Maricopa County Sheriff's Office controversies. The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) is a law enforcement agency in Maricopa County, Arizona that has been involved in many controversies since 1995.
It was then used to mean 'a sudden state of activity (or inactivity) or state of mind', as in this early example, taken from William Warner's Albion's England, 1586: His seruants fear his solemn fittes.. The phrase 'fits and starts' is somewhat tautological, as both allude to sporadic activity.
The surprisingly sinister history of some of Britain's most commonly used phrases. If you were to learn the true origin of the phrase 'gone to pot', you might suspect somebody was 'pulling your leg'. New research has revealed the surprisingly sinister history behind some of Britain's most commonly used phrases.