Volume XXXI

I. By the skin of your teeth 🦷

This phrase dates back to the Bible. In the Book of Job, he says: “I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.” Early translators (like the King James Bible in 1611) kept the literal wording, even though teeth don’t actually have skin.

As years passed it became shorthand for barely making it through by the narrowest margin. Think finishing an exam as the bell rings or catching the train just as the doors shut beside you.

II. Moonlighting 🌙

It started in 19th-century Ireland, where “moonlighters” were tenant farmers striking landlords’ fields and cattle under the cover of night. For decades it carried the weight of rebellion and crime.

By 1950s 9-to-5 America, the phrase had evolved. “Moonlighting” came to mean after-hours work — teachers bartending, lawyers writing novels, or, recently, Soham-gate: the coder who went viral for juggling four startup jobs at once.

Once shadowed by violence, it now marks the other life lived under the same moon.

III. Butter someone up 🧈

In ancient India, it was a common practice to lob small balls of ghee at statues of the gods to win their favor. That practice melted into the phrase we know today: “butter someone up.”

Nobody’s tossing around Land O’Lakes these days, but the act of buttering up? Still everywhere. Your kid suddenly calling you the best parent ever before asking to hit the drive-thru or the fringe friend hyping your golf swing before angling for a ride home. Same play, different century.

Keep on sending on. Forward to a friend.