Neither here nor there....

My mother used that expression a lot when responding to my arguments with her, "That's neither here nor there." I never thought much about it but for some reason it just popped into my head.

But what does that mean?

"Neither here..." refers to something not being present HERE.
"Neither there.." refers to something not being present THERE.

But I somehow knew that my mother was telling that what I had to say wasn't important, it was irrelevant to the discussion. It was her way telling me that the conversation was over.

Another one she used a lot was "No ifs, ands or buts..."

This got me to thinking about various phrases, expressions and idioms that we use. Some had a valid reason for being coined and those are typically from from the current usage.

Here are a few interesting pages with the origins of common words/phrases that are still in use today. Some of them will make you think twice before using them today.

• 10 Common Sayings with Historical Origins
• 14 Expressions with Crazy Origins that You Would Never Have Guessed
  
• know your phrase