Although Latin is considered a “dead language” (meaning it isn’t spoken widely as a primary language), many tongues around the world have been heavily influenced by it. Early Europeans traded with Latin speakers in the Roman Empire, and later, Catholic monks wrote religious texts and conducted services in Latin. Though relatively few English speakers know Latin today, many of our words have roots in this ancient language. We could go on ad infinitum (forever) about the influence of Latin on the English-speaking world, but instead, let’s examine the roots of the most common Latin phrases we use today.

“Ad hoc” literally translates as “to this,” but the phrase essentially describes things created as needed, or when necessary. “Ad hoc” can be used as either an adjective (“We formed an ad hoc committee to plan the gala”) or an adverb (“Let’s buy the supplies ad hoc”).

The literal Latin translation of this phrase is “with good faith,” but in modern colloquialisms, “bona fide” is another way of saying “genuine” or “sincere.” When used in legal or business contexts, it means there was no intent to defraud or deceive. (“He was a bona fide expert in personal finance.”)

Read today as “seize the day,” this phrase comes from the Roman poet Horace and is more accurately translated as “pluck the day.” It encourages us to enjoy the current moment without worrying about the future. (“She was determined to carpe diem on her vacation.”)

“Let the buyer beware” puts the onus (another Latin word meaning “burden”) on the person buying an item to know and understand the risk inherent in their purchase. (“Caveat emptor is a good approach when selecting a used car.”)

“God from the machine” sounds like a sci-fi plot, but this phrase comes from ancient Greek theater traditions. At the end of some Greek plays, a machine would raise or lower an actor playing a god onto the stage, and they would then resolve the conflict of the narrative. Today, “deus ex machina” (still mostly used as a literary device) refers to anyone or anything who suddenly and unexpectedly provides a solution.

Literally “in blazing crime,” the idiom “in flagrante delicto” loosely means “caught in the act.” This often refers to a crime, but it can also be a euphemism for sexual activity. (“When we opened the door, we saw them in flagrante delicto.”) It’s sometimes shortened to just “in flagrante.”

“In media res,” meaning “in the midst of things,” is a literary device that describes a story that begins in the middle of the action or plot. (“My favorite novelists tend to start a story in media res.”)

As a preposition, this means “in memory of,” and as a noun, it’s a synonym (often used as a modifier) for an obituary. These are works created in memory of someone who has died. (“The actor’s photo was shown on the in memoriam photo reel.”)

Directly translated as “great work,” this is an artist’s most significant work or achievement. (“Many believe the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is Michelangelo’s magnum opus.”)

“Mea culpa,” or “by my fault” is a phrase that comes from the Roman Catholic mass, where it is said during a confessional prayer. It’s a way of acknowledging personal fault or error. (“She offered a mea culpa for forgetting my birthday.”)

“It does not follow” — a non sequitur is a statement that does not clearly or logically follow the one before it. (“They were talking about the weather when he brought up a non sequitur about his new car.”)

“Persona non grata” refers to an unwelcome person. As the translation suggests, you don’t want to become a persona non grata. (“The accused man was persona non grata among his former friends.”)

“Something for something,” or “quid pro quo,” is when something is given in return for something else. It can be a fair exchange of goods and services, but the phrase also has a particular meaning in legal contexts. If a deal is considered one-sided, courts can decide a quid pro quo did not exist. (“The job negotiation was on a quid pro quo basis.”)

“I came, I saw, I won.” This phrase is popularly attributed to Julius Caesar when he achieved a quick military victory in modern-day Turkey and sent this message back to the Roman Senate. (“After she won the chess tournament, the champion shouted, ‘Veni, vidi, vici.’”)

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The average person eats three times a day, which is more than 1,000 meals in a year. Add that to the amount of time we spend ordering happy hour appetizers, planning party potlucks, and discussing where to have dinner, and it’s no surprise that food has found its way into our everyday phrases, sayings, and expressions, too. Whether we’re “walking on eggshells” or “going bananas,” food seems to be always on the tip of our idiomatic tongues. Here are seven delectable idioms that really take the cake.

The person who is the “apple of your eye” is someone you prize above all others. The original context of this saying referred to the  “aperture” or “pupil” of the human eye. The phrase appears in William Shakespeare’s 1590s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream (“Sink in the apple of his eye”), as well as in the King James translation of the Bible from 1611 (“Keep me as the apple of the eye,” Psalm 17:8).

When earning a living by making money, you’re “bringing home the bacon.” This idiom has a few origin stories, one of which suggests that in the 1100s, married couples in a small town in England who visited the church and swore they hadn’t argued in the last year would be awarded a side of bacon to bring home. Another story that popularized the phrase involves boxer Joe Gans receiving a telegram from his mother in 1906, encouraging him to “bring home the bacon” (the prize money) in a fight.

Folks have been baking bread almost as long as they’ve been growing crops. But buying presliced bread? That’s a newer option that requires automated machines to pull off in mass. The earliest effective bread-slicing machine was created by an Iowa inventor in the late 1920s. Chillicothe Baking Company was the first to sell presliced bread, so they used a version of this idiom in their advertising: “The greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped.” Today, the phrase refers to excitement for a new concept or idea.

It’s important to diversify your efforts and assets — that’s why you shouldn’t “put all your eggs in one basket.” This idiom comes from an early 17th-century Spanish proverb commonly attributed to the 1605 novel Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes. Translated from the original Spanish, it reads, “‘Tis the part of a wise man to keep himself today for tomorrow, and not venture all his eggs in one basket.”

When you’re in an easy situation with lots of benefits and low risk, folks might say you’re “riding the gravy train.” Some sources indicate this expression may date back to 1920s railroad workers who used it to describe an easy assignment that paid handsomely.

When taking something with “a grain of salt,” you view it with a skeptical eye and don’t interpret it literally. The phrase possibly originated with Pliny the Elder in 77 CE. He advised ingesting an antidote for poison with a grain of salt to make it more palatable. However, it wasn’t until the early 20th century that the figurative sense of swallowing hard-to-believe material with a grain or pinch of salt came about.

In life, as in cooking, sometimes you have to sacrifice one thing to make something else worthwhile. This idiom is generally attributed to the French soldier François de Charette, who defended King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette during the French Revolution. Presumably, his quote, “Omelets are not made without breaking eggs,” was more about battle than breakfast. Since the sacrificial eggs in question for de Charette were people, perhaps it’s time we take this idiom off the menu.

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The English language is a mashup of root languages from around the world — even many idioms and proverbs are borrowed from other places. For example, to quit something “cold turkey” (abruptly) came from Canada, and we learned from the Brits that you can’t “have your cake and eat it, too” (have it both ways). But Americans have also created plenty of their own sayings, so jump on the bandwagon and learn more about these popular idioms and expressions that are unique to American English.

Meaning: Remain quiet

Non-Americans might not recognize that this phrase alludes to the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. It protects citizens from self-incrimination, which is commonly known as the “right to remain silent.” Americans reference this amendment slangily when they don’t want to answer a question (but obviously did something wrong), as in, “Who ate the last piece of pizza?” “I plead the fifth!” The Fifth Amendment has been around since 1791, but “pleading the fifth” as an expression didn’t emerge until the 1950s.

Meaning: To make superficial changes in an attempt at making something more favorable

Swine cosmetics aren’t the latest trend — this saying is a valuable life lesson. It suggests that you can dress something up, but that doesn’t change what it is. Charles H. Spurgeon’s 1887 collection of proverbs contained an early variation of the phrase, “A hog in a silk waistcoat is still a hog,” which likely inspired the American version, though the latter wasn’t recorded for another century. The first written account of the “lipstick” wording dates to a 1985 article from The Washington Post, which discussed plans of a park renovation that locals felt should be much grander. A radio host commented, “That would be like putting lipstick on a pig.”

Meaning: To gossip or talk idly

This idiom has nothing to do with projectiles and everything to do with small talk. The phrase emerged in the mid-20th century, when “breeze” was slang for “a rumor.” One of the earliest recorded examples of the expression dates to 1937 in the Indiana Weekly Messenger, which included the quote, “I’m no cop. I just wanted to shoot the breeze with you.” This might have evolved from the earlier saying “shoot the bull,” taken from the phrase “bull session,” which described an informal gathering for discussion.

Meaning: Support what is already popular

American showman P.T. Barnum popularized the term “bandwagon” in the mid-19th century, but today it references much more than the circus. A bandwagon was originally a large vehicle that carried the musical act during a circus or a parade and was used to draw a crowd of spectators. Today, it is a metaphorical wagon that fans “jump” on en masse to support their favorite sports team, politician, or celebrity. A bandwagon can also denote a party, cause, or movement. Whatever the entity is, it gathers more attention because of its mass appeal.

Meaning: Good luck

To non-English speakers, this might sound insulting to hear before a big performance, but in the theater lexicon, “break a leg” means “good luck.” It originated in 20th-century American playhouses, born from the superstition that saying “good luck” might have the opposite effect. The expression could have been adapted from the German phrase Hals-und Beinbruch (meaning “neck and leg break”), which likely came from a Hebrew blessing that sounded similar, hatzlakha u-brakha (“success and blessing”).

Meaning: The highest (and cheapest) seats

With these nosebleeds, you’ll need to trade in the tissues for binoculars. In America, these seats are the cheapest and highest in a stadium or venue — they’re the farthest from the stage or field. The expression comes from the high altitude of the seats, alluding to the idea that an attendee could suffer from a nosebleed up there. It first appeared in the 1950s to describe seats in American football stadiums, and gained traction in the 1980s. The British also have a fun nickname for these seats — “the gods” (as in “closest to”).

Meaning: Sitting in the passenger seat

American kids might exclaim, “I call shotgun,” before a road trip — something that could be very puzzling to a foreign bystander. The idea of a shotgun seat dates to the Wild West, when an armed man rode beside the driver on a stagecoach (a public transportation coach pulled by horses) to protect passengers from would-be attackers. Hollywood Westerns popularized the phrase “riding shotgun,” and by the 1950s, it was a common slang term used by American kids.

Meaning: Great at gardening

No need to rush your green-thumbed friend to the doctor — the expression simply means that they are excellent at growing plants. The term was first recorded in the Ironwood Daily Globe as “horticultural slang” in 1937. The British version of this is “green fingers,” which dates to the 1906 novel The Misses Make-Believe by Mary Stuart Boyd. There are several entertaining theories about where these phrases came from, but the most amusing involves King Edward I’s love of peas. Whichever of his workers had the greenest thumb did the most work (shelling the most peas) and would be honored. A more likely explanation is the color green’s association with plants, or the algae that grows on potted plants that gets all over gardeners’ hands.

Meaning: Repetitive

If someone or something is repeating over and over again (usually to the point of being annoying), it sounds like a broken record. When a vinyl record is scratched or dented, its needle might get stuck, causing that section of music to play on repeat. From this annoying occurrence, a popular idiom was born. Though the phonograph (an early record player) was invented in 1877, this expression wasn’t coined until the 1930s.

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Idioms are commonly misused since their figurative meaning is often different from the literal meaning of the words contained within them — you can’t always use context clues to figure out the correct phrasing. Perhaps you heard someone use an expression when you were a child, and while you didn’t know exactly what it meant, you understood the situation. You might repeat the wrong words in the right context for years before someone corrects you. In another example, someone might hear a new phrase while learning English, but because they don’t see it written down, they mix up the words — even though they understand the nuance and tone of the turn of phrase. And then there are misused expressions that result from homophones, words that sound alike but differ in meaning. Here are some of the most common phrases that people get wrong.

The incorrect version might incite a few giggles, but the correct phrase is “nip it in the bud,” meaning to end something before it grows (as in a budding plant) and gets out of hand. No butts involved.

It’s correct to say “on purpose,” so naturally “on accident” is the opposite, right? Wrong. The correct usage is “by accident.”

If you could care less about something, that means you still care about it, and there’s an amount of caring to drop until you reach zero. If you really want to tell someone how few rat tails you have to give, tell them you “couldn’t care less.”

However, this is one of those situations where the “incorrect” version is so popular and commonly understood (as with “irregardless”) that both versions have become widely accepted.

It may sound like “could of” when said out loud, but it’s spelled “could’ve.” It’s a contraction of two words — “could” and “have.”

If worse comes to worse, we’re in exactly the same situation. But if worse comes to worst, we’re in trouble. It’s time to prepare for even worse than the worst you thought could come.

This mix-up kind of makes sense — after all, a seed is planted deep in the ground. But the metaphor is still wrong. The correct phrase is “deep seated,” meaning something is rooted deeply in place and likely hidden.

From a starting point, a 360-degree revolution will land you right back at the beginning, as it’s a full circle. When you’re trying to make big changes, or do the exact opposite of something, the metaphor you want is “do a 180.”

While there’s no “statue” dedicated to limitations, there is a “statute of limitations.” This part of a law specifies how long justice can legally be served after a crime is committed.

This one is tricky, because you could indeed get rid of unwanted items in a pawn shop. However, the original idiom is “palm off,” and it means to trick someone into doing something or accepting something. It’s related to sleight-of-hand magic tricks, such as making a quarter disappear in the palm of the hand.

Skills can be honed (as a blade is sharpened, or honed), but you can’t hone in on something. The correct term is “home in,” such as with a homing pigeon bred and trained to find its way home. If you’re homing in, you’re getting close to your goal, or finding what you seek.

There is something satisfying about the thought of pulling out revenge, but that’s not the correct usage. “Exacting revenge” means you demand your desire for revenge to be satisfied. Imagine Inigo Montoya, demanding exact retribution for his father.

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Homophones are words that have the same pronunciation but different spellings and meanings. Some pairings have a clear distinction (“new”/”knew” and “bear”/”bare”), but there are also trickier homophones that have been baffling writers for centuries — particularly when it comes to their usage in common expressions. For example, why do we “make do” instead of “make due,” or wait with “bated breath” rather than “baited breath”? The answers lie in the origins of these historical homophones.

Make Do

To make do with something is to get along with what is available, as in, “He needs to make do with his brother’s hand-me-down uniforms.” “Do” has many usages, but it’s often used casually to mean “something that is adequate or sufficient,” as in, “‘We’re out of tea — is coffee OK?’ ‘Yes, that’ll do!'” In the sense of “make do,” “do” refers to something serving a specific purpose.  

The adjective “make-do” is a synonym for “makeshift.” It was first used this way in the 1920s, as in, “They used their blanket as a make-do shelter from the rain.”

Historically, “make do” is the correct use of this idiom, but the homonym “due” is often incorrectly written instead. “Due” has a definition of “satisfying or capable of satisfying a need,” synonymous with “adequate,” so it’s an easy mix-up with the above usage of “do.” One place it does belong is in the phrase “in due time” (meaning “eventually, at an appropriate time”).

With Bated Breath

“With bated breath” idiomatically means “with anticipation,” as in, “They watched the finish line with bated breath.” The phrase literally means “to hold one’s breath,” from the definition of “bated”: “to reduce the force or intensity of.” The Oxford English Dictionary attributes the first usage of the idiom to Shakepeare’s The Merchant of Venice: “Shall I bend low and in a bondman’s key / With bated breath and whispering humbleness…”

The homonym “baited” is often misused for “bated,” especially in this idiom. J.K. Rowling confused the two in the line, “The whole common room listened with baited breath” (in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban). This usage is incorrect because “baited” means “to lure, harass, attack, persecute, or entice” — none of which is the intended meaning of “with baited breath.”

Anchors Aweigh

“Anchors aweigh” is a maritime phrase used when a ship is about to leave, so it makes sense that it’s often confused with “anchors away.” (No sea captains on staff here, but we assume pulling up an anchor is part of a ship leaving.)

“Aweigh” means “raised just clear of the bottom,” and is almost always used to refer to an anchor. It was first used as a nautical term in the 1620s and is later seen in an 1867 maritime dictionary called The Sailor’s Word-Book, written by naval officer William Henry Smyth: “The anchor is a-trip, or a-weigh, where the purchase has just made it break ground, or raised it clear.” One of the most famous instances of this phrase comes from the official song of the U.S. Navy, “Anchors Aweigh,” written by Naval Academy Midshipman Alfred H. Miles in 1906. The confusion comes from the homonym “away,” which is an adverb that can refer to moving from or in another direction from a certain place. Rest easy — only the most assiduous of sailors would be able to spot this mistake in written form.

Without Further Ado

The correct phrase — meaning “without further delay” or “without much fuss” — is “without further ado.” It’s a playful quip often used to introduce performances or speakers. “Ado” itself can mean “heightened fuss or concern,” “time-wasting bother,” or “trouble.” It was in use at least as early as the 14th century, but Shakespeare popularized the word in his play Much Ado About Nothing, which was first performed in 1612.

The commonly confused homonym “adieu” is a French word meaning “farewell,” as in, “I bid you adieu.” It was pulled into Middle English from the French phrase a dieu, meaning literally “to God.” “Adieu” was a popular expression of well wishes in the 15th century, around the same time that “ado” was gaining popularity, which resulted in this case of jumbled homophones.

Whet Your Appetite

“Whet” comes from the Old English hwettan, meaning “to sharpen.” In the popular phrase “whet your appetite,” the word means “to make keen” or “to stimulate.” It has nothing to do with the homophone “wet,” but they are commonly confused because “wet” is much more familiar than “whet.”

To make things more confusing, the similar phrase “wet your whistle,” meaning “to have a drink,” does use the word “wet.” “Whistle” has been used metaphorically to refer to the mouth or throat since the 14th century, as seen in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer: “As any jay she light was and jolly; / So was her jolly whistle well wet.”

This homophone duo has been confusing folks for centuries. There is evidence of “whetting one’s whistle” as far back as the 17th century, and “wetting one’s appetite” is a popular (albeit incorrect) phrase today. Try to remember that “wet” applies to quenching thirst, and the more unfamiliar “whet” is left to apply to the appetite.

Rein In

“To rein in” means “to limit or control,” both literally and figuratively. Forms of the noun “rein” (referring to the leather straps to guide a horse) and the verb “rein” (referring to the act of pulling on the reins) are seen in English as early as the 14th century. One of the earliest metaphorical uses of the phrase can be seen in Shakespeare’s 1609 play about the Trojan War, Troilus and Cressida: “Spur them to ruthful work, rein them from ruth!”

Even with this long history, “reign in” has gained a foothold. “Reign” refers to a royal authority, as well as a sense of control. So not only does “reign” sound like “rein,” but it can also have a similar meaning, as in, “The king was well respected during his 50-year reign.” However, the correct use of the phrase “rein in” is solely rooted in equestrian jargon.

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