Have you ever said a word or phrase and then wondered where it originated?
Have you ever thought about "Dollars to Doughnuts"?
"Dollars to doughnuts means something that is certain. The phrase dollars to doughnuts is an American idiom that originated in the middle 1800s and is still mostly seen in American English. The idea behind the shorthand phrase dollars to doughnuts is the sentiment that the speaker is so confident that he is right about something, he will put forth his dollars against the listener’s doughnuts in a wager, the dollars having much higher value than the doughnuts."
************
The other day I thought about the word "grocery" and looked up its origin.
"The history of grocery begins with a dealer who sold by the gross—that is, in large quantities at discounted retail prices. A grocer in medieval England was a wholesaler, and the name is derived from an Anglo-French word having the same meaning, groser. Grocer gained widespread use during the 14th century when a group of wholesale dealers in spices and foreign produce came together to form the Company of Grocers of London, which now exists as the Worshipful Company of Grocers—a charitable and ceremonial organization in London.
In time, the name grocer came to refer to a trader who dealt in staple foodstuffs—like tea, coffee, cocoa, sugar, and flour—that were sold in amounts measured for personal consumption. ...
The first known use of the word grocery was in the 15th century, and it referred to the goods sold by a grocer.
In 17th-century American English, the word was naturally extended as a name for the stores that sell groceries." source - merriam-webster.com
