Don't get the wrong end of the stick, but I've been nit-picking recently – Hayley Matthews

There are loads of sayings that we use and don't really now where they originated from, like "the wrong end of the stick", "can't teach your grannie to suck eggs" and "drawing the short straw".

Checking for nits can be a painstaking business (Picture: Remko de Waal/AFP via Getty Images)

Many of them don't even make sense, but we use them without a second thought to how they came about.

Well, one phrase I now totally get is "nit-picking". I used to think of it as describing being picky or rather fussy about something. However, after literally spending a weekend nit-picking, I now understand its true meaning.

After a letter from nursery I'd been checking every day for weeks then boom, out of nowhere, I saw a creepy crawly in my youngest son’s barnet.

It's not fun, the removal of nits or lice eggs by coming through the hair and looking for the tiny, teardrop-shaped eggs. Once they are spotted, it's a hard task pinching the nit between your thumb and forefinger and pulling it off from the hair.

Whilst this is the best way to remove lice, it’s incredibly tedious and outrageously time-consuming. So I suggested "let's cut the beasties off" and surprisingly he was up for it. He's been scared to get his haircut for a while so this has been the perfect excuse for a much-needed trim.

But despite a trim and treatment, I'm still picking the odd egg out. The lengthy process requires an almost anal-retentive temperament (which I don't really have) to remove every nit and prevent new lice from hatching. I'm scratching as I'm writing this, arghh, and if I'm still finding the odd egg next week, the clippers might need to come out!