Why do we "dress to kill"? "I could just kill you." "You slay me!" "That exam was a killer!" If a linguist from outer space were to land here to study the English language, he or she or it could reasonably conclude that we were all homicidal maniacs. Never mind "if looks could kill," it's a good thing that our words don't go around armed. We even dress in the spirit of mayhem. We may dress for success to make an impression in the business world. But to impress people under other circumstances, including romantic ones, we dress to kill. Why? Basically, it's the cave man and woman under our civilized surface. It invokes the literal conquest of the opposite sex, the making of a "kill." Club her/him on the head and drag the victim back to the cave. I tell you, sometimes English can be just murder!(Reference: BREWER'S DICTIONARY OF PHRASE AND FABLE)