海角大神

After a long day of downhill skiing, a mug of hot聽chocolate fits the bill. Or does it fill the bill? Someone has to foot the bill for the not-inexpensive adventure; if it turns out that only one ski lift was open instead of the 10 promised, that person might complain that they were sold a bill of goods. English has lots of bill idioms, but the bills involved are not the same. 聽

The word bill derives from bulla, which in medieval Latin referred to a seal on a document, such as wax stamped by a signet ring. By extension, bulla came to refer to the official documents secured by such seals. It appeared in English in the 13th century as bull, used exclusively for papal announcements, and in the 14th century as bill, which included a wider range of documents, from personal letters to draft acts of Parliament to (by 1480) invoices that listed the price of each good or service individually. Adding those amounts up was called footing (still a part of accounting lingo today) since the sum was then printed on the bottom, or 鈥渇oot鈥� of the bill. In the 19th century, footing the bill came to mean taking financial responsibility, especially when the expense was incurred by someone else.聽

A bill of goods is simply 鈥渁n itemized receipt鈥� 鈥� but today it鈥檚 most frequently encountered in an idiom that means 鈥渢o deceive, to swindle.鈥� To sell someone a bill of goods originated in the 1920s and describes a situation in which a person pays for items listed on an invoice sight unseen, and then receives either inferior versions or nothing at all. The person was sold the list rather than the actual items 鈥� the 鈥済oods鈥� they were expecting.

Theatrical posters are at issue in 鈥渇illing鈥� and 鈥渇itting鈥� the bill. Though everyone seems to agree that both versions of the idiom mean 鈥渢o be suitable for a particular purpose,鈥� language mavens disagree about which is 鈥渃orrect,鈥� and how, exactly, they originated. According to Paul Brians, author of 鈥淐ommon Errors in English Usage,鈥� 19th-century theater managers would book a headliner and then 鈥渇ill the bill鈥� with lesser-known acts. Logophile Charles Harrington Elster argues instead in 鈥淭he Accidents of Style鈥� that the headliner鈥檚 name would be printed in such large type that it would take up most of the poster 鈥� it would literally 鈥渇ill the bill.鈥澛�

Max Cryer, who wrote 鈥淐urious English Words and Phrases鈥� argues for 鈥渇its the bill鈥� 鈥� the manager would find smaller acts to slot in time-wise around the headliner, or perhaps that graphically 鈥渇it in鈥� around the headliner鈥檚 huge name.聽

However these phrases developed, fit the bill has been more popular since 1982, according to Google鈥檚 Ngram Viewer, in British and American English. 聽