idioms
I was studying English, so I downloaded a comprehension reading test and I found a phrase which I can't understand:
Seat belts save lives and that's a fact. That's why I don't drive anywhere until mine is on tight.
I think that it's an idiom because I don't find word definitions that help me understand the phrase.
The Phrase Doctor writes that my goodness is a minced oath:
My goodness --> My God
My gosh --> My God
So the phrase was used instead of swearing, with goodness being a euphemism. The Oxford English Dictionary adds that goodness! has an established meaning in this vein, writing:
In various exclamatory phrases, in which the original reference was to the goodness of God (cf. sense 2a above), as goodness gracious!, goodness (only) knows! , †for goodness!, for goodness' sake!, in the name of goodness!, (I wish) to goodness! , surely to goodness!, thank goodness!, etc., or simply goodness!
The first written usage is by Shakespeare, who wrote:
1623 Shakespeare & J. Fletcher Henry VIII Prol. 23 Therefore, for Goodnesse sake, and as you are knowne The First and Happiest Hearers of the Towne, Be sad, as we would make ye.
There isn't a notation about the first written use of my goodness, but it definitely uses the sense of goodness which has been around since the 1600s.
A Collection of College Words and Customs (1851) by Benjamin Homer Hall says:
Best Answer
It's not an idiom. Each word means exactly what it says.
Mine means 'my one', referring back to the seat belt.
On tight means exactly what it says - fitted securely. So