Words with ominous origins

The origin of words is fascinating. With language constantly evolving, the meaning of many phrases has changed over time.

We have listed five common phrases with startlingly ominous origins.

1.Baker’s Dozen

In 13th-century Britain, there was a statute that said bakers could lose their hands for selling their customers “lighter” bread, or loaves of lesser quality.

As it was hard to make all loaves exactly the same, bakers would throw in a small piece of extra bread whenever they sold a loaf. So if a customer ordered 12 loaves, the baker would add an entire “vantage” loaf to make a “Baker’s Dozen” just so he won’t be accused of giving anything lesser to the customer.

2. Blue Blood

Today, people from an old or aristocratic family is referred to as a “blue blood.” However, the term has a racist past.

The term “Blue Blood” comes from the Spanish phrase “sangre azul”. It refers to “uncontaminated”  Moorish or Jewish blood, because their complexions were fair, which caused their blue veins to stand out.

3. As Pleased As Punch

Today, I am “As Pleased As Punch”  means satisfied. But this phrase has a rather gruesome beginning.

The “Punch” was a character of a puppet show whose repertoire included wife beating, baby squashing, and murder.

Whenever Punch is angered, he would go on a killing spree, murdering everyone, and became very satisfied after each killing..

4. Meeting A Deadline