10 Common Phrases That Mean the Exact Opposite of What You Think

Our language is full of clever little phrases that express essential ideas – phrases that we hear on TV or read in books and take to heart. However, in many cases these phrases have changed so much, they now mean the opposite of where they started – here are the 10 best examples.

10

Pull Yourself Up By Your Bootstraps

The Common Meaning: Achieve success solely through your own efforts.

My mother lived through the Great Depression. Her family of eleven children pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and moved to wherever there was work at the time. And in rural Oklahoma, that wasn’t easy to find.

– Chuck Norris

The Original Meaning: The idea of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps is deliberately impossible – you can’t rise up by pulling on your own shoes. The saying was originally used sarcastically, suggesting that sometimes in order to improve your lot, you need help from someone else.

The impossibility of the phrase made it attractive to those who felt they had achieved a lot without any help, leading it to become a sincere idiom.

9

A Few Bad Apples

The Common Meaning: A small number of people are creating problems, but the group they belong to is otherwise fine.

The Original Meaning: The whole point of this phrase was that a few bad apples spoil all the other good apples they’re stored alongside, i.e. corruption spreads. That’s because this is literally true – ripe fruit produces ethylene gas, which increases the rate of aging in surrounding fruit. A common early version of this saying was ‘One bad apple spoils the barrel.’

8

Good Fences Make Good Neighbours

The Common Meaning: If you stick to your territory and I stick to mine, there won’t be any problems between us.

The Original Meaning: This line comes directly from Robert Frost’s poem Mending Wall, but the character who speaks it is in the wrong. The narrator points out that walls are there to stop cattle straying, but they don’t have any cattle, so why do they actually need a wall?

He moves in darkness as it seems to me,

Not of woods only and the shade of trees.

He will not go behind his father’s saying,

And he likes having thought of it so well

He says again, ‘Good fences make good neighbors.’

– Robert Frost, Mending Fences

In this context, the line has a double meaning, implying that the wall is keeping them as just neighbors, rather than allowing a greater sense of friendship and community.

7

A Quantum Leap/Jump

The Common Meaning: A gigantic, unbelievably ambitious step forward.

The Original Meaning: A very small, very abrupt change. Conceived by theoretical physicist Niels Bohr, a ‘quantum jump’ describes a type of movement that only takes place within quantum systems, i.e. systems that operate on a subatomic scale.

‘Quantum’ refers to the smallest unit of a given thing, but is generally treated more like a meaningless science buzzword that just makes the ‘jump’ sound more impressive. This probably wasn’t helped by the popular 1989 Quantum Leap series, starring Scott Bakula.

6

Winning Isn’t Everything

The Common Meaning: Every competitor wants to win, but competition has other rewards, such as teamwork and the experience of pushing yourself to excel.

The Original Meaning: This quote was popularized by UCLA Bruins coach Red Sanders, who finished his sentence “it’s the only thing.” Sanders was famous for hyperbolic claims about the importance of victory, which is hammered home by the full quote.

Sanders used this phrase on multiple occasions, but later claimed that what he meant was “The will to win is the only thing”, offering a slightly less absolutist perspective.

5

The Exception That Proves the Rule

The Common Meaning: Every rule has a minor exception or two, but the larger rule is still valid.

The Original Meaning: This term actually comes from the legal world, and has a very precise meaning. When you forbid certain actions under specific conditions, you imply that those actions are okay under different conditions. For example, is there’s a sign forbidding drivers from parking somewhere on a weekday, that implies they can park there on a weekend.

It’s been speculated that the meaning of this idiom changed because the word ‘proves’ has evolved over time, and originally meant something closer to ‘tests.’ The ‘test that proves the rule’ is a clearer idea to modern readers – you’re prodding at the boundaries of a rule, trying to define where it begins and ends.

4

A Foregone Conclusion

The Common Meaning: Something that is absolutely guaranteed to happen.

The Original Meaning: A conclusion made before you have all the relevant information – aka a conclusion that goes before the facts. Shakespeare popularized this idiom in Othello, as the villainous Iago attempts to convince the title character his wife has betrayed him, using his paranoia as ‘evidence.’

3

Luck of the Irish

The Common Meaning: People of Irish descent have a charming touch of supernatural luck about them.

The Original Meaning: There is debate around the origin of this phrase, but whoever you believe, it’s not a compliment. Academic Edward T. O’Donnell alleges that it started as an insult during the 19th century gold rush, used to dismiss the successes of Irish miners as luck rather than skill.

Others have alleged that it’s a sarcastic term derived from Ireland’s long history of tragedies, including the Great Famine, which reduced the country’s population by a quarter.

However, since a lot of the most prominent Irish folklore that’s made it abroad – including Leprechauns and four-leafed clovers – is associated with luck, the term lost its bite and got folded into a general vibe of superstitious good fortune.

2

The Left Hand Doesn’t Know What the Right Hand Is Doing

The Common Meaning: Terrible communication within an organization, such that essential information isn’t shared where it should be.

The Original Meaning: This saying comes from the Sermon on the Mount, and basically means that you shouldn’t publicize your good deeds so that you don’t become arrogant, complacent or boastful. As large organizations became a bigger fact of everyday life, the saying turned negative to fill a new niche.

But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.

– Matthew 6:3

Phrases We Didn’t Include (And Why)
Curiosity killed the cat.	This phrase was originally ‘care’ killed the cat, with ‘care’ meaning ‘excessive worrying.’ Not quite an opposite, but a notable change (and the rejoinder ‘but satisfaction brought it back’ was added way later, once the meaning had already changed.)
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery… that mediocrity can pay to genius.	The second half was only added a long time after the first part was commonly used (and not, as often rumored, by Oscar Wilde.)
A rolling stone gathers no moss.	The original use is unclear, but it does seem to have been popularly used to mean two opposite things: ‘keep moving and you’ll have fewer worries’ and ‘if you don’t put down roots, you won’t find friends and family.’
Blood is thicker than water.	Sadly for fans of linguistic trivia, the popular claim that this was originally ‘The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb’ doesn’t appear to be based on reliable evidence.

1

Star-Crossed Lovers

The Common Meaning: Destined to be together.

The Original Meaning: Doomed. Another phrase that comes from Shakespeare, this time Romero and Juliet. Because Juliet and Romeo have become romantic icons, modern culture thinks of them as destined to be together, but actually they’re destined to die tragically – something Shakespeare’s play tells you right in the prologue.

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes

A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life;

Whose misadventured piteous overthrows

Do with their death bury their parents’ strife.

– William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

We tend to think of stars as a positive, happy symbol, but in this context, they indicate predestination. Something ‘star-crossed’ is fighting against destiny, and it’s going to lose.

Do you know any other idioms, sayings or famous quotes that have changed meaning over time? Let us know in the comments below.