Hi, everybody. I'm doing my research on American idioms. I'm interested in those which have something to do with American culture. I've already found the examples of such idioms and studied their etimology. But the thing is i need to know whether this cultural component (the etimology)is still recognized by the native speakers. So, please, answer only if your are American. There is the list of idioms below. I would be very much obliged to you if you chose some of them (as many as you can) and wrote what these idioms are associated with in your mind, how, do YOU personally think (or maybe know), they originated. ANd if you notice among them those which are not used any more, please, tell me also. You will do me a great favor if you don't ignore this question! Thank you in advance!
Here is the list:
a bed of roses
a blue coat
a feather in one’s cap
a pot of gold
a sacred cow
according to Hoyle Achilles’ heel
all around Robin Hood’s barn
all's quiet along the Potomac
Annie Oakley
as pleased (proud) as Punch
babes in the wood
Blue Hen's Chickens
bottom man on the totem pole
bury the hatchet
cast pearls before swine
cast the first stone at smb.
Close, but no cigar
cry wolf
dog in the manger
far from the madding crowd
fiddle while Rome burns
fly the eagle (make the eagle scream)
give the devil his due
give up the ghost
gone with the wind
great Scott! happy hunting ground
have got an axe to grind
hide one's light under a bushel
hold out the olive branch to smb. honest Abe
Jekyll and Hyde
keep up with the Joneses
kill the fatted calf
old as Methuselah
Old Hickory
on a wing and a prayer
open Pandora’s box
patient as Job
Peck’s bad boy
pie in the sky
play Cupid
Punchinello
raise Cain
real McCoy
sing the blues
Teddy Bear
the squaw campaign
the blanket code
the Blue and the Gray
the devil’s advocate
the life of Riley
the salt on the earth
the Star-Spangled Banner
there’s the rub
tilt at windmills
Tom and Jerry
turn the other cheek

Thank you in advance!