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

Clean the Augean stables - (sweep away) a state of extreme corruption

Origin - Augeus, a Greek king of mythology, owned countless herds of cattle whose foul stables were heaped with 30 years’ accumulation of manure. As one of his labours, Hercules cleaned them in a single day by breaching their walls and diverting two rivers through them.

Clear the decks - make preparations to do something

Origin - A nautical term meaning to get ready for military action by clearing from the decks everything that is in the way.

Coast is clear - there is no obstacle or danger in the way

Origin - Originally a military term having to do with the literal clearing away of an enemy from a coast, for example as a preliminary to a safe invasion.

Cobbler should stick to his last - one should do the work one is expert at and not interfere in that of others

Origin - Apelles, the great Greek painter of the 4th century BC, is reputed to have changed a detail of the painting of a shoe on one of his works when a cobbler pointed out a fault. When the cobbler then went on to criticise the painting of a leg the artist told him to stick to his trade. (A last is a block shaped like a human foot and used in making or repairing shoes).

Cold-blooded - calm and calculating

Origin - A cold-blooded human has nothing to do with reptiles. Instead, it goes back to the ancient theory of the four humours, and their qualities of hot and cold, dry and wet. If your physiology was out of balance and you were too hot, you acted rashly, in the heat of the moment. If it was too cold, you were over-calm and rational. Emotions heated the blood, which cooled down with calmness. The same idea is found in French, in the expression sang-froid, which means ‘cold blood’.

Cold shoulder - display or be shown intentional indifference or rejection

Origin - The first recorded use of the phrase is in a novel by Sir Walter Scott, The Antiquary (1816) and then in St Ronan’s Well (1824): ‘I must tip him the cold shoulder, or he will be pestering me eternally’. It is probable that the cold shoulder was a direct reference to that dismissive jerk of one side of the upper body to indicate a studied rejection or indifference.

Come a cropper - fall over or fail at some venture

Origin - The original phrase was neck and crop, describing a fall from a horse where the rider is thrown headlong over the horse’s head. For eg. when the horse stops short of a jump, but the rider keeps going. (Crop is another word for throat). ‘Come a cropper’ is a colloquial way of describing a ‘neck and crop’ fall.