We adults often think we are communicating to the younger and much younger generation but we aren’t quite the silver tongued orator we think we are.

Case in point.

A few weeks ago I was in New Mexico conducting a shooting camp for some juniors when I told them that I was about to get on my soapbox about a particular topic that they simply had to understand.

And it occurred to me that they probably didn’t have a clue as to what that expression meant and when I asked them if they knew, they didn’t.

"The expression goes back way before iPods, cell phones, television, and all the other gadgets to which we are addicted.

"Back in the day, people used to frequent public parks and town squares to meet their friends and socialize. Often, there would be one or more people there who had something they needed to get off their chest so, in order to be better seen and heard, they would literally stand on a wooden crate, a soap box, and proclaim their message to all within hearing. Often, the orator went on and on about the subject which frequently encouraged the audience to melt away leaving him or her with an audience of one.

"So this subject is really, really important and I want you to play very close attention to it," I explained.

Those of us who are long in tooth tend to use a lot of expressions, proverbs and clichés in our conversations and naturally assume that everyone knows what we are saying.

Long in tooth refers to someone who is rather old.

It was often used of horses whose teeth continue to grow, unlike humans, making it possible for us to get a rough estimate of a horse's age.

The earliest use of that expression is found in Thackeray's, The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. Ironically, it referred to the age of a woman, always a delicate subject:

"... She was lean, and yellow, and long in the tooth; all the red and white in all the toy shops in London could not make a beauty of her."

As a former teacher and coach I expect my students and athletes to pay attention.

Okay, so I’m crazy.

This is one time when those pitchers better have big ears.

Little pitchers have big ears is another expression that probably prompts a blank, thousand-yard stare when kids hear mom or day mumble that in their presence.

For good reason.

The expression, which goes back to at least the 1500s, admonishes adults to be careful what they say in front of children.

If that was true way back then today, with cell phones and the internet, the latest dirt can literally be flashed around the world with a click of a mouse.

The expression, which is a play on words equating ears to the twin handles on a pitcher, was first used in Shakespeare's, Richard III, in 1594: "Be not angry with the child. Pitchers have ears."

Finally, we need to be alert for and be ready to take advantage of opportunities which come our way.

"Okay, Johnny, you have homework to do and time to do it. You better make hay while the sun shines."

He may, may, know what that means but likely doesn’t have a clue where it came from unless he works on a farm ... and there aren’t very many of those in Union and fewer who grow and store hay.

It of course comes from agriculture and the cutting, drying, and gathering of hay.

The hay is cut and left out to dry and when it has dried enough to bale, the farmers will work overtime to get it baled before the rain hits.

Barclay wrote about this in Ship of Fools, 1509 when he said. Who that in July whyle Phebus is shynynge, About his hay is nat besy labourynge ... Shall in the winter his negligence bewayle.