Common everyday expressions with dark origins surprise many in SoCal

From trendy clothes to words and expressions, some things go out of style.

Many of the everyday expressions that most people use can be traced back to dark or sometimes even offensive origins. 

"It makes you reconsider most phrases when you say things that are somewhat negative," said one passerby.

Phrases like "basket case" were first used in World War I to describe a person who had lost all four of their limbs.

"A little darker than I thought," one teenager said.

Even the seemingly innocuous phrase, "cat got your tongue" could be traced to a dark time in the English Navy, when sailors would use a whip called the cat-o-nine tails to flog victims. The pain was so intense that those on the receiving end of the blows couldn't speak.

"That's weird," said one individual. 

"Remind me to never use that," her friend added.

Whether it was offensive or has off-putting origins many have begun to re-think what they say. 

"Before saying anything my mom would say 'Think about what you say and see if it's necessary or not necessary to say it," said one child.

However, some had a different reaction to the expressions. 

"If you're easily offended, maybe you should chill out a little bit," said an Australian tourist. 

While some Australian tourists were not easily offended, they were appalled to hear the origins of the term hooligans. The term was traced back to often racist cartoons depicting a family of Irish immigrants. 

"That's horrible," said one of the tourists. 

The tourists had only thought about the term in terms of soccer.

"When you think of hooligan, you think of like soccer hooligans," said the tourist.