The English language is a little crazy, and I imagine difficult to learn if it is not your first language. It may not be too hard to learn "proper English", but does anyone really speak that? Between our slang and crazy sayings, it can be a very confusing and complicated language to use and understand on the streets. Those who are already confused, please "don't cry over spilled milk", you're not as "dumb as a doorknob" and after reading this you might just be a "smarty pants"! But where did these sayings come from...who came up with them?!?

Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk

This means to not get upset over something that already happened and you cannot change. This saying originated during the Great Depression. The price of milk was so low because there was an overabundance of milk compared to the demand. Because of this the state subsidized dairy farmers to destroy some of their supply to force the price back up so they would be profitable. How crazy is that? There is now a holiday, "Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk Day" on February 11th. This is a day to be optimistic and smile - don't worry about everything, think positive and move on...

Dumb As A Doorknob

This means that you are not the smartest, you are lacking intelligence; it is often used to make fun of friends, or give them a hard time if they don't know something. As for the origin of this saying...it actually started as Dumb as a Doornail. A doornail some believe was the nail/plate behind a door knocker. When one knocked on the door, this doornail got the life beat out of it and had nothing left. Maybe since very few people have these door knockers now days, the saying has been changed to doorknob - still not a very intelligent object. So this saying could work with several objects, and some of you may have even heard "dumb as a rock" or "dumb as a box of rocks"...what else is a "dumb" object?

Smarty Pants

This refers to someone who is an arrogant know-it-all. The word Smarty was first used in the late 1800's; one of the first places the word appeared was in Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. Later in the 1930s and 1940s Smarty Pants showed up in books and newspaper articles...but why did people add on pants to smarty? I don't think anyone really knows...why not smarty shirt, or smarty socks (although those don't sound half as good!)?!? I heard one story that said back in the old days not everyone could afford pants, but if you were a scholar you had money and therefore wore pants...and one would assume a scholar to be smart - not sure that is true but it is kinda funny! If you Google smarty pants today all that comes up is the Wii game. So I guess it is just one of those sayings we have accepted in our society and will continue to use! :)

Hope you enjoyed reading and can now be a smarty pants to your friends... :)