What's the origin of the phrase "eat your heart out"?

Search: eat your heart out origin

Why: People on "RuPaul's Drag Race" say things like "Eat your heart out, Bob Mackie" all the time. To be honest, I don't even know what that's supposed to mean. Rizzo says it in Grease.

Answer: First, it's supposed to make the other person feel bitterness or pain as he longs for something out of reach.

The ancients believed that sorrow and envy silently "ate away" at the heart, "each sigh draining blood from the organ." In Henry VI, Shakespeare wrote:

Might liquid tears, of heart-offending groans,
Or blood-consuming sighs recall his life,
I would be blind with weeping, sick with groans,
Look pale as primrose with blood-drinking sighs

We still say someone who is grieving is "broken-hearted."

By the beginning of the 20th century, "to eat your heart out" meant to pine, but you can yell it out as a cry of triumph if you give someone else a reason to envy you, like if you make a better ballgown as a drag queen than he ever did designing for a real lady (or a Cher).

Source: Expressions & Sayings, Phrases, Cliches, Expressions & Sayings

The More You Know:

I want to see a picture of Kurt Cobain and RuPaul

Search: rupaul cobain

Why: Ever since my hairdresser told me that Logotv.com has full episodes online, I have been watching the everliving shit out of "RuPaul's Drag Race." Last night while watching Delta Work and Shangela act the fool on the runway, Chandler queried aloud whether RuPaul had penned the lyrics to her 1992 hit "Supermodel (You Better Work)" herself. (She did.)

But then we saw this:

Singer Kurt Cobain of Nirvana cited the song as one of his favorites of 1993 and the two were photographed together at the MTV Video Music Awards that year.

Answer: Oh lor, there are tons!

Source: Google Images

The More You Know: Speaking of Dave Grohl, he is apparently the most recent "rock star" to get all pissy because he doesn't want his songs to be on "Glee." Remember: the Kings of Leon people did that a few months ago, telling NME:

"We got an offer to appear on an episode of Ugly Betty. They wanted us to play ourselves. We were supposed to come in and help her out with some problem or other."

The band also confirmed they had rejected an offer from Glee, with Jared saying: "We could have sold out so much more. We turn stuff down constantly."

Here's the thing, though. I have it on pretty excellent authority that nobody ever asked Kings of Leon if "Glee" could use their songs in the first place. They were saying that to sound fancy, and since Ryan Murphy is an idiot, it caused a whole heap of drama. Anyway, I'm just saying. It makes me wonder about Dave Grohl, who otherwise hasn't been in the news much lately. Slash, too.

What is the origin of the slang term "drag" (like drag queen)?

Search: drag slang origin

Why: Some guy sitting 3 rows behind me has been wheezing like Darth Vader for the last 5 hours, so I can't really concentrate.

Do you remember that scene in A Very Brady Sequel when RuPaul (as guidance counselor Mrs. Cummings) says, "Jan, being a middle child can be a real... drag"? I bet you probably do, but if not, you can borrow my DVD.

Answer: Well, I don't know if I believe either of these. The "dragging" of heavy skirts:

The origin is thought to be from Victorian theatrical usage in reference to the dragging sensation of long skirts on the ground, an unfamiliar sensation to men. The usage is not found in print until the 1870s but must surely be older. Jonathon Green suggests that the gay implications did not arise until the 1920s, and that all the early citations in the Oxford English Dictionary refer to fancy dress.

or a lame acronym:

"Drag queen" appeared in print in 1941. The verb is to "do drag." A folk etymology whose acronym basis reveals the late 20th-century bias, would make "drag" an abbreviation of "dressed as girl" in description of male transvestism.

Source: World Wide Words, Wikipedia

The More You Know: Speaking of transvestites,