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The term was fist applied to the Duke of Saxony, and thereby hangs a tale. During the Thirty Years’ War, the Duke being an opportunist, kept changing his allegiances every now and then. The long war ranged between France and Spain. It so happened that the Duke’s land was situated between French and Spanish possessions, and served as a battle ground. Interestingly, he owned a reversible coat. When the battle was going well for Spain he showed Spain’s color of blue. When France was winning, he reversed the coat and wore the French white. His trick was soon discovered. The soldiers were understandably angry, and booed and berated him, yelling, “Behold the turncoat!” Thus did we get the term a turncoat, from the opportunist Duke with the reversible coat. It now applies to unprincipled people who try to play both ends against the middle. And yes, a debate where a person or a team is asked to speak for and against the motion is called a turncoat debate. This is because you’d be doing exactly what the Duke of Saxony did metaphorically speaking. Again , metaphorically speaking, if you buckle down. you are seriously getting down to work or resolve to do something. The expression goes back to the days of knighthood. When a knight was about to fight a major battle, he would summon his valet or manservant, who would take out the suit of armor, oil it thoroughly so that it did not creak when the knight walked in to the battlefield, and finally proceeded to buckling the armour to his master’s body. This task was a warm-up exercise that prepared the knight to face the combat. If the servant did a slipshod job of buckling down, the knight would, perhaps not live to fight another battle. And well, the servant would not live to buckle down another armour. So, those days buckling down was the sence, a matter of life and death. Today, the expression simply means seriously getting down to business without making a fuss or wasting time. When your teacher sternly asks you to buckle down and work. She does not have an armour or an army in mind, but your sliding grades. If the armour is not buckled down property, there is a chink in the armour. It makes the warrior vulnerable. He would expose himself to danger. If the enemy learns the chink, then it can aim at it, which could cost the warrior his life. Figuratively speaking, a chink in the armour is any weak point through which your enemies (and sometimes even your friends) can get at you. It is a weakness that others could exploit. If a person who is courageous or serious, with no apparent weakness, exposes a soft spot in his nature, we say, “Ah, there’s a chink in the armour!” This article was published using Article Submitter Article Source: http://www.articlewheel.com
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