When hunting birds some people would beat about the bush to drive them out into the open. Some added a loaf to a batch of a dozen to be above suspicion. This old saying is said to come from the days when bakers were severely punished for baking underweight loaves. In Psalm 17:8 the writer asks God ‘keep me as the apple of your eye’.Ī baker’s dozen means thirteen. In Genesis, Cain murdered his brother Abel. Like many old sayings in the English language, this one comes from the Bible. Achilles was eventually killed when Paris of Troy fired an arrow at him and it hit his heel. Since her hand covered this part of his body the water did not touch it and so it remained vulnerable. However, Thetis held Achilles by his heel. Anyone who was immersed in the river became invulnerable. In Greek mythology, Thetis dipped her son Achilles in the mythical River Styx. Sometimes we can only give the most likely explanation.
However, sometimes it is impossible to say for certain how an old saying originated. Below is a list of old sayings and where they came from.
