A few weeks ago my new book, Straight From The Horse’s Mouth was released in Paperback and Kindle formats and I have been waiting for it to work its way through onto Apple iBooks.   As it is now live, I thought I would post up two of the 101 idioms that make up Straight From The Horse’s Mouth.

The Idioms that we use every day reveal a rich heritage and history that lies just beneath the surface of the English language.    Some though have numerous origins that could very well leave one barking up the wrong tree!

Butter up.

Meaning: To lavish excessive praise on someone in order to make them more agreeable to a request.

Origin:  There are two possible origins for this commonly used phrase.  The most obvious one is the habit of making bread more attractive and palatable to eat by spreading butter on it. …