We are working with figurative language. Several students would like to know the origin of specific idioms, but have not been able to find the answer through research. Thanks for any help!
Idiom: Feel like a million bucks (or looks like a million bucks)
At one time (when you could still buy a hamburger for five cents), one million dollars was considered to be the absolute ultimate - the top of the tops. So "million dollar" or "million bucks" was a standard comparison for something that was the best, something that couldn't get any better.
This phrase was coined around 1910 in 'The Preacher and the Slave,' a composition by labor organizer Joe Hill:
You will eat, bye and bye,
In that glorious land above the sky;
Work and pray, live on hay
You'll get pie in the sky when you die.
Idiom: Dumb as a doorknob
For some reason the various parts of a door, a staid inanimate object, became common similies over time. For example, "dead as a doornail." Likewise "dumb as a doorknob."
This phrase dates back to a Scottish proverb first published in 1586. “Pigs fly in the air with their tails forward”. If pigs did indeed fly, the proverb argues, flying backwards would seem an extra feat.
