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Hi guys, I am sure all of you once in a life time have struggled with English Idioms! These expressions need to be learned by heart and most of the time the translation does not help at all. In many cases, the knowledge of their origin can be useful to understand them.   Regarding to this, I investigated the origin of 3 American English idioms and decided to share my outcomes with you! It’s all pretty interesting and I am sure this will recall similar expression in your own language!   So, let’s get started…   1. Goodnight, sleep tight (to sleep well) The origin of this idiom can be traced in colonial times when mattresses were made of goose down feathers. Sometimes men found these mattresses to be too soft. Their only way to create firmness was to tied ropes around the mattresses at the top and the middle and also at the bottom. By doing so, they condensed the mattress.  The tighter the ropes were pulled, the firmer the mattress became. And that’s the origin of the idiom SLEEP TIGHT.  2. Armed to the teeth (to be armed) In the XV and XVI centuries the situation in American was quite critical. Conquerors arrived from all over Europe and weapons were not so effective. In particular, pirates usually were armed with single shot black powder guns. Because of this, they were also carrying a knife in their teeth to use after the shot. And that’s why we now say “armed to the teeth”.   3. Three sheets to the wind (to be drunk) When Pilgrims arrived in United States, they came with ships which were the only resource. In order to make windmills for power they decided to use strips of the sails from the ships – that at that time they called sheets. The first windmills that they constructed had three “blades” catching the wind. Unfortunately, in case of a very powerful wind, the blades turned in a rickety fashion. So by similarity, they started to label a drunk person walking in a “rickety” fashion as “three sheets to the wind”.       About 12speak! is a global languagelearning community serving its members an easy and fun way to learn a language in a playful online environment. 12speak! is connecting language learners with native speakers and providing a personalized language vocabulary to be trained with integrated and fun language games. 12speak! believes language learning can be fun and entertaining. Our goal is to provide an online environment where global language learners can meet, chat and practice their individual language skills and have fun learning languages. We provide a way to meet native speakers and learn a language naturally. We provide a way to manage your individual vocabulary and track your progress. We provide a way to train your vocabulary with entertaining language games. We want our members to have fun while learning! Your 12speak! team “Vocabulary games from 12speak! are an exciting way to improve my English online!” - Marina (12speak! member) “I enjoy chatting to native speakers from all over the world, I met a lot ofFrench, German and Spanish native speakers online!” - Stefano (12speak! member) “12speak! gives me the opportunity to be on top of my vocabulary progress!” - Andrea (12speak! member)