It’s for the birds. Where did this phrase come from? Why would something we consider worthless to birds? According to the almighty internet, birds usually eat seeds that aren’t worth much, so something we think isn’t of much value is considered “to the birds”.
Have you ever described someone as a bird-brain? A bird’s brain is someone who is considered stupid or has a short attention span. Birds fly from here to there and there and there and there. Whether the birds are stupid is up for debate. Anatomically, the bird has a relatively large brain compared to the size of its head. How well this brain works, I’m not sure.
She eats like a bird. Has it been said before? The meaning of this statement is that she does not eat much and is content to peck her food. Birds do a lot of pecking, but from my observation, they eat a lot. If the bird poop on my property is any indication, they do a good job in the eating and digestion departments. I’ve read that birds actually eat very little for their body size.
How do I know that? The sparrow told me. We use this saying when a confidential source tells us something about another person. The origin of this phrase could be from a university bible verse that talks about watching your words as a bird in the sky can carry your words to a king or something. Some say a little bird told me that it refers to the use of homing pigeons to deliver messages back in the day.
It’s interesting that we don’t think much about the terms we use. We simply accept them, just as we accept birds and go down with them. Surely many of us would like to be free like birds. And all of us, at one time or another, have been as naked as a jaybear.
Why jaybird? Bluejays are born with quite a few, so that could be one assumption. Most birds are born intact, so they are completely naked and the bird also works. When mature, blue jays are very beautiful and do not appear naked. However, I’m not sure what the naked bird looks like. None of the birds in my garden wear clothes.
What about bluebird happiness? A song written in 1934 gave us this symbol, but Bluebirds had been revered for years before that. Native American mythology refers to the blue bird as a spirit associated with the rising sun. “Bluebirds fly over the rainbow, why, oh, why, can’t I?” Dorothy sings in The Wizard of Oz.
Birds of a feather flock together. We understand that types stay together and say that people with similar personalities or similar interests will often choose to spend time together. Bird lovers for example.
We all know that the early bird gets the worm. We call morning people early birds and those who like to stay up late are considered night owls. Birds wake up at dawn, looking for insects, seeds, and perhaps that famous worm. We wake up to the tweets and songs of birds.
You may be wondering why I don’t explain the flipping of the bird. You can search for it yourself. I started the day with the plan of simply writing about my fascination with the birds in my yard, and how I watch them from my sunny room, almost from a bird’s eye view.
I’ve been obsessed with these idioms and wanted to share them with you. Now my column space is complete. You could probably say I killed two birds with one stone.