Hanging by a thread

RANDOM THOUGHT
I didn't mean to destroy this little fellow's hard work when watering the garden. Afterwards he was just hanging there and I realised this could have been where the saying 'hanging by a thread" came about." It was so intrigued about our country's colloquialism etc, that I asked around about others like it. In the Midwest we say POP others say SODA . Another example......, where did cowlick come from? I use these same phrases/idioms and words all the time without even knowing their origin. The answers were so funny some dating as far back as the 16th century, that I decided to write them down as I go, so that when I'm uttering these phrases, I truly do know what I'm talking about.....lol . If you randomly ask people about theses idioms and where they think they came from, it's even funnier with the things they come up with. I really thought I was being fooled on the word"cowlick" but it was true that it came from the street word in England to describe the look of swirled hair as if a cow licked it. I never knew????