I once took time to look into where some idioms come from.
like :-
“a turn up for the book”.
At 18th-century horse racing meetings, punters’ names and wagers were recorded in a notebook. If an unbacked horse won, it was called a “turn up” for the bookmaker, who kept all the money.
===========
" A sight for sore eyes"
First recorded in 1738 by the Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, and poet Jonathan Swift in
A complete collection of genteel and ingenious conversation-
"The Sight of you is good for sore Eyes."
===================
Im sure over here everyone know what "eating humble pie" means.
In the 14th century, nobility feasting on game..especially deer...would leave the heart, liver, and entrails for the humble servants.
Known as “numbles”, which by the 15th-century had become “umbles”, these leftovers were made into “umble pies”.
Samuel Pepys, a 17th-century royal administrator and member of parliament, is famous for keeping a diary for 10 years as a young man, in which he wrote:
"I having some venison given me a day or two ago, and so I had a shoulder roasted, another baked, and the umbles baked in a pie, and all very well done."
============
So many sayings are still used today yet we don't often know where they came from!! Maybe it's mainly England that uses them ?