Well that last post got me thinking about phrase origins so I looked up another one to share with you fine folks. I wondered about the origin of the phrase "living the life of Riley"? Here's what I found out.
It is said that this expression originated in the 1880s from a song called, "Is that Mr. Reilly?". The song contained lyrics such as "a hundred a day would be my pay", and other comedic speculation about what "Mr. Reilly" would do if he were to become wealthy. The earliest recorded citation for "life of Reilly", however, is in 1919, where the "life of Reilly" is referred to in another song, "...but I'm living the life of Reilly just the same..."
Posted by Buzz at November 8, 2003 11:19 AMHow about "the cat's pajama's" I have no idea where that comes from, or for that matter what the hell it means! :-)
Posted by: Jeff A at November 8, 2003 11:35 AMheck, i just learned about the phrase, "don't look a gift horse in the mouth."
I'm really slow.
Posted by: whistler at November 8, 2003 11:53 AM
-d: How do you feel about being Governor of Indiana?
[Buzz it]
Global Warming, my ass!
---------------
