Heads or Tails - said on flipping a coin - Brewer gave the explanation in 1870; it's an old English expression, with even earlier roots: 'heads' because all coins had a head on one side; the other had various emblems: Britannia, George and the Dragon, a harp, a the royal crest of arms, or an inscription, which were all encompassed by the word 'tails', meaning the opposite to heads. Tails was the traditional and obvious opposite to heads (as in 'can't make head nor tail of it'). The pluralisation came about because coin flipping was a guessing game in itself - actually dating back to Roman times, who, due to their own coin designs called the game 'heads or ships'.
Tails has always been the underdog.
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"Heads or Ships?"
Heads or Tails - said on flipping a coin - Brewer gave the explanation in 1870; it's an old English expression, with even earlier roots: 'heads' because all coins had a head on one side; the other had various emblems: Britannia, George and the Dragon, a harp, a the royal crest of arms, or an inscription, which were all encompassed by the word 'tails', meaning the opposite to heads. Tails was the traditional and obvious opposite to heads (as in 'can't make head nor tail of it'). The pluralisation came about because coin flipping was a guessing game in itself - actually dating back to Roman times, who, due to their own coin designs called the game 'heads or ships'.
Ships.
Forget what I said before. That is interesting.
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