Idioms may make our language more colorful, but their origins aren't always so innocent.
Sometimes the most banal phrases we use actually started as literal ways of describing a gruesome or bizarre occurrence.
(Trust us, you wouldn't have wanted to be a basket case in 1919.)
Here are the odd and off-putting roots of some of today's most common expressions.
(H/T: The Phrase Finder)
SEE ALSO: 11 everyday words that have weird and disturbing origins
"Cat got your tongue?"
Shyness is one reason the cat might have your tongue, but the original usage is far more sinister.
A popular flogging implement in the British Navy was, allegedly, the "cat-o'-nine-tails"— a whip that would render the victim mute because the pain was so great.
"Turn a blind eye"
When we want to pretend not to see something we turn a blind eye, just like British Admiral Horatio Nelson did when a fellow admiral told him to back off an attack against the Danish/Norwegian enemy.
Nelson, who had one good eye and one blind eye, put the telescope up to his blind eye to read the signal.
Since he was "unable" to see the signal, he continued his advance despite the recommendation.
"Caught red-handed"
In 15th-century Scotland, getting caught "red-handed" wasn't just a colorful way of saying someone was guilty.
It meant they had blood on their hands because they'd killed something (or someone).
Today, dirty hands are used more broadly to symbolize guilt.
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