Jokes, Riddles & Tongue Twisters

Ever wonder where the phrase "to egg on" came from?  The phrase means to encourage someone to do something -- usually something risky or foolish. 

Strangely enough, the origin of the phrase has nothing whatsoever to do with eggs!  Instead it comes from the ancient Anglo-Saxon tongue, where the term eggian meant to spur on (as in "eggian" your horse!)  The Old Norse tongue had a similar term with a similar meaning.  Eggja meant "to incite".  When the terms drifted into the English language, they were transformed into the English phrase "to egg on" -- literally to spur or incite someone to do something!