A HILL OF BEANS
An older saying, “not worth a bean,” appeared as far back as 1297, when historian Robert of Gloucester wrote it in his English Chronicles. The American saying, “not worth a hill of beans,” began to appear around 1863; the “a hill of” was often inserted into phrases to emphasize their meaning.
In 1942 the phrase was burned into the American lexicon when Humphrey Bogart uttered the line, “the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world” in the movie Casablanca.
In 1988 the line was parodied, and a surprisingly effective counterpoint was made when Leslie Nielsen said, “It's a topsy-turvy world, and maybe the problems of two people don't amount to a hill of beans; but this is our hill… and these are our beans” in the movie The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad.
OLD BEAN
“Have I got to clump you one on the side of the bean?" asked a character in the 1924 novel Bill the Conqueror. It was the first known literary reference to the phrase. Originally though, the phrase cropped up during the First World War as a friendly reference to a man, albeit tinged with upper-class stuffiness (I say, old bean, frightfully good to see you).
SPILL THE BEANS
The phrase is drawn from the ancient Greek process of voting, where votes were cast by placing one of two different colored beans in a vase (usually a white bean meant yes, and a black/brown one meant no). If someone literally spilled the beans, the election results would be revealed.
RED BEANS AND RICE DIDN'T MISS HER
Seemingly casting a critical gaze on the pressure for women to eat salads to maintain a slender figure, one of the wisest men alive, Sir Mixx-A-lot states the almost comical line “red beans and rice didn't miss her.” This line asserts that real diets create real women, who have real curves.