Above and Beyond
Borrowing a Classroom
Yesterday was a very busy day for me. In particular, I needed to prepare for the murder mystery game in the afternoon. There is a lot to set up. We also had a potluck and I wanted to make poutine. I’ll tell you that story at the end of this post. On top of all that, my classroom was being used by a guest teacher. So, I had to find another classroom. I asked one of my coworkers and he let me borrow his classroom. After getting his permission, I went back to preparing the murder mystery. I was surprised when I went to his classroom. He went above and beyond. He cleaned up the classroom, pushed the unneeded chairs to the side and set up the desks for conversation class. He didn’t have to do all that, so I was grateful.
Meaning
Going above and beyond means that you are doing more than expected. The phrase is a little redundant because “above” and “beyond” both show excess. I think that putting them together really emphasizes how much more the person did. We usually use above and beyond when we are thankful, but it can be used in other contexts.
Example: She goes above and beyond by staying late without getting paid.
Example (thankful): You made my birthday so special. You went above and beyond by giving me this expensive gift card.
Origin
This phrase has been around since 1916 to describe soldiers. It comes from the larger phrase, going above and beyond the call of duty, to describe soldiers that died or were wounded in battle. One source claims that it has been in use since the 1500s, but that seems unlikely to me as the other sources seem to indicate that it started in the early 20th century. Google Ngram doesn’t have it showing up until the 1800s (probably before it became idiomatic). It rose in popularity around the second world war. Above and Beyond is also the name of a 1952 war movie about the pilot of the Enola Gay. It may have also contributed to the rise of the idiomatic phrase.
Poutine Blunder
So, I wanted to make poutine for two reasons. The first reason is that I am also teaching culture this session and poutine is a representative food of Canada. Also, my poutine gravy mix was getting close to expiring. Two days ago I went to the store to buy some French fries and some other things. I also brought my oven to work along with a few cooking utensils. But, when I woke up in the morning, I realized that I forgot to actually buy the fries! So, at lunch time, I went to the store and bought some fries. I started cooking them after lunch while a coworker helped me by preparing the gravy. While we were cooking I remembered that I left my cheese at home. I had to get another coworker to keep and eye on my fries while I rushed home to get the cheese. I barely made it back in time. I just barely made the poutine before the class started. I can’t believe it. There are only three basic ingredients for poutine: French fries, gravy, and cheese. I forgot two of the three ingredients.
See Also: Laura Secord, Princess Sarah, Giles, Isaac Brock, Tecumseh
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Reference:
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/above-and-beyond#:~:text=The%20first%20records%20of%20the,more%20than%20what%20was%20required.
https://writingexplained.org/idiom-dictionary/above-and-beyond
https://www.idioms.online/above-and-beyond/
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=%22above+and+beyond%22&year_start=1500&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044324/