Etymology: Bury the hatchet – The meaning and origin of phrase

When an arguement comes to it’s conclusion and you wish to make up and resolve the tension, you can refer to this as ‘burying the hatchet’.

The saying is quite literal in it’s origins and can be traced back to Native American Indian tribes who were famed for using hatchets in combat. The Native American culture most of us are familiar with comes from Hollywood films and is very over-simplified with many of it coming from early 20th century spaghetti westerns which portrayed them as low IQ savages. This was not the case and we know that the Native American tribal culture was a complex structure that dealt with many of the issues that their European invading neighbours were dealing with during the 17th century. Warring tribes would try to resolve their conflict through diplomatic negotiations and if this was successful, the tribes chief would literally bury a hatchet to symbolise an end to violence and bloodshed.

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Etymology: Close but no cigar – The meaning and origin of phrase

‘Close but no cigar’ is a phrase used to explain when something is close or good but not quite enough. The phrase is of US origin and dates back to the 19th century. American fairs which travelled the country, and still do today, would have fair games that rewarded the player with small prizes for a variety of activities such as throwing a ring on a bottle or a ball into a bucket. Today these prizes are more often than not stuffed animals or toys in one shape or another, with the fairs being aimed at children. However, in the 19th century, fairs were a more family focused piece of entertainment, which shows in the fact that one of the top prizes for these games would be a cigar, so that when a player did well but not well enough, they were close, but not close enough to win a cigar.

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