Where words and phrases come from is a fascinating subject, full of folklore and historical lessons.

(This week, more phrases beginning with C)

Copper-bottomed - secure, to be trusted.

Origin - Usually applied to a guarantee, assurance... In olden days, below the waterline, the hulls of wooden ships used to suffer grievously from the attacks of wood-boring molluscs. After unsuccessful experiments with lead, it was found that sheathing the hull with sheets of copper prevented these attacks and the build-up of weeds and barnacles.

Corridors of power - place(s) where governing decisions are made.

Origin - Coined by C P Snow in his novel Homecomings (1956) to describe the ministries of Whitehall, where there are a great many corridors, but better known from his later title The Corridors of Power (1963) about Westminster life. It has now passed into more general use to signify any location where people of authority meet.

Could sleep on a clothes line - tired enough to fall asleep anywhere.

Origin - This expression has its roots in the poverty of 19th Century England amongst those who slept rough. For just two pence each, poor people could buy a night’s lodging on the two-penny rope. This was a bench where these unfortunates would sleep sitting up, their bodies slumped over a clothes line stretched taut before them. The morning brought a rough awakening, for the landlord would often cut the rope to wake his impoverished guests.

Counsel of perfection - excellent but impracticable advice.

Origin - Originally this referred specifically to that part of scripture in which Christ gives advice to the rich young man who asked what he should do to have eternal life: ‘Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me’ (Matthew, 19:21). Christ’s counsel and definition of perfection were not impracticable but they were beyond the young man’s moral capacity.

Criss-cross - marked with intersecting lines.

Origin - The expression was originally ‘Christ’s-cross’. In UK, before 18th Century teaching aids for children was the “horn-book”. It consisted of a leaf of paper mounted on a backing of wood and protected with a sheet of translucent horn. The paper contained the alphabet which was preceded by the sign of the cross to remind them of Christ.

Children would be told to study the ‘Christ’s-cross’, the alphabet. As time went by these origins were forgotten and it was assumed that criss-cross was merely duplication - like tip-top, zig-zag. Hence the modern meaning!

Crocodile tears - hypocritical show of sorrow.

Origin - The old story that the crocodile lures passers-by by making a moaning sound, then devours them while weeping, comes from the extensive travellers’ tales. There is evidence that the crocodile has near its eyes some glands that secrete saliva or excess salt, and also that under water it emits a stream of small bubbles from its eyes as a result of air entering the tear-ducts.