Why do we use the expression 'over the moon'

A. It refers to the 18th century nursery rhyme about the cow jumping over the moon and signifies jumping for joy so high as to break the bounds of gravity. It would be an impressive leap: the moon is more than a quarter of a million miles away.

Q. Why is it used in football
A. It's been a great stand-by in those after-the-match chit-chats where people who were footballers and not wordsmiths had to convey their great happiness. As early as 1962, the late, great Alf Ramsey was quoted as saying, 'I feel like jumping over the moon.'

Q. Is that the first recorded use
A. Oh no. Back in 1857, Mary Cavendish wrote in her diary about telling her children about the birth of her new son: 'I had told the little ones who were first utterly incredulous and then over the moon.'

Q. So where does the 'cat and the fiddle' come in
A. One of the best-known nonsense nursery rhymes, Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle first appeared in print in 1765. But there are references to it from two centuries earlier. 'Hey diddle diddle' as a phrase first appeared in English in the 16th century.

Q. What does it mean
A. There have been many ingenious interpretations: it comes from the religions of ancient Egypt, with the little dog as the Dog Star rising from the Nile, the fiddler representing a beetle or scarab, and the cow jumping over the moon, representing the sky. Historical conspiracy theories include the cat and the fiddle representing Katherine of Aragon, Katherine la Fidele.

Q. What about that other great footballing phrase, 'Sick as a parrot'
A. Why should parrots be sick One theory dates back to the time of widespread smuggling of tropical birds into America from Mexico. To stop them talking, they were dosed with tequila. As a result, the recovering birds had a sickening hangover. Alternatively, parrot is an English corruption of the French pierrot, the miserable and tearful French pantomime character.

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By Sheena Miller