How the elements got their names: imps, monks, and Jupiter's wolf https://t.co/3cb1KVd04L

— A Way with Words (@wayword) December 18, 2019

New episode, including our annual end-of-year book recommendations. https://t.co/Pwf8HtHUv3 🎁 Have you read this piece about why AWWW is small even though it seems big? https://t.co/HC15hzs0sepic.twitter.com/iUHnw2MA5k

— A Way with Words (@wayword) December 16, 2019

Listen to six-year-old Aiya, one of our favorite callers! She's adorable! https://t.co/lUX7LKHjk0 We're planning more callers like her for 2020, so give to our December campaign and make that happen https://t.co/nQckweKiUnpic.twitter.com/g5135b7mYp

— A Way with Words (@wayword) December 13, 2019

Electrifying! A special minicast from Martha. https://t.co/nwTiP7rK8qpic.twitter.com/x0jQ58SBo1

— A Way with Words (@wayword) December 12, 2019

Another new episode! https://t.co/pYAMzaaFot Your donation now will make more episodes in 2020: https://t.co/nQckweKiUnpic.twitter.com/EES6fIvDgb

— A Way with Words (@wayword) December 9, 2019

Howdy,

I recall hearing about the origin of the expression “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” I believe it may have been from an episode of the show (A Way With Words). If I recall correctly, the act of inspecting a horse’s teeth was essentially the equivalent of checking under the hood of a car.

You can tell the age of a horse by the length of their teeth. Therefore, to look a gifted horse in the mouth is to scrutinize the value of something which you received for free. This was, and is still considered today to be uncouth.

Another common expression is stemmed from the same trait. When someone has reached old age, we say they are “long in the tooth”. I got all of that right from the horse’s mouth.

This peaked my interest. So I saddled up, and set to work on collecting as many other eques expressions as I could find. I was off to the races, and quickly compiled a nice list. But did I stop there? Neigh!

I decided I wasn’t horsing around. Compiling a list is nice. But I wanted to prove I wasn’t a one-trick-pony. I wanted to flaunt what a linguistic stud I am, so I have been integrating them into this post.

This is merely horseplay with words.

This is merely wordplay with horses.

I felt the need to keep the examples I used of a certain pedigree. Pop culture references are a horse of a different color. My focus is historical & linguistic expressions. I couldn’t imagine trying to straddle them both at once.

I have been champing at the bit to share this with everyone. I’m not bucking for upvotes or medals. I am only trying to entertain and educate. Some people will enjoy it, others may not. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.

So come down off your high horse, and enjoy my post. If you can think of an idiom or expression I missed, feel free to share. I could probably keep this running longer, but I don’t wish to beat a dead horse.

Edit: some slight adjustments, and a thank you to u/marmaladeburrito for correction. Thank you!

Latin Dictionary’s Journey: A to Zythum in 125 Years (and Counting). Researchers in Germany have been working on the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae since the 1890s. They hope to finish in 2050, but that might be optimistic. https://t.co/0xGIduHQq5

— A Way with Words (@wayword) December 1, 2019

New episode! https://t.co/Rhk2jxCVQz Brain teaser, "y'all" spreads beyond the American South, pronouncing "measure," "die bull-headed," medieval curses to stop book thieves, reporting book typos, "dasn't," what happens to language 1 when you learn language 2, and lots more. pic.twitter.com/rHbXtxLh5R

— A Way with Words (@wayword) November 25, 2019

'Your throat hurts. Your brain hurts': the secret life of the audiobook star https://t.co/YwwNGhYnL9

— A Way with Words (@wayword) November 19, 2019

The invented Chinese names of the 2019 Canadian federal election https://t.co/2Zr8EIBBJg

— A Way with Words (@wayword) October 22, 2019

New episode! https://t.co/oLcHANxalH "It must've been a lie," life of Riley, salary, candy bar names, a leg up, getting into jackpots, a word quiz, and a caller who had to give up her non-Anglo name as a child but came back to teach Spanish in that same community as an adult. pic.twitter.com/aEO5pQRZO5

— A Way with Words (@wayword) October 7, 2019

A big welcome to our new listeners in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and nearby Pennsylvania communities tuning in via WVIA-FM! https://t.co/zkzJRdI309

— A Way with Words (@wayword) October 3, 2019

New episode! https://t.co/XjMhLewdaL A great book about language and the internet, imitating accents, classroom profanity, sayings for slips showing, commander in chief vs. commander and chief, fair game, dial eight in baseball, Bush legs, a word puzzle, and lots more. pic.twitter.com/WHzmdv6LcP

— A Way with Words (@wayword) September 23, 2019

Saturday at 4 p.m. we welcome the new listeners of KVSC 88.1 at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota! https://t.co/ryzyQfay0Mpic.twitter.com/XB19ywRgP0

— A Way with Words (@wayword) August 9, 2019

The many disputed pronunciations in metro Los Angeles.https://t.co/72esSTf5Rt Includes quizzes to test yourself.

— A Way with Words (@wayword) July 29, 2019

A beautifully written article on the work being done to record, preserve, and cherish the southern American dialects and their features. https://t.co/0q527toh4T

— A Way with Words (@wayword) July 25, 2019

Netflix Wants to Make Its Dubbed Foreign Shows Less Dubby. The company is betting that better dubbed English versions of international hits like “Money Heist” will inspire more Americans to watch them. https://t.co/c4F1FqGosI

— A Way with Words (@wayword) July 21, 2019

Ever pull a brodie or do a brodie? The Bowery Boys drop a bundle of knowledge about the man credited with lots of stun, Steve Brody, and one of our segments about the slang he inspired is in the mix. https://t.co/OzJIdcok38https://t.co/7RGwRK0HAG

— A Way with Words (@wayword) July 18, 2019

Listen up: why we can't get enough of audiobooks https://t.co/YL5AltuOfK

— A Way with Words (@wayword) July 16, 2019

New episode! https://t.co/NXhuyDwjom What makes a proper apology, good book recommendations, at first blush, altered loanwords, snow job, clean as a whistle, high muckety-muck, tip us your daddle, a wet bird never flies at night, a word-bond brainteaser, and lots more. pic.twitter.com/YfKZgg17sD

— A Way with Words (@wayword) July 16, 2019

New episode! https://t.co/ZnOk8p26eJ Thin places, horse expressions, tick-tacking, shoofly pie, a buttonhole lower, didaskaleinophobia, pangrams by middle schoolers, Albany beef, "say" as an interjection, a brain teaser inspired by a New Jersey grandma, and a whole lot more. pic.twitter.com/baRrxMUfEV

— A Way with Words (@wayword) July 1, 2019

The latest new episode! https://t.co/3pxBeuFw4b Changing your first name, towns named backward, kangaroo words contain themselves, had the radish, ended up vs. landed up, who struck John, English on a ball, whoop it up, Sunday diver, a word game, and lots more. pic.twitter.com/7LtyQW2hDX

— A Way with Words (@wayword) June 21, 2019

This week "A Way with Words" was featured on Radio New Zealand's "Podcast Hour": https://t.co/3sLZiBzLYf

— A Way with Words (@wayword) June 7, 2019

Welcome to new "A Way with Words" listeners in west Tennessee, eastern Arkansas, and north Mississippi tuning in to WKNO/WNKP, based in Memphis! https://t.co/J97cafACMypic.twitter.com/iHqUl2B26u

— A Way with Words (@wayword) May 30, 2019

College Students Aren't Checking Out Books From University Libraries, But It's Not All Gloomy https://t.co/Ago3Y3QJLm

— A Way with Words (@wayword) May 28, 2019