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- Volume IX
Volume IX
Three expressions and their surprising origins
I. The best thing since sliced bread 🍞
In honor of Passover Eve, it only felt right to include a bread-related quip.
This old-timey expression traces back to Otto Frederick Rohwedder, the Iowan inventor who built the first automatic bread-slicing machine in 1928. Before then, people had to slice loaves by hand — such a pain that The Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune, a Missouri newspaper, called the invention “the greatest forward step in baking since bread was wrapped.” They weren’t exaggerating — bakeries that used the machine saw sales skyrocket.
By the 1950s, “the best thing since sliced bread” had become the go-to way to describe something groundbreaking — or just a cheeky way to hype up a modern marvel.
What comes to mind for you? I’m going with air fryers, Apple Pay, and white noise machines as my podium finishers.
II. Writing on the wall ✍️
Before this phrase warned of bad Q1 numbers, it foreshadowed fallen empires. In the Book of Daniel, King Belshazzar of Babylon is in the middle of a feast when a mysterious hand appears and writes a message on the wall. No one could read it until Daniel stepped in to translate: “Your reign is over.”
That night, the king was killed, and Babylon fell.
Today, “writing on the wall” refers to any obvious sign of trouble ahead. The kind you can see coming even if no one wants to admit it. Maybe it’s your quarterback grabbing his knee, your Hinge date turning Tuesday night plans into “Sorry, crazy week at work”, or the 15 minutes HR put on your cal for Friday morning.
III. In for a penny, in for a pound 🪙
Once you’ve crossed the line, you might as well keep going—right?
This old expression dates back to 17th-century England, when the penny and the pound were the standard currency of the Brits. Back then, the British legal system often handed out the same punishment for certain crimes, no matter the size of the offense. So, the logic went: if you’re already risking a penny, why not risk a pound?
Now, let’s be clear—we’re not encouraging any monkey business here, folks. But if you ever find yourself tiptoeing around a moral gray area (like 2010 Rick Pitino on a recruiting trip) just know: sometimes, whether you dip your toes or cannonball in, the outcome might not be all that different.