History of words and phrases

Be there with bells on: Meaning happy and delighted to attend. In the olden days, it meant your carriage would have the fanciest harness, the ones with the bells on it.

Can't see the forest for the trees: A person who is so concerned with trivial matters that he can't grasp the the big picture. The expression first appeared in the works of Christoph Weiland, a German poet and novelist.

Hi: As a greeting, is generally considered a contraction of "hiya." Which is a corruption of "how are you?"

On the level:  Believed to have originated as part of the language of Freemasonry. Among members of the order, the mason's level is a symbol of integrity. If a person is "on the level," he is entirely trustworthy.