March 6, 2025 • 9 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Andrew Thompson shares another slice of his guide to understanding the baffling mini-mysteries of the English language. The book is Hair of the Dog to Paint the Town Red: The Wonderful Origins of Everyday Expressions and Fun Phrases.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American stories and up next
we continue with our recurring series about the curious origins
of everyday sayings. Here to join us once again is
Andrew Thompson as he continues to share another slaves from
his Ultimate Guide to understanding these mini mysteries of the
(00:32):
English language.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
The expression has a cat got your tongue, normally said
to someone who's not saying too much, has got nautical origins.
It began in the seventeenth century, when the British Navy
used a whip called the Cat of nine Tales for
administering physical punishment aboard ships. The whip was multi tailed
and inflicted incredible pain on the victim. When sailors were flogged,
(00:57):
the pain was often so severe that had rendered the
victory and speechless, so the Cat of nine Tales whip
had taken away the sailor's tongue. A catch twenty two
situation is a common expression to mean an impossible dilemma
or a no win situation, and it began with the
nineteen sixty one book of that name by Joseph Heller.
(01:19):
The plot of that book was that it was set
on a US Air Force base during World War II,
and the pilots were desperate to be exempted from flying
dangerous missions. The catch was that the pilots had to
be mad to fly another mission, but by applying for
an exemption on the grounds of insanity, the applicant proved
himself to actually be sane, so either way he had
to continue flying. Incidentally, the title of the book began
(01:44):
as Catch eighteen and went through various numbers before Heller
settled on Catch twenty two, but that title has now
become a very common expression. To be caught red handed
is to be caught in the act, like the criminal
was caught red handed coming out of the store with
stolen goods. It's occasionally used in its Latin form, which
(02:04):
is in flay grante delecto, and it derives from the
fifteenth century in Scotland, where legislation at the time referred
to red hand in relation to offenses where the perpetrator
was caught in the act. This stemmed from the evidentiary
requirement of needing to find actual blood on the hands
of anyone accused of poaching. There was actually a Scottish
(02:26):
legal commentary from sixteen seventy four that stated if he
be not taken red hand, the sheriff cannot proceed against him.
The expression was changed to being caught redhanded by Sir
Walter Scott in his eighteen nineteen book Ivan Hoe, and
that popularized the saying to have a chip on your
shoulder means you've got an inferiority complex or a perceived grievance,
(02:48):
and it began in the school yards of America in
the nineteenth century. If two boys argued and one wanted
to challenge the other to a fight, he would place
an actual chip of wood, usually a piece of bark
or a small stick, on him shoulder and dare the
other to knock it off. If the challenge was taken
up and the chip was knocked off, a proper fight
would go on. This practice of spoiling for a fight
(03:09):
by having a chip on your shoulder soon developed into
the well known expression to say close but no cigar
means to fall just short of success, and it's an
expression that as American origins. In the fair grounds and
circuses in the nineteenth century, there were side shows with
competitions that involved hitting a hammer against a pad to
make a bell, ring, shooting galleries, and throwing down moving pins.
(03:33):
The main prize offered for winning these competitions was usually
a large Havana cigar, which was much sought after at
the time. Contestants who just missed out on winning would
hear the phrase close, but no cigar, and that saying
became colloquially used in America by the nineteen thirties. To
be on cloud nine means to be in a state
(03:56):
of extreme happiness or contentment, and it began in the
nineteen thirty Between that time. In the nineteen fifties, the
US Weather Bureau divided clouds into nine classes. The highest class,
cloud nine, was the big white, fluffy cloud, which reached
up to four thousand feet in height. Because of their
height and attractive nature, to be on cloud nine came
(04:17):
to symbolize floating in a care free manner, and that's
where the expression comes from. To have cold feet means
to lose your nerves or have doubts about a situation,
and it's often used in relation to marriage. The expression
as literary beginnings. It was first used in eighteen sixty
two in the novel Seed, Time and Harvest by the
German writer Fritz Ruter. In that book, a card player
(04:42):
on a bad streak is scared he's going to lose
all his money, but instead of conceding defeat and walking
away with dignity, he withdraws from the game, claiming that
his feet were cold, making him unable to concentrate. So
the phrase eventually came to mean backing out of any
situation through a loss of nerve. To come up to
scratch means to meet a required standard, and it has
(05:05):
its origins in the days of bare knuckle boxing. Fines
used to take place in a large circle drawn in
the dirt, which is why it's caught a boxing ring today,
and across the middle of the ring, another line was
drawn or scratched, and the boxes faced off while standing
on either side of it. If a boxer was knocked down,
he was given a thirty second count to come up
(05:25):
to scratch and present himself as fit and willing to
continue the fight. If the boxer was unable to come
up to scratch, the fight was over and he was
declared the loser. The expression couldn't swing a cat means
a small and confined space, like you might say the
apartment was nice, but it was so small you couldn't
swing a cat. Many believe this expression dates from the
(05:47):
seventeenth century and relates to the cat and nine tails
whip that were used on decks, meaning that it was
too small to swing the whip. But it actually derives
from a bizarre form of at country festivals years ago
in England, where live cats would be swung around by
the tail and hurled into the air as targets for
(06:07):
archers to hit. It was a popular spectacle, so if
a festival was crowded, it was said that there wasn't
enough room to swing a cat. A crew cut is
a closely cropped male haircut, and while many associated with
the military, where the style is common, it actually originated
with the sport of rowing. In the nineteen forties, university
(06:29):
rows at Yale and Harvard began wearing their hair cropped
very short on the back and sides, with a slightly
longer brush like top. The style was soon adopted by
other sportsmans at the university, but it was the rowing
crews who set the trend, and it was known as
the crew cut for that reason. To curry favor means
doing acts in an attempt to gain support or favor,
(06:52):
and the expression has nothing to do with Indian food,
but it evolved from the thirteen to ten French poem,
which translates as the romance of for Vel. When someone
grooms and dresses a horse, it is known as currying,
and in the poem, Favel was the name of a
vain and ambitious half man half horse who deceives the
leaders of the state. In order to bow to fora
(07:14):
Vel and keep on his good side, the people would
stroke and groom his coat. They were currying for Vel.
Eventually this became currying favor. To cut and run means
to avoid a difficult situation by abruptly leaving, and it
derives from the seventeen hundreds from nautical world, where ankle
cables of ships were made of rope. To raise an
(07:37):
anchor took significant time and effort, especially in deep water,
so if a ship suddenly came under attack whilst anchored,
the time taken to raise the anchor could be costly,
so to save time and escape with minimal damage, the
crew would cut the anchor rope with an axe and
allow the ship to run with the wind and escape
to safety. The expression started being used figuratively by eighteen
(07:58):
sixty one, when Charles Dickens used it in his novel
Great Expectations. If you say to someone cut to the chase,
what you're meaning is get to the point or speed
it up. And this expression originated in the world of cinematography,
specifically the silent films of the nineteen twenties. In the
early American film industry, many silent films had long winded,
(08:21):
romantic storylines but ended up in an exciting car chase sequence.
A viewer who was bored and wanted to see the
action might say to cut to the chase, in a
plea for the projectionist to jump forward to the dramatic scene.
This has continued to modern times, where movie executives sometimes
ask for a film to be advanced to the key
scene so that they can make a quick assessment of
(08:43):
its prospects.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
A special thanks to Greg for finding that piece, and
to Andrew Thompson for sharing the stories of these phrases
and everyday sayings. And if you want to learn more
and read more, get Andrew's book and again it's Andrew Thomson,
and the book is Hair of the Dog to Paint
the Town Red. The curious origins of everyday says and
(09:07):
fun phrases, and we love, drilling down on well, just
storytelling about all kinds of things, and well, why not
our language, and so much of it comes from, as
we would call it, the home country, and that's England.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
You know.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
The great George Bernard Shaw once said England and America
are two countries separated by a common language. He was
being funny, of course, but the fact of the matter
is English is not just the American language, the official
American language, but now almost the official world language because
of us in our relationship with England. The story of
(09:45):
curious origins of everyday and fun phrases here on our
American stories
And we continue with our American stories and up next
we continue with our recurring series about the curious origins
of everyday sayings. Here to join us once again is
Andrew Thompson as he continues to share another slaves from
his Ultimate Guide to understanding these mini mysteries of the
(00:32):
English language.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
The expression has a cat got your tongue, normally said
to someone who's not saying too much, has got nautical origins.
It began in the seventeenth century, when the British Navy
used a whip called the Cat of nine Tales for
administering physical punishment aboard ships. The whip was multi tailed
and inflicted incredible pain on the victim. When sailors were flogged,
(00:57):
the pain was often so severe that had rendered the
victory and speechless, so the Cat of nine Tales whip
had taken away the sailor's tongue. A catch twenty two
situation is a common expression to mean an impossible dilemma
or a no win situation, and it began with the
nineteen sixty one book of that name by Joseph Heller.
(01:19):
The plot of that book was that it was set
on a US Air Force base during World War II,
and the pilots were desperate to be exempted from flying
dangerous missions. The catch was that the pilots had to
be mad to fly another mission, but by applying for
an exemption on the grounds of insanity, the applicant proved
himself to actually be sane, so either way he had
to continue flying. Incidentally, the title of the book began
(01:44):
as Catch eighteen and went through various numbers before Heller
settled on Catch twenty two, but that title has now
become a very common expression. To be caught red handed
is to be caught in the act, like the criminal
was caught red handed coming out of the store with
stolen goods. It's occasionally used in its Latin form, which
(02:04):
is in flay grante delecto, and it derives from the
fifteenth century in Scotland, where legislation at the time referred
to red hand in relation to offenses where the perpetrator
was caught in the act. This stemmed from the evidentiary
requirement of needing to find actual blood on the hands
of anyone accused of poaching. There was actually a Scottish
(02:26):
legal commentary from sixteen seventy four that stated if he
be not taken red hand, the sheriff cannot proceed against him.
The expression was changed to being caught redhanded by Sir
Walter Scott in his eighteen nineteen book Ivan Hoe, and
that popularized the saying to have a chip on your
shoulder means you've got an inferiority complex or a perceived grievance,
(02:48):
and it began in the school yards of America in
the nineteenth century. If two boys argued and one wanted
to challenge the other to a fight, he would place
an actual chip of wood, usually a piece of bark
or a small stick, on him shoulder and dare the
other to knock it off. If the challenge was taken
up and the chip was knocked off, a proper fight
would go on. This practice of spoiling for a fight
(03:09):
by having a chip on your shoulder soon developed into
the well known expression to say close but no cigar
means to fall just short of success, and it's an
expression that as American origins. In the fair grounds and
circuses in the nineteenth century, there were side shows with
competitions that involved hitting a hammer against a pad to
make a bell, ring, shooting galleries, and throwing down moving pins.
(03:33):
The main prize offered for winning these competitions was usually
a large Havana cigar, which was much sought after at
the time. Contestants who just missed out on winning would
hear the phrase close, but no cigar, and that saying
became colloquially used in America by the nineteen thirties. To
be on cloud nine means to be in a state
(03:56):
of extreme happiness or contentment, and it began in the
nineteen thirty Between that time. In the nineteen fifties, the
US Weather Bureau divided clouds into nine classes. The highest class,
cloud nine, was the big white, fluffy cloud, which reached
up to four thousand feet in height. Because of their
height and attractive nature, to be on cloud nine came
(04:17):
to symbolize floating in a care free manner, and that's
where the expression comes from. To have cold feet means
to lose your nerves or have doubts about a situation,
and it's often used in relation to marriage. The expression
as literary beginnings. It was first used in eighteen sixty
two in the novel Seed, Time and Harvest by the
German writer Fritz Ruter. In that book, a card player
(04:42):
on a bad streak is scared he's going to lose
all his money, but instead of conceding defeat and walking
away with dignity, he withdraws from the game, claiming that
his feet were cold, making him unable to concentrate. So
the phrase eventually came to mean backing out of any
situation through a loss of nerve. To come up to
scratch means to meet a required standard, and it has
(05:05):
its origins in the days of bare knuckle boxing. Fines
used to take place in a large circle drawn in
the dirt, which is why it's caught a boxing ring today,
and across the middle of the ring, another line was
drawn or scratched, and the boxes faced off while standing
on either side of it. If a boxer was knocked down,
he was given a thirty second count to come up
(05:25):
to scratch and present himself as fit and willing to
continue the fight. If the boxer was unable to come
up to scratch, the fight was over and he was
declared the loser. The expression couldn't swing a cat means
a small and confined space, like you might say the
apartment was nice, but it was so small you couldn't
swing a cat. Many believe this expression dates from the
(05:47):
seventeenth century and relates to the cat and nine tails
whip that were used on decks, meaning that it was
too small to swing the whip. But it actually derives
from a bizarre form of at country festivals years ago
in England, where live cats would be swung around by
the tail and hurled into the air as targets for
(06:07):
archers to hit. It was a popular spectacle, so if
a festival was crowded, it was said that there wasn't
enough room to swing a cat. A crew cut is
a closely cropped male haircut, and while many associated with
the military, where the style is common, it actually originated
with the sport of rowing. In the nineteen forties, university
(06:29):
rows at Yale and Harvard began wearing their hair cropped
very short on the back and sides, with a slightly
longer brush like top. The style was soon adopted by
other sportsmans at the university, but it was the rowing
crews who set the trend, and it was known as
the crew cut for that reason. To curry favor means
doing acts in an attempt to gain support or favor,
(06:52):
and the expression has nothing to do with Indian food,
but it evolved from the thirteen to ten French poem,
which translates as the romance of for Vel. When someone
grooms and dresses a horse, it is known as currying,
and in the poem, Favel was the name of a
vain and ambitious half man half horse who deceives the
leaders of the state. In order to bow to fora
(07:14):
Vel and keep on his good side, the people would
stroke and groom his coat. They were currying for Vel.
Eventually this became currying favor. To cut and run means
to avoid a difficult situation by abruptly leaving, and it
derives from the seventeen hundreds from nautical world, where ankle
cables of ships were made of rope. To raise an
(07:37):
anchor took significant time and effort, especially in deep water,
so if a ship suddenly came under attack whilst anchored,
the time taken to raise the anchor could be costly,
so to save time and escape with minimal damage, the
crew would cut the anchor rope with an axe and
allow the ship to run with the wind and escape
to safety. The expression started being used figuratively by eighteen
(07:58):
sixty one, when Charles Dickens used it in his novel
Great Expectations. If you say to someone cut to the chase,
what you're meaning is get to the point or speed
it up. And this expression originated in the world of cinematography,
specifically the silent films of the nineteen twenties. In the
early American film industry, many silent films had long winded,
(08:21):
romantic storylines but ended up in an exciting car chase sequence.
A viewer who was bored and wanted to see the
action might say to cut to the chase, in a
plea for the projectionist to jump forward to the dramatic scene.
This has continued to modern times, where movie executives sometimes
ask for a film to be advanced to the key
scene so that they can make a quick assessment of
(08:43):
its prospects.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
A special thanks to Greg for finding that piece, and
to Andrew Thompson for sharing the stories of these phrases
and everyday sayings. And if you want to learn more
and read more, get Andrew's book and again it's Andrew Thomson,
and the book is Hair of the Dog to Paint
the Town Red. The curious origins of everyday says and
(09:07):
fun phrases, and we love, drilling down on well, just
storytelling about all kinds of things, and well, why not
our language, and so much of it comes from, as
we would call it, the home country, and that's England.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
You know.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
The great George Bernard Shaw once said England and America
are two countries separated by a common language. He was
being funny, of course, but the fact of the matter
is English is not just the American language, the official
American language, but now almost the official world language because
of us in our relationship with England. The story of
(09:45):
curious origins of everyday and fun phrases here on our
American stories
Host
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