♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦
Topic #70
Idioms – figures of speech – For example, what does “in a New York minute” mean, where did it come from, what does it mean to you? (I think this might be a fun way to highlight our different cultures).
Welcome back to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop! If you’re new to the series, the authors included are grateful for your reads and appreciate, even more so, when you share our writings with your friends. If you’re new to the series, welcome aboard. The authors engage and impress weekly. Be prepared to become a regular reader.
There are a lot of idioms to choose from. Many we don’t even realize fall into this linguistic distinction. Several stand out as interesting twist of words. Of these, I have chosen to explore Dark Horse. Dark horse has a few personal meanings for me, but first, let’s go over it’s origins and meaning…
“Dark Horse (n.) in politics, 1842, an image from horse racing, in which dark is used in its figurative sense of unknown.
Moonraker is called a dark horse; that is neither his sire nor dam is known. [Pierce Egan’s Book of Sports, London, 1832]”
—From the Online Etymology Dictionary.
Dark Horse: One who was previously unknown and is now prominent.
—From the IdiomSite.com
Growing up in Saratoga Springs, New York, horses figured prominently in the day to day. If you’re not familiar, Saratoga is well-known for horse-racing. It’s not an institution I support, now that I am more knowledgeable about the practices surrounding it. In fact, I advocate to shut it down. The animals are misused—drugged, traded, and bred to make investors rich. The interest is not on the athleticism of the horse or jockey, not even the team the horse and jockey make, but rather on the purse. Last meet, there were 9 horses put down, five in the first week of the nearly 2-month show off. The insurance settles up with the investors, but they’re protected by having their money on what is basically a corporation. Each barn has a number of horses, and they’re all replaceable. Some argue that, they’re treated like kings, but that simply is not true.
Another meaning to me relates directly to the second definition by IdiomSite.com. My goal as a writer is to become increasingly visible to readers, or the Dark Horse that suddenly appears on the scene after years of effort. With each publication and year that passes, that goal grows closer than ever.
A couple off shoot facts that relate to the origins of Dark Horse:
- The idiom Dark Horse was coined just a couple years before the start of the Victorian Era (1837 – 1901), the period of my first novel, Blue Honor.
- There is a dark horse on the cover of Blue Honor.
- The Trailokya Trilogy explores the great unknowns.
- I do political commentary on Facebook.
- Dark Horse (by Mila Mason) is the title of one my favorite songs.
- Intertext, like the above points, was the theoretical analysis applied to my graduate studies..
Let’s hop over to see what idioms the other authors have brought out for you…
Over here in the UK a dark horse is somebody who can be quiet and modest on the outside, but holds a dark secret on the inside or hides a great talent.
cool!
Interesting variation. The world isn’t homegeneous yet.
I love these nuances from culture to culture.