated reply reflected the modest personality that made him admired far beyond mountaineering. Like George Mallory before him, he suggested that true explorers climb because exploration itself is the reward.

During the Battle of Flamborough Head in 1779, Captain John Paul Jones commanded the badly damaged Bonhomme Richard against the British warship Serapis. With his vessel burning and close to sinking, the British demanded that he surrender.

Jones's refusal instantly rallied his crew, who fought on and eventually captured the enemy ship. Whether recorded word for word or slightly embellished over time, the reply became one of the most celebrated declarations of courage in naval history.

Ancient writers tell that Alexander the Great visited the philosopher Diogenes in Corinth and generously offered to grant him any wish. Instead of requesting wealth, power, or honors, Diogenes simply asked the conqueror to stop blocking the sunshine.

The exchange became one of antiquity's most enduring philosophical anecdotes. In a single sentence, Diogenes demonstrated that a person who desires almost nothing cannot easily be controlled, even by the most powerful ruler on Earth.

According to one ancient tradition, Alexander the Great was asked the question "To whom do you leave your kingdom?" as he lay dying in Babylon in 323 BC. Rather than naming a specific heir, he reportedly answered with two words that left the future of his empire completely uncertain.

Whether historically exact or not, the reply became inseparable from Alexander's legend. Without an undisputed successor, his generals fought for decades in the Wars of the Diadochi, dividing one of history's greatest empires into rival kingdoms.

These words close Invictus, the 1875 poem by English writer William Ernest Henley. Nelson Mandela often drew strength from the poem during his imprisonment under South Africa's apartheid regime, where he spent 27 years behind bars, and used it to reply to a reporter who asked: "How do you survive 27 years in prison without losing your dignity?"

By embracing Henley's verse, Mandela transformed it into a universal symbol of resilience and inner freedom. The quotation came to embody his belief that while others may control your circumstances, they cannot govern your spirit.

Louis Armstrong was asked countless times by journalists to explain jazz, a genre that transformed American music during the twentieth century. Rather than describing technical aspects or blues traditions, he dismissed the very idea that jazz could be reduced to a definition.

His poetic and somewhat annoyed answer suggests that some experiences can only be understood by living them. More than a clever reply, it became one of the most quoted observations in music history.