Monday idiom. Have a blast!

Finally my beloved Pudding we've reached the end of the School year, now we can all enjoy a lovely summer and ...

This awesome expression has a certainly blurry and unknown past which it's not written anywhere. What I can tell you is that this expression has a synonym; Have a ball! and they both mean to have a great time.  

So, see you with more expressions, games and activities when we all get back from a well-deserved holiday!  

Have a blast fellows! 

B.P 

Monday idiom: Hit the books.

My deary Puddings,

It's that time of the year when our students have to hit the books and prove their knowledge. Also, it's that time when we have to be more supportive and understanding, we all know that being too nervous can really make things go wrong.

Sadly, it doesn't mean that students get to literally hit or kick the books out of frustration. But there are a few, rather fun, origins for this idiom and I've decided to choose the one most interesting/fun for me. 

We know that 'Hit' as a verb has different meanings, one of them is: to Star or begin. Some people said it could have been originated after the idiom: Hit the trail, which cowboys used when starting out on a journey. Why did I think that's fun? Because they haven't said how trail became books. 

So, I created my own origin. I think this idiom is such because when you have to study during college, books are heavy and often hard and so when you open it on the table you're hitting the table with it. Therefore you hit the books (technically you hit the table with a book but let's not get to technical).

Good luck on your exams!!

B.P

Monday idiom. Once in a blue moon.

Hello Puddings! 

Holidays are just around the corner and we all need a big last effort to enjoy a well-deserved lazy summer.

When I'm on holidays I enjoy a good cup of tea and a mystery novel. Once in a blue moon, I'm very lucky and there's a summer storm which creates the perfect atmosphere. 

Also, summer is the time to meet friends and maybe a trip to the beach. I am normally late, however, in summer I'm late once in a blue moon because I have lots of free time.  

"Once in a blue moon I listen to folk music,"

"I go to the cinema once in a blue moon."

Although a literal 'blue moon' (light blue, do not expect a bright colour) may occur due to specific atmospheric conditions: volcanic eruptions or large fires leave particles in the atmosphere which could colour the moon, the phrase has nothing to do with the actual colour. 

Every two or three years, a year has 13 full moons instead of 12, that extra moon is know as 'blue moon'. Nonetheless, the moon wasn't always blue. 

Back to Mediaeval England, we can find the first known use of the expression in an anti-clerical pamphlet published in 1528. One of the characters does a sarcastic reference saying "Yf the say the mone is belewe* we must beleve that it is true".  'Belewe' is an Old English word which had two separate meanings. One of them was 'blue' and the other one was 'betrayer'.

So, it seems that later on in time and owing to the rarity of an extra moon, 'Blue moon' is used colloquially to mean a rare event. 

Good luck with your marks and make your once-in-a-blue-moon activities into habits now that you will have the time. 

Cheerio,

BP

*I also found the term: Blewe. 

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Info: www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/06/the-origin-of-the-phrase-once-in-a-blue-moon                 

       www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/once-in-a-blue-moon.html

       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_moon#Origin_of_the_term