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

Cheap-jack or jack-in-the-box: Person who sells goods which are inferior

Origin: Jack is a short version of John, the commonest British name, and occurs in expressions to mean an ordinary man. For eg, jack of all trades (person who does a variety of work), every man jack (everyone without exception). Jack is also used as a word for a labouring man (steeplejack): a jackass (fool) is originally a male ass. A jack is also something taking the place of a man to save labour, as in car-jack

Cheek by jowl: In close intimacy

Origin: In 14th century the idea of being close to someone was expressed cheke by cheke. It was not until 16th century that cheek by iowle put in an appearance. Jowl means ‘jaw’ or ‘cheek’, so the phrase changed only in form, not meaning.

The expression has had a number of dialectal forms over the centuries (Norfolk has jig-by-jole and Ayrshire cheek for chow) and it is likely that the ultimate origin lies in one of these regional ones.

Cheesed off: Bored, disgruntled

Origin: The earlier expression ‘browned off’ was RAF slang originally used of metalwork that had become rusty; it was later applied figuratively to human degeneration. Cheesed off may be an elaboration of this, in reference to the browning of cheese when cooked, or a quite different allusion to the sourness associated with cheese going bad.

Chew the fat: Chat (or grumble) at length

Origin: A comparison between using one’s mouth for a long period and the action of chewing the fat of meat, which usually takes longer to masticate than lean meat does. There are other explanations but this one is the most obvious.

Chickens will come home to roost: One’s (misguided) actions will recoil on oneself

Origin: This is the modern version, of the proverbial saying ‘Curses, like chickens, come home to roost’ - ie as automatically as chickens come back to the hen house at night in order to perch, the evil you wish on somebody in a curse will come back to trouble you. The actual words are usually attributed to Robert Southey (1774-1843).

Chinese fire drill: Chaotic situation, involving a group’s incompetence in carrying out instructions

Origin: The expression derives from a true navel incident in the early 1900s involving a British ship, with Chinese crew - instructions were given by the officers to practice a fire drill where the crew members on the starboard side had to draw up water, run with it to the engine room and douse the ‘fire’, at which other crew members (to prevent flooding) would pump out the spent water, carry it away and throw it over the port side.

After initially going to plan, fuelled by frantic enthusiasm as one side tried to keep pace with the other, the drill descended into chaos, ending with all crew members drawing up water from the starboard side, running with it across the ship, entirely bypassing the engine room, and throwing the un-used water straight over the port side.