This is an I-Heart podcast.

This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, and we tell stories about everything here on this show, including yours, send

them to our American Stories.com.

There's some of our favorites.

And up next, a recurring favorite, we continue our series about the curious origins of everyday

sayings.

Here to join us again as Andrew Thompson as he continues to share another slice from his ultimate

guide to understanding these mini mysteries of the English language. Here's Andrew.

If you say Peter out, you mean to dwindle or diminish or come to an end. Some suggest

the expression comes from biblical times and the Apostle Peter

when he strenuously defended Christ when Christ was arrested,

but by the next morning his supporter diminished.

However, the likely origin of the phrase is actually from the early days of gold mining in America.

Potassium nitrate known as salt Peter was a mineral ingredient in the explosives used in America. Potassium nitrate known as salt peater was a mineral ingredient in the

explosives used in mining. When all the gold in a mine was exhausted, it was said to have

petered out because the explosives had dwindled it down until nothing was left. The expression

was used figuratively by the 1840s. Pigeon English is a term meaning a simplified language used to communicate between two people

who don't have a common language and it originated in the late 17th century.

It was developed by British traders in China as a way of doing business without having a common

language.

The expression actually means business English and came about

because of the mispronunciation of the English word business by the Chinese. They pronounced it

...