WHY are horses used in making phrases and sayings?

Question

e.g. - "straight from the HORSES mouth", "Italy are the DARK HORSE in the World Cup", "HORSING around"?

Phrased the question wrong last time - thank's to those who gave more phrases though.

Answer 1

Straight from the horses mouth:


In horse racing circles tips on which horse is a likely winner circulate amongst punters. The most trusted authorities are considered to be those in closest touch with the recent form of the horse, i.e. stable lads, trainers etc. The notional 'from the horse's mouth' is supposed to indicate one step better than even that inner circle.



Dark Horse:

This was originally horse racing parlance. A dark horse was one that wasn't known to the punters and was difficult to place odds on. The figurative use later spread to other fields and has come to apply to anyone who comes under scrutiny but is previously little known.

Benjamin Disraeli provides the earliest known reference to the phrase in 'The Young Duke', 1831:

"A dark horse, which had never been thought of ... rushed past the grand stand in sweeping triumph."

The figurative use seems first to have been taken up when referring to the candidates for academic preferment:

The Saturday Review, 1860 - "A Headship ... often given by the College conclaves to a man who has judiciously kept himself dark."

Sketches from Cambridge, 1865 - "Every now and then a dark horse is heard of, who is supposed to have done wonders at some obscure small college."


So those 2 sayings come from the horse racing which makes sense.... not sure about horsing around

Answer 2

Before buying a horse, people used to look into their mouths to check their teeth. The condition of the teeth generally told a prospective buyer the age of the horse and his health thus the phrase straight from the horses mouth, "the information is correct". A dark horse is generally thought to be negative or inferior as opposed to a white horse. Remember in the movies the good guy always rode the white horse.l Thus the phrase "Dark Horse generally means inferior or negative. Horsing around, comes from the playful attitude of young horses in a pasture, just "having a good time."

Answer 3

man has had a close relationship with horses for a very long time. As an animal used in work and war and as an animal who was a close partner. It would be surprising that much of our language is not related to them. Look at the amount of terms that come from the UK that relate to the sea.

Answer 4

Because most of these phrases were probably created in the middle ages, when horses were used in nearly every walk off life.

Answer 5

It is probably because until recently most peoples everyday life involved horses in some way. Many of these sayings are mediaeval in origin when horses were a major factor in everyday life, and so most of these sayings involve horses.

Answer 6

Horses were important when the phrases were created. Like archery phrases ...wide of the mark ... a bolt from the blue ...two stings to his bow. They all date from the middle ages.

Answer 7

They come from cultures where the horse played a large part of the culture.

Answer 8

horses were a part of everyday life when the phrases were invented

Answer 9

Haven't got a clue. But then it's not just horses, there are other animals used in sayings too. For example 'Dog tired'. Hope you find your answer :)

Answer 10

Because chickens would be too small.