Where words come from is a fascinating subject, full of folklore and historical lessons. (This week, more phrases beginning with C)

Cast aspersions: spread disparaging reports about someone, defame

Origin: The word, aspersion originally meant the action of sprinkling somebody with water and was commonly used as one form of Christian baptism. It comes from the Latin term aspergere, to sprinkle. Around mid - 17th Century, aspersion began to refer to the idea that a person was sprinkling his neighbourhood with damaging imputations or false statements.

Catch-22: deadlock consisting of two mutually exclusive conditions

Origin: Joseph Heller's novel Catch-22 (1961) describes the exploits of US airmen during WWII. One of the rules under which they operated was Catch-22, which specified that concern for one's safety in the face of real danger showed a rational mind. A pilot who claimed as 'insane' qualified for grounding, but he was certified sane by the commanders and required to fly because his request demonstrated that he had a rational mind

Caviare to the General: not to the taste of the general public

Origin: Caviare (or caviar) is the roe of a large fish-sturgeon, which is salted, seasoned, and treated as a delicacy. Caviar first came into English in the 16th century, by way of French and Italian, which borrowed it from Turkish havyar.

The Turkish borrowed it from Iranians whose word for egg is "khyah". This rather exotic etymology is appropriate to a substance that is not to everyone's taste, giving rise to Shakespeare's famous phrase, 'twas caviary to the general,' and not the general public.

Chalk and cheese: two entirely opposed articles or people

Origin: Think of a white, young cheese rather than a mature yellow one, and freshly gathered chalk, rather than something prepared for the blackboard. They can look very similar, but their taste and value are very different. In his Confessio Amantis of about 1383 John Gower criticises the Church for teaching one thing and doing another, saying, 'Lo, how they feignen chalk for cheese' ('pretend that chalk is cheese').

Chance one's arm: take a risk

Origin: Among soldiers in WWII this meant taking a chance - breaking regulations that might lead to punishment and the consequent loss of one's stripes of rank, worn on the arm; hence the phrase.

Another thought is that the phrase may have entered army slang from an earlier use in boxing circles, where it meant exposing oneself to risk by extending one's arm in a punch, leaving part of the body undefended.

Don't swap horses in midstream: do not change (allegiance, method, etc.) at a difficult moment

Origin: This expression was popularized by Abraham Lincoln in a speech in 1864 when he discovered that the National Union League was supporting him for a second term.

He quoted a Dutch farmer's remark that it was best not to swap horses when crossing a stream. The metaphor acquired the terser 'in midstream' a century later and passed into more general use.