Tim – Awesome! Yeah I knew they weren’t all idioms – but some of them are…was curious about the meaning. I think when I get home and have a HOME again I’d love to have a book on these. It’s interesting to see the history behind things we say!

3. Towns, forts, etc. are traditionally built on the top of a hill because of the vision advantage as well as the advantage in combat. In an uphill battle not only must you fight your opponent (“level playing field”) but you must also climb to engage while keeping your sword higher in the air than your opponent. Therefore, an uphill battle is harder to fight and often is not successful.

4. This relates back to another saying “an elephant never forgets.” Elephants tend to repeat past paths and return to the same burial grounds. This knowledge sometimes seems to be passed down to future generations without physically showing them.

7. This refers to getting all sailors on deck to help with the sails. Often this would be for an emergency where they’d need to get the sails up and trimmed as fast as possible to avoid a storm, catch/outrun another ship, etc.