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Back Seat Driver
This idiom comes from the habit many people have of giving too much advice (unwanted advice) to the driver of an automobile from the backseat. this idiom means 'someone who watches and criticizes'

Back To Basics
This term which means to retract to the way it used to be and with decency/values *originated in 1993 when the UK prime minister John Major said during one of his speeches, 'It is time to get back to basics: to self discipline and respect for the law...

Back To Square
One Meaning back to the beginning this idiom was first heard on football radio commentaries during games.Football isn't easy to commentate on on the radio so they had the idea of splitting up the field into notional numbered squares so that listeners could be told where the ball was. Whenever the game restarted after a break it was 'back to square one'.

Bad Hair Day
A bad hair day is one of those days when nothing seems to be going right. Originated in the 1992 movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This was the exact lines from the film:Buffy (Kristy Swanson) to the one-armed vampire Amilyn (Paul Reubens):"I'm fine but you're obviously having a bad hair day."

Baker's Dozen
A regular dozen is twelve, but a baker's dozen is 13. Years ago in England there were strict penalties for those who gave short weight. During this era Bakers were usually not educated and terrible counters. So to avoid any penalties, the bakers would give 13 instead of 12 or a dozen, just in case they miscalculated.

Ball and Chain
Believed to have originated in Britain, this term has come to mean 'wife'. Originating from the presumption that a man's wife has held him down thus, keeping him from doing the things he really wanted to do in life.

Balls to the Wall
Dating back to the 1950's, this refers to nn all-out effort. The phrase originated from an aviation term. On airplanes, the throttle control handles and the fuel mixture are often topped with grips that are ball shaped, thus referring to pilots as "balls." If you push the ball forward close to the front wall of the cockpit your result would be a top speed.

Barking
(Barking mad) - Shortened from barking up the wrong tree. From the early days of hunting with dogs who went to a tree without any quarry in it. It means to be reaching the wrong conclusion when told something, but has come to mean someone rather insane or having strange ideas.

Beeswax
This term which dates back to the 1930's is commonly found in the phrase 'none of your beeswax'. It actually has nothing to do with 'wax'. It is just an intentional malapropism for business.

Big Apple
Dating back to the early 1920's, this term refers to all horse racetracks around the city of New York. These tracks were the "big" money courses and the word "apple" refers to the prize. A few years later the term was used by musicians to describe the whole city. In the 1970's the term was used in a NYC tourism ad campaign and became famous.

Blackmail
The word "blackmail" became popular in the 1800's and comes from the clan chieftains who ran protection rackets on farmers in Scottland. If the farmers didn't pay the mail (an old term for rent), the chieftains would steal their cattle and crops. Since this was considered evil, it was considered "black".

Blind leading the blind
Another common phrase is the "blind leading the blind", by which it is meant that the person in charge of the situation knows no more about it than those whom he is leading. This is Biblical in origin, coming from Jesus: "Let them alone; they are blind leaders of the blind. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall in a pit.".

Blue Moon
The term Blue Moon means something that happens rarely, as in "once in a blue moon". It is rare that in one calendar month you would see a second full moon or "blue moon". This is an event that is seen as absurd and can never occur. Although the moon is never actually "blue", unless alot of dust is kicked up into the atmosphere, then the moon can almost appear blue. Some events in history that have caused this effect and made the moon appear as blue include: The eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, late Indian monsoons in 1927, and forest fires in Canada in 1951.

Blue Sky
This is from a website visitor:Ones outlook on life or business situation is all "Blue Sky" no clouds to block the view. A very foolish outlook for when your looking at "Blue Sky" you will not seehazards in your path.

Brass Monkey
In the heyday of sailing ships, all war ships and many freighters carried iron cannons. Those cannon fired round iron cannon balls. It was necessary to keep a good supply near the cannon. But how to prevent them from rolling about the deck? The best storage method devised was a square based pyramid with one ball on top, resting on four, resting on nine, which rested on sixteen. Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only one problem -- how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding/rolling from under the others. The solution was a metal plate called a "Monkey" with 16 round indentations. But if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it in the salt air environment. The solution to the rusting problem was to cast the monkey out of brass. Thus the "Brass Monkey." Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faster than iron when chilled. Consequently, when the temperature at sea dropped too far, the spacing between the indentations and the indentations themselves would shrink so much that the iron cannon balls would come right off the monkey. Thus, it was quite literally, "Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey!" And all this time, you thought that was an improper expression, didn't you?


Break A Leg
This phrase dates back to the 1920's and is superstition against wishing an actor good luck. Many people think the origin comes from when in 1865 John Wilkes Booth, who was an actor, broke his leg while leaping to kill President Linoln during a play at the Ford's Theatre. But, this does not really seem like it is related to good luck. Some stage actors think it has to do with bending your knee when you bow, like at the end of a successful play.

Brownie Points
This phrase comes from the girl scouts. They have a point system that gives girls points for achievement.Buckaroo Reference to Cowboy. The origin was Spanish; the Spanish word for cowboy is "Vaquero"---to Vaquero---to Buckaroo.

Bullpen
This is the area where relief pitchers throw their warmup pitches before entering the game. Nobody knows the exact origin, but one theory is that there used to be ads for "Bull" Durham Tobacco on the outfield walls next to where the pitchers would warmup.
A second theory comes from the fact that when fans arrived late, they were herded like bulls into a roped off section which came to be known as the bullpen. This was the same area where pitchers warmed up.
A third theory is that pitchers who were taken out of the game had been "slaughtered" like a bull; and the new pitcher would suffer the same fate.