A few days ago, while playing the game
Origin with some friends, I learned the meaning of the phrase "to wing it." The purpose of the game is to guess the origin of commonly used expressions. Similar to balderdash, each player makes up what they think would be the origin of the phrase, and the group guesses which explanation is correct. Nobody knew the origin of the phrase "to wing it," so we all made up ridiculous scenarios--from chicken wings to the Wright brothers--about where the phrase came from. The actual phrase comes from (you guessed it) Shakespeare's time.
To wing it referred to an actor that was playing a role without knowing the part. During the scene, a prompter in the wing would help with the lines; between scenes, the actor would cram for the lines of the upcoming scene.
Since "winging it" during a play meant improvisation on short notice, the phrase still has a similar meaning today.
