2006-07-14 10:51:59 · 10 answers · asked by Matt 3 in Education & Reference ➔ Quotations
Nobody really knows. There is one story about a man who killed his rival and hid the body in the closet. The neighbors found the skeleton there. 19th Century British writers used this phrase a lot.
Sometimes, on reading between the lines, the rattle of many skeletons in the closet can be heard. This expression comes from the fairy tale of Blue Beard. On getting married to a beautiful woman, Blue Beard gave all the keys of his house to his new wife. When he left for work, he told her that she was never to open one room at the end of a long corridor. She opened the room and it turned out to be a closet, which held the skeletons of all his previous wives. Over time, the expression has lost its macabre origins, just the meaning of something hidden about one’s past lives on.
2006-07-14 11:00:49 · answer #1 · answered by violetb 5 · 5⤊ 0⤋
Someone hid a body in the closet, it was found years later, it revealed a past that no one knew. Then they realized what the person was really up to and called it Skeletons in the closet.
2006-07-14 10:55:03 · answer #2 · answered by Snuffy Smith 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Murderers who hid skeletons in the closet. It's just a phrase.
2006-07-14 10:54:13 · answer #3 · answered by Brian G 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, I under no circumstances dated absolutely everyone who became anorexic. Oh, and by technique of how, you shouldn`t ask a sure/absolute self belief once you for sure pick human beings to tricky on what those skeletons may be. you should rephrase it by technique of putting forward, "once you've any skeletons on your closet what are they? I promise I received`t tell absolutely everyone else. Ha, ha, ha! yet another ingredient is did absolutely everyone ever allow you to understand you resemble Andersen Cooper from 360 CNN tutor also, you shouldn`t placed like your entire call on your avatar someone ought to like thieve your id and furnish you with some better skeletons to describe your way out of!
2016-12-06 11:41:35 · answer #4 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Meaning: To have something to hide about ones past.
Origin: Comes from the fairy tale of Blue Beard and his closet. He gave all the keys of the house to his wife when he left on business, forbidding her access to only one room, a closet at the end of a long corridor. She opened it, of course, and there she found the dead bodies of his previous wives.
2006-07-14 21:19:13 · answer #5 · answered by leathersammie 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
What are you refering to? The age-old saying, The Alice Cooper song or an idea for a ride based on the life of Ted Bundy at Disney?
2006-07-14 12:44:33 · answer #6 · answered by Just Ask 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is a website that looks at this: http://members.aol.com/morelandc/HaveOrigins.htm
They suggest that the phrase refers to a fairy tale about Blue Beard (who went through multiple wives and would stow their bodies in a closet).
2006-07-14 11:04:52 · answer #7 · answered by sci55 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
People used to bury their dead under the house or inside the house to keep their loved ones close by and so that they can still participate and guide the family.
2006-07-14 10:55:36 · answer #8 · answered by ninusharra 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well i dont know the orgin but it makes sense unlike other classic phrases at least.
2006-07-14 10:53:57 · answer #9 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not sure, but it looks like the church burial of bones had something to do with it.
2006-07-14 10:56:18 · answer #10 · answered by mrsdebra1966 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋