Life is just a bowl of nettle soup . . . or should that be cherries?

SHAGGY DOG: THE PHRASE to grasp the nettle means to face a difficult situation positively and with confidence. Stinging nettles are painful when brushed against and can bring a person out in a nasty rash, but for centuries they have been known for their healing and nutritional value, writes ALBERT JACK .

Nettle soup, I am assured, is a delicacy served in the finest restaurants. I am also assured that, although nettles are painful when touched lightly, if grabbed boldly they inflict no stinging sensation at all. Aaron Hill, in his poem The Nettle's Lesson (1743), endorses this:

Tender-handed stroke a nettle,

And it stings you for your pains,

Grasp it like a man of mettle,

And it soft as silk remains.

There you are, kids, go off and try it. And tell your mum Aaron Hill says it's okay.

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The backroom boys are a group of people, male or female, who work away quietly, developing new ideas that would be of particular benefit to industry or commerce.

For example, scientists who are hard at work developing new products for a company might be nicknamed backroom boys.

In offices, administrators keep the business running smoothly with little or no thanks for their efforts, and they would also be known as backroom boys.

The phrase was coined during the second World War when Lord Beaverbrook, who was minister of aircraft production at the time, made a radio broadcast on March 19th, 1941, during which he credited his research department for some inspiring inventions that helped to change the direction of the war: "Let me say that the credit belongs to the boys in the backroom. It isn't the man who sits in the limelight who should have the praise. It is not the men who sit in prominent places. It is the boys in the backrooms who do."

The phrase can actually be traced back to the US in the 1870s, so possibly Beaverbrook had heard it before, although it was he who brought it into regular use in England.

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Life is just a bowl of cherries, used to describe everything that is wonderful with our lives, is hardly one of our most profound expressions, but it is still a popular one, especially in the north of England. It is a comparatively modern proverb, which originates from the musical Scandals, first produced in the US in 1919, which included a popular song entitled Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries by George Gershwin.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times