Musing on Mondays vol.11

Have you ever wondered where some of the common phrases we say have originated from? I think about stuff like this all the time. I have a list of the little things I hear people say and I wonder to myself, why do we say that? Every Monday I am going to post a phrase and share with you my research as to why we say some of the things we do.

Nip it in the bud:

If you want to nip something in the bud, then you want to stop that something before the problem gets bigger. I say this to my girls when they first start to squabble. It usually goes something like this, "I am going to 'nip this fighting in the bud' and separate you girls before the fighting gets worse." This usually means they go into time-out or lose privileges, which usually keeps the problem from growing and the fighting to stop.

This saying refers to horticulture. On some varieties of plants it is necessary to nip the buds off before they grow larger and open. This process will help the plant to concentrate it's efforts into producing fruit or veggies, in some cases, rather than spending it's time growing more buds. From what I understand, if you have a fruit or veggie producing plant that just keeps growing and growing without producing any fruit, then snip off some of the buds, and that should get in reset on the right path.

As always, if you have a common phrase that you would like to know what it means, why we say it, and where it comes from, then leave me a comment and I will do the research for you. Happy musing!