SPICK AND SPAN
Today this means neat and tidy but originally the
saying was spick and span new. A span was a wood shaving. If something
was newly built it would have tell-tale wood chips so it was 'span new' spick is
an old word for a nail. New spicks or nails would be shiny. However words and
phrases often change their meanings over centuries and spick and span came to
mean neat and tidy.
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