From News Event Comes Common Expressions
Today, we talk about two phrases that were taken from the headlines, meaning they both came into the language from news events that were covered extensively in the press.
The first is Stockholm syndrome. Stockholm is, of course, a big city in Sweden. Syndrome is a medical condition.
Stockholm syndrome describes a situation where a person held captive starts having positive feelings toward their captors.
This expression comes from a failed bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden. In August of 1973, bank robbers held four employees captive in the bank for six days.
In time, the captives developed a strong connection with their captors. One victim allegedly said she was afraid the police would try to rescue them and kill the captors.
Kool-Aid is a sweet drink that was once very popular with American children. However, to "drink the Kool-Aid" is to accept the beliefs of another person or organization completely.
This expression comes from a disturbing event that happened in 1978. An American named Jim Jones was controlling a community in Guyana, South America called Jonestown. The community was both a cult and a prison.
Before the U.S. government could do something about it, Jim Jones asked more than 900 of his followers to kill themselves by drinking a sweet drink. It contained poison.
The incident led to the expression “don’t drink the Kool-Aid.”
