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Have you ever wondered why we say “God bless you” or “caught red-handed”? Despite their simple meanings today, their origins are anything but straightforward. In fact, many idioms we use now have strange, murky, or even dark roots. Before we reveal them, you might want to try guessing where the phrase “pulling someone’s leg” comes from—though once you learn the origin, you might wish you hadn’t.

Pulling Your Leg

If you tell someone you're just "pulling their leg," you mean that you're just joking with them. But the meaning of this phrase has a disturbing origin—one that might make you not want to use it so lightly again.

Technically, there are two popular theories. The first says that the expression originally came about in the 18th-19th century, when pickpockets and thieves would pull on people's legs to momentarily disorient them. Though this wouldn't be a pleasant experience, it's still not as dark an origin as the second theory: that the idiom has ties to executions in Tyburn, England, in the late 18th century. Apparently, "hangers-on" were occasionally hired to quicken the process, which meant they hung on or pulled the victim's legs.

Raining Cats and Dogs

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When someone says, "It's raining cats and dogs outside!" you immediately know what they mean: it's pouring rain out. But this phrase's origin has a much stranger meaning. The most popular and reigning theory is that heavy rain used to wash the corpses of dead animals onto the streets and into the gutters, but this isn't the only theory. In fact, the expression could have roots elsewhere, from Norse mythology to medieval superstitions.

God Bless You

Saying "God bless you" isn't just a courteous phrase we say after someone sneezes. In fact, people used to think the expression acted almost like a protective charm. A sneeze, they believed, could expel the soul out of a person's body, so saying "God bless you" helped prevent something evil, like the devil, from taking your soul.

Meet the Deadline

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If you're told to "meet a deadline," the meaning is obvious: you need to get something done before that date. As it turns out, this phrase also has a dark origin. According to an NPR interview with American author Benjamin Dreyer, the word "deadline" seems to have roots in the American Civil War, when lines were drawn in place of gates at Confederate prison grounds. Crossing the line would mean literal death for the prisoners. Thankfully, the meaning nowadays isn't so gory, or journalists everywhere would be left scrambling.

Caught Red-Handed

If you're caught red-handed, you're guilty of doing something wrong. But there might be a reason the phrase includes "red" hands. Apparently, the expression has roots in 15th-century Scotland, where it referred to criminals who were literally caught with bloody red hands, either from murder or another crime.