does ne1 kno where the saying "mad as a capper" came from?
958208
"mad as a Hatter" came from the fact the hat makers used mercury in their profession. Mercury is a neurotoxin and many hatters became "mad" / insane from this.
1109247
It means appearances for your national team.\n\nPenmaster is incorrect about the literal caps. It used to be the case, but no longer.
857567
As far as I know, it stems from a humorous political cartoon from the 1800's. I googled the two and came up with this link, which sounds right.
647588
Because when using all caps in typing, on the net it means your "Yelling". That is why most people think it is rude, when someone types in all caps.
540260
It's an onomatopeic expression used humorously to denote someone grumbling and ranting, and quite often to replace a bout of swearing with something more socially acceptable. It's quite old-fashioned, not really used anymore...
778170
I'm not entirely sure, but I think it originated with the Rolling Stones as they described their backstage parties for an interview of somesort. The saying has pretty much been adopted by every rock group and wannabe rocker eversince as a way of answering why they're in the music buisness.
793676
Sorry you've had such rubbish answers. \n\nI'm usually quite good at this sort of thing, but I'm afraid I can't find any info on the origins of this phrase.\n\nI hope someone more knowledgeable answers you soon!
578919
Everyone is wrong except the guy who said it was from Anglo-Saxon.  "F..k" has a long pedigree in the Germanic languages.  It was found in Proto-Germanic about 2500 years ago as the verb *fukan 'have intercourse'.  This was not vulgar at that time and was a euphemism for some older word.  Ultimately, it comes from Proto-Indo-European *pug- "to strike", from which we get the borrowed Latin form pugilism 'boxing'.
683325
Make you annoyed or angry.\n\nOrigin\n\nThe dictionary definition of goat is 'a ruminant quadruped of the genus Capra'. What's that got to do with being angry? Well, nothing - 'get your goat' appears to be a stand-alone phrase with no connection to ruminant quadrupeds.\n\nThe phrase originated in the US and is first seen in print in 1909, in a fanciful story about a burst water pipe. That's in the US newspaper, the Stevens Point Daily Journal, Wisconsin, May 1909:\n\n    "Wouldn't that get your goat? We'd been transferring the same water all night from the tub to the bowl and back again."\n\nThe first non-US citation, isn't until 1924 in John Galsworthy's story, 'White Monkey', and even there it is clearly seen as a recent innovation:\n\n    "That had got the chairman's goat! - Got his goat? What expressions they used nowadays!"\n\nThe following year, The (London) Times printed a piece in memory of the recently deceased Friedrich Baedeker.This includes a side-swipe at American tourists and uses the phrase as a typical piece of Americana:\n\n    "... goggled Americans whispering aloud, 'Wa-al Sadie, these durned three star things get my goat'!"
1170816
This originated in the early 1980s. It is generally regarded as an American expression. This item from the New York newspaper the Syracuse Herald-American, Feb. 1982, which is the earliest version in print that I can find, puts that in some doubt. It's in a piece by Jerry Buck, writing out of Los Angeles, about actress Lauren Tewes
1143569
it means how many international games a player has played\n\nActually cap is an abbreviation for Country APpearance..\ncaps is Country APpearanceS..\nbut there are arguments about the origin of the word caps..\n\nI've been told that the term "cap" refers to an old tradition of exchanging hats/caps between players of opposing nations at a friendly match. Thus, the number of "caps" a person accumulated was equal to the number of international matches a person had played in.
402448
Who is Larry and why is he happy?”\n\nA neat question, but American readers in particular will need some background before I can address it. The phrase happy as Larry seems to have originated as either Australian or New Zealand slang sometime before 1875. This date is earlier than that given in most dictionaries, but H W Orsman, editor of the Oxford Dictionary of New Zealand English, has traced it to a New Zealand writer named G L Meredith, who wrote in about 1875: “We would be as happy as Larry if it were not for the rats”. Unlike other odd phrases—the Australian happy as a boxing kangaroo in fog time and the New Zealand happy as a sick eel on a sandspit come to mind—it was meant positively: extremely happy or content.\n\nhttp://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-lar1.htm\n\n\nthe origin of the expression "happy as Larry", which means being very happy. It looks like nobody is entirely sure. It was first recorded in 1905 and according to abc.net, "Sidney J Baker, in his classic book The Australian Language says that while we can't know for sure, it's possible that it comes from an Australian boxer named Larry Foley. His dates are 1847 to 1907. Why he was regarded as a happy pugilist is lost in the mists of time, but, apparently he was."\n\nIn French, we'd say gai(e) comme un pinson (joyous as a chaffinch), heureux/heureuse comme un roi/une reine (happy as a king/a queen), heureux/se comme un poisson dans l'eau (happy as a fish in water), etc.\n\nhttp://www.nakedtranslations.com/en/2004/11/000280.php
745295
I believe it is from the use of rhyming to emphasise something being great! As in "the bees knees". This then became "the mutt's nuts", which translated into non-rhyming is "the dog's bollocks". WHY? I don't know.
851976
Cap and Gown. What do they mean and where did they come from? \n\nWhat we call today a “cap,” which is worn by students and faculty in some cases, used to be called a “hood.” The “hood” is believed to be dated back to the Celtic Groups. At that time in history only the Druid priests wore capes with hoods, symbolizing their superiority and higher intelligence. Today, the “hood” or “cap” is used to identify the student’s academic institution and degree. The tassel that is attached (and sometimes the color of the cap and gown or scarf) is used to signify the student’s academic achievement within the academic structure. \n\nPrior to the 1950’s the color of the graduation gown was gray. This was practiced only in the U.S. Colors in European countries were used as far back as the 1800s to signify the area of study. Sometime during the 1950’s students began to ask for cap and gowns that represented their school colors. Their wish was granted and the emergence of varying colors used for gowns caught on. \n\nDuring the 12th and 13th centuries the academic dress for graduation was born. At that time the standard dress for faculty or students was clerical dress. It wasn’t until 1321 that the University of Coimbra decided that all Doctors, Bachelors, and Licentiates would be required to wear gowns. \n\nSo there you have the basic history of Graduation Day and the ceremonial garb that is worn
581564
Few people who use the phrase today realise that there’s a story of human suffering behind it; the term actually derives from an early industrial occupational disease. Felt hats were once very popular in North America and Europe; an example is the top hat. The best sorts were made from beaver fur, but cheaper ones used furs such as rabbit instead\n\nWe now know that mercury is a cumulative poison that causes kidney and brain damage. Physical symptoms include trembling (known at the time as hatter’s shakes), loosening of teeth, loss of co-ordination, and slurred speech; mental ones include irritability, loss of memory, depression, anxiety, and other personality changes. This was called mad hatter syndrome.\n\nIt’s been a very long time since mercury was used in making hats, and now all that remains is a relic phrase that links to a nasty period in manufacturing history. But mad hatter syndrome remains common as a description of the symptoms of mercury poisoning.
920307
It's from the musical "Funny Face." The scene it's from is where she is in Paris talking to people in the club who don't understand English, and Fred Astaire tells her they don't understand her, they're just with her to drink her wine. She gets mad and does an interpretive dance type thing.
1031837
I like to do it when I am pissed off to show more expression. i'm Just kidding. It's annoying when people do that. I sometimes do it when I hit Caps Lock instead of the a. Like this:  One time I was walking down the sidewalk and I happened to come apon a dog with 3 legs. He sID, "WILL YOU HELP ME GET MY LEG BACK? iT'S AT THE TOP OF THE HOUSE BY THE ROOF." i REPLIED, "YOU MEAN THE ATTIC?" HE SAID, "wHAT ARE YOU A JERK? oF COUSE THE ATTIC!"  so yeah that's when I do it.