“When my outward action shows my secret heart, I will wear my heart upon my sleeve, as one does a lady’s favour, for daws to peck at.” (Othello, i. 1.)

The renowned Bartleby's.com tells me that "To wear one’s heart upon one’s sleeve. To expose one’s secret intentions to general notice; the reference being to the custom of tying your lady’s favour to your sleeve, and thus exposing the secret of the heart." Favours were worn in by European knights in tourneys, the better to prove their ideal romantic love.

And, as for being one's idiom, often I wish I could stop. That's TMI, isn't it. On the other hand, I don't seem to have that pesky Desdemona situation either.

This saying has become more than a poetic quotation. For example, Maggie Thatcher advised us all that, "To wear your heart on your sleeve isn't a very good plan; you should wear it inside, where it functions best." (interview with Barbara Walters on ABC-TV, March 18, 1987) Wouldn't she make a great Othello.

Incidentally, I think I am also still able to tell a hawk from a handsaw most days.