DRESSED UP TO THE NINES
“You won't believe me.
All you will see is a girl you once knew.
Although she's dressed up to the nines
At sixes and sevens with you”
From: Don't cry for me Argentina
We are dressed up to the nines when we wear our best and most formal clothes generally for a special occasion.
The original phrase in Old English was “dressed to the eyne” meaning dressed to the eyes. Dressed up to the nines is a corruption of the original expression.
BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA
This is a nautical expression in which the word “devil” does not refer to Satan, as we might suppose.
In the days when the hulls of ships were made of wood the word “devil” was applied to a seam between two planks.
It was the longest seam nearest to either side of the ship, a difficult and dangerous place to get at.
Any sailor caulking this seam was in a difficult situation, between two evils or alternatives. He was between the devil and the deep blue sea.
KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES
Arthur R. Momand used this phrase as the title of a comic strip he launched in 1913 and ran for twenty-eight years.
He based the story on his own experience in his early married life of “living far beyond our means in our endeavour to keep up with the well-to-do class which then lived in Cedarhurst” Long Island, he explained years later.
The immense popularity of the comic strip which appeared throughout United States newspapers, gave origin to this expression used to describe those who attempt to keep up with others in the same social circle or neighborhood.
A WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING
The expression “a wolf in sheep's clothing” describes a person who seems friendly but is in fact cruel and unpleasant.
It dates back to biblical times when Matthew 7:15 says “Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing. Inwardly they are ravening wolves.”
This expression can also be found in one of Aesop's fables about a wolf which disguised his appearance by wrapping himself up in the skin of a sheep in order to have access to the flock.
