Your Questions About Heels Over Head

Carol asks…

What is the meaning/ origin of "head over heels"?

I know the just of what it means... But this expression makes little sense to me. Biologically, isn't your head already over your heels?

Our pick of the answers:

Etymology Emerged in the 14th century as "heels over head", which is more literally accurate, as "head over heels" is the more standard state of being. "Heels over head" evolved into "head over heels" in common use departing its literal meaning, probably for reasons of phrasal elegance. Adverb head over heels (comparative more head over heels, superlative most head over heels) Tumbling upside down. She tripped and rolled head over heels down the hill. At top speed; frantically. Hearing the noise in the dark, the children ran head over heels back home. Hopelessly smitten. He was head over heels in love with the girl next door. Synonyms (tumbling): arse over tit, ass over teakettle, base over apex (frantically): full tilt, full throttle, like mad http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/head_over_heels That's pretty much a set phrase these days, so that to be head over heels almost always means that one has fallen madly in love in an impetuous and unconstrained way. But by itself it can also refer to one's state while turning a somersault or cartwheel. It's more than a little weird when you think about it — what's so strange about having one's head over one's heels? After all, we do spend most of our waking lives in that position. It looks so odd because during its history it got turned upside down, just like the idea it represents. When it first appeared, back in the fourteenth century, it was written as heels over head, which makes a lot more sense. Logically, it meant to be upside down, or, as to turn heels over head, to turn a somersault. It became inverted around the end of the eighteenth century, it seems as the result of a series of mistakes by authors who didn't stop to think about the conventional phrase they were writing. The two forms lived alongside each other for most of the next century — the famous Davy Crockett was an early user of the modern form in 1834: "I soon found myself head over heels in love with this girl", but as late as the beginning of the twentieth century L Frank Baum consistently used the older form in his Oz books: "But suddenly he came flying from the nearest mountain and tumbled heels over head beside them". And Lucy Maud Montgomery stayed with it in her Anne of Windy Poplars, published as late as 1936: "Gerald's pole, which he had stuck rather deep in the mud, came away with unexpected ease at his third tug and Gerald promptly shot heels over head backward into the water". Http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-hea3.htm

Ruth asks…

QUICK QUESTION? Is it possible to make a guy that already likes you fall completely head over heels for you?

I like him and he says he likes me back but just not head over heels. We've kissed before but that didn't change anything and he doesn't want a relationship. Anything I can do to make him fall head over heels?

Our pick of the answers:

Nope. You can let him use you sexually and he would surely appreciate that.

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