>>What does "coming off the soap box" mean?
>
>It means a person is finished talking and has stepped off the "podium".
>I don't know the origin of the phrase, but I think it refers to someone standing on an old wooden box to make a speech in the past.

I "THINK" that the soapbox refers to Hyde Park in London, where people would use a soap box as a podium from which to address whatever passersby happened to stop and listen.

Perhaps one of our UK bretheren could correct me?????