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
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib, and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show.
And up next we continue with our recurring series about
the curious origins of everyday scenes. Here to join us
again is Andrew Thompson as he continues to share another
slace from his Ultimate Guide to understanding these mini mysteries
(00:33):
of the English language.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
It's a funny old world is an expression indicating an
acceptance of all resignation to a situation, and it was
first used in the nineteen thirty four comedy film You're
Telling Me That film style W. C. Fields, and at
one point he says, it's a funny old world. A
man is lucky if he gets out alive. The popularity
(00:56):
of Fields quickly made the expression commonplace quoted ever since,
most notably by the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher after
her decision to quit politics in nineteen ninety. Alluding to
the fact that she had never lost an election in
her life yet had been forced to stand down, she said,
it's a funny old world, isn't it. It's all Greek
(01:17):
to me means unabled to understand something or something doesn't
make sense, and it originates from the medieval Latin proverb,
which means it is Greek it cannot be read. The
phrase was used by monks scribes at the time as
they copied manuscripts in monastic libraries. Knowledge of the Greek
language was dwindling and very few people could read it.
(01:39):
The expression is yet another one that was brought into
widespread usage by Shakespeare in his fifteen ninety nine play
Julius Caesar, which contains the line but for my own part,
it was Greek to me. The expression John Hancock to
mean a signature derives from the famous American merchant and
statesman who lived from seventeen thirty seven to seventeen ninety three.
(02:03):
He was Governor of Massachusetts and president of the Second
Continental Congress, and he was one of the men, obviously,
who signed the American Declaration of Independence in seventeen seventy six.
He had a very flamboyant signature, and it's by far
the largest on the document and is nearly five inches long.
Because of that, his name became synonymous for any signature,
(02:24):
and it said when he signed the document, he said, there,
I guess King George or John Bull will be able
to read that without his spectacles. A kangaroo court is
a mock court that disregards due legal process, and that
expression originated with the California gold rush in eighteen forty nine.
Crime at the time was common and there were many
(02:44):
illegal gold prospectors who seized the mining claims of others.
They were known as claim jumpers. The gold bines had
a lawless atmosphere, but informal courts were set up to
dispense a rough and ready form of justice to the
claim jumpers. There was a large continue of Australian prospectors
seeking their fortune in California at the time, and this,
coupled with the reference to jumping, gave birth to the
(03:07):
naming of the kangaroo court. The term then spread and
was used for any sort of mock tribunal. The common
expression keep it up means to continue do something and
as often used as a form of encouragement, and it
dates from the seventeen hundreds. Of the game of badminton.
The idea of the game is to hit the small
(03:27):
piece of rubber attached with fathers, known as a shuttlecock
over a high net using a small tennis style racket.
The shuttlecock must not hit the ground at any time,
and if it does, the point is lost. Spectators at
badminton events when the game first started would often shout
keep it up during the rallies, and the phrase soon
came to mean any form of encouragement. Keeping up with
(03:51):
the Joneses means striving to match your neighbor in terms
of possessions and wealth, and that expression originated from a
popular comic strip of that name that was published in
the New York Globe. It began in nineteen thirteen and
ran for twenty eight years, bolstered by nineteen fifteen cartoon
film adaptation that played in cinemas throughout America. It was
(04:12):
written by Arthur Popmmand and chronicle his experiences of living
in suburbia. Jones was a common surname at the time
and was meant as a generic term for neighbours. Years later,
Mamand wrote, We'd been living way beyond our means in
our endeavor to keep up with the worll to do class.
I also noticed that most of our friends were doing
(04:33):
the same. I decided it would make good comic strip material.
To kick the bucket means to die, and it is
sometimes said to originate from the theory that when people
hang themselves, they stand on a bucket with a noose
around their neck and then kick the bucket away. However,
a more likely explanation comes from the slaughtering of animals.
In the eighteenth century. The wooden beam that was used
(04:54):
to hang animals up by their feet for slaughter was
called a bucket. As the animals were killed, they were
struggle and spasm their feet kicking in the bucket. The
kiss of death means an action that will lead to
certain failure, and that expression began with the Bible and
the portrayal of Jesus by Judas. In the Book of Matthew,
Judas kisses Jesus on the cheek as a way of
(05:17):
identifying him to the Roman soldiers. As a result of
that kiss, Jesus was arrested and crucified. This practice found
its way to the mafia bosses of Sicily. A kiss
from the don meant the person would soon be killed.
Originally known as a Judas kiss, the expression was changed
in the nineteen forties to knock off work means to
(05:38):
finish work at the end of the day, and that
expression began with the American slave trade. In the early
nineteenth century, riverboats transported slaves to and from the plantations.
These boats were rowed by the slaves themselves to keep
the men rowing. In unison, a drummer would beat out
the rhythm on a block of wood. When it was
time to change shifts, he would knock off a distinctive
(05:59):
hit to signify was time to stop. This was later
used in English factories when knocking a mallet on a
wooden bench indicated the end of a shift. If someone
says knock on wood, they're expressing a wish that something
will or will not occur. Sometimes phrased as touch wood.
It's an expression that dates back to the ancient Druids.
(06:20):
They were a race that inhabited England before the Romans,
and they worshiped trees, in particular oaks, and held the
firm belief the protective spirits lived within trees. They believe
trees were sources of good and warded off evil spirits.
People in need of good luck would go and touch
a tree, and others actually wore small pieces of oak
on necklaces, so the wood was always in contact with
(06:41):
the skin. The expression became commonplace in the eighteen fifties,
and Winston Churchill once said that he always liked to
be within arm's length of a piece of wood to
knock the spots off. Something means to beat easily or
completely outdo, and it began in America in the mid
eighteen hundreds. Carnivals were commonplace all over the country at
(07:02):
the time, and the most popular side show was the
shooting gallery. All comers would test their marksmanship skills, and
the most used target was a playing card, the face
of which had spots or marks on it to indicate
the suit or value of the card. The object was
to shoot through all the spots and remove as many
as possible. Anyone who could knock all the spots of
a card would win the major prize. To know the
(07:26):
ropes means to be well versed in something, and it
has nautical origins and start up with the early sailing
vessels of the sixteen hundreds. They were controlled by many
ropes and knots, which were all connected in a complicated web.
Sailors had to learn the intricate rigging required to raise, lower,
and maneuver the sails in order to speed up, slow down,
(07:46):
and change direction. The ropes were in constant use, and
to fully master these tasks took years of experience. It
was only then that a sailor could claim to know
the ropes. To knuckle down means to diligent apply oneself,
and that expression originated with the game of marbles. A marble,
also known as a tour, is held between a crooked
(08:09):
index finger and flicked by the thumb. It is an
essential rule of the game that the knuckle of the
index finger must be placed down on the ground before
taking a shot. The knuckle must also be placed in
the exact position that the player's previous marble ended. A
player breaking these rules will be quickly told to concentrate
and knuckle down. A lame duck is an ineffective person
(08:32):
or business, or a weakling, and that expression dates from
the mid seventeen hundreds and began in the financial world.
It originated with the London Stock Exchange and applied to
those who were bankrupt or could not pay their debts.
They were forced to waddle out of the exchange alley
in disgrace. Like lame ducks. The first Noel mention of
the term was in writing by Horace Walpole's seventeen sixty
(08:55):
one letter when he wrote, do you know what a
bull and a bear and a lame duck are? The
expression transferred to America in reference to ineffectual politicians by
the mid eighteen hundreds.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
And a special thanks to Greg Hangler for the production
on the piece, and a special thanks to Andrew Thompson
for this series on the curious origins of everyday sayings.
The story of the English language, or at least its
curious sayings and phrases. Here are now American stories
This is Lee Habib, and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show.
And up next we continue with our recurring series about
the curious origins of everyday scenes. Here to join us
again is Andrew Thompson as he continues to share another
slace from his Ultimate Guide to understanding these mini mysteries
(00:33):
of the English language.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
It's a funny old world is an expression indicating an
acceptance of all resignation to a situation, and it was
first used in the nineteen thirty four comedy film You're
Telling Me That film style W. C. Fields, and at
one point he says, it's a funny old world. A
man is lucky if he gets out alive. The popularity
(00:56):
of Fields quickly made the expression commonplace quoted ever since,
most notably by the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher after
her decision to quit politics in nineteen ninety. Alluding to
the fact that she had never lost an election in
her life yet had been forced to stand down, she said,
it's a funny old world, isn't it. It's all Greek
(01:17):
to me means unabled to understand something or something doesn't
make sense, and it originates from the medieval Latin proverb,
which means it is Greek it cannot be read. The
phrase was used by monks scribes at the time as
they copied manuscripts in monastic libraries. Knowledge of the Greek
language was dwindling and very few people could read it.
(01:39):
The expression is yet another one that was brought into
widespread usage by Shakespeare in his fifteen ninety nine play
Julius Caesar, which contains the line but for my own part,
it was Greek to me. The expression John Hancock to
mean a signature derives from the famous American merchant and
statesman who lived from seventeen thirty seven to seventeen ninety three.
(02:03):
He was Governor of Massachusetts and president of the Second
Continental Congress, and he was one of the men, obviously,
who signed the American Declaration of Independence in seventeen seventy six.
He had a very flamboyant signature, and it's by far
the largest on the document and is nearly five inches long.
Because of that, his name became synonymous for any signature,
(02:24):
and it said when he signed the document, he said, there,
I guess King George or John Bull will be able
to read that without his spectacles. A kangaroo court is
a mock court that disregards due legal process, and that
expression originated with the California gold rush in eighteen forty nine.
Crime at the time was common and there were many
(02:44):
illegal gold prospectors who seized the mining claims of others.
They were known as claim jumpers. The gold bines had
a lawless atmosphere, but informal courts were set up to
dispense a rough and ready form of justice to the
claim jumpers. There was a large continue of Australian prospectors
seeking their fortune in California at the time, and this,
coupled with the reference to jumping, gave birth to the
(03:07):
naming of the kangaroo court. The term then spread and
was used for any sort of mock tribunal. The common
expression keep it up means to continue do something and
as often used as a form of encouragement, and it
dates from the seventeen hundreds. Of the game of badminton.
The idea of the game is to hit the small
(03:27):
piece of rubber attached with fathers, known as a shuttlecock
over a high net using a small tennis style racket.
The shuttlecock must not hit the ground at any time,
and if it does, the point is lost. Spectators at
badminton events when the game first started would often shout
keep it up during the rallies, and the phrase soon
came to mean any form of encouragement. Keeping up with
(03:51):
the Joneses means striving to match your neighbor in terms
of possessions and wealth, and that expression originated from a
popular comic strip of that name that was published in
the New York Globe. It began in nineteen thirteen and
ran for twenty eight years, bolstered by nineteen fifteen cartoon
film adaptation that played in cinemas throughout America. It was
(04:12):
written by Arthur Popmmand and chronicle his experiences of living
in suburbia. Jones was a common surname at the time
and was meant as a generic term for neighbours. Years later,
Mamand wrote, We'd been living way beyond our means in
our endeavor to keep up with the worll to do class.
I also noticed that most of our friends were doing
(04:33):
the same. I decided it would make good comic strip material.
To kick the bucket means to die, and it is
sometimes said to originate from the theory that when people
hang themselves, they stand on a bucket with a noose
around their neck and then kick the bucket away. However,
a more likely explanation comes from the slaughtering of animals.
In the eighteenth century. The wooden beam that was used
(04:54):
to hang animals up by their feet for slaughter was
called a bucket. As the animals were killed, they were
struggle and spasm their feet kicking in the bucket. The
kiss of death means an action that will lead to
certain failure, and that expression began with the Bible and
the portrayal of Jesus by Judas. In the Book of Matthew,
Judas kisses Jesus on the cheek as a way of
(05:17):
identifying him to the Roman soldiers. As a result of
that kiss, Jesus was arrested and crucified. This practice found
its way to the mafia bosses of Sicily. A kiss
from the don meant the person would soon be killed.
Originally known as a Judas kiss, the expression was changed
in the nineteen forties to knock off work means to
(05:38):
finish work at the end of the day, and that
expression began with the American slave trade. In the early
nineteenth century, riverboats transported slaves to and from the plantations.
These boats were rowed by the slaves themselves to keep
the men rowing. In unison, a drummer would beat out
the rhythm on a block of wood. When it was
time to change shifts, he would knock off a distinctive
(05:59):
hit to signify was time to stop. This was later
used in English factories when knocking a mallet on a
wooden bench indicated the end of a shift. If someone
says knock on wood, they're expressing a wish that something
will or will not occur. Sometimes phrased as touch wood.
It's an expression that dates back to the ancient Druids.
(06:20):
They were a race that inhabited England before the Romans,
and they worshiped trees, in particular oaks, and held the
firm belief the protective spirits lived within trees. They believe
trees were sources of good and warded off evil spirits.
People in need of good luck would go and touch
a tree, and others actually wore small pieces of oak
on necklaces, so the wood was always in contact with
(06:41):
the skin. The expression became commonplace in the eighteen fifties,
and Winston Churchill once said that he always liked to
be within arm's length of a piece of wood to
knock the spots off. Something means to beat easily or
completely outdo, and it began in America in the mid
eighteen hundreds. Carnivals were commonplace all over the country at
(07:02):
the time, and the most popular side show was the
shooting gallery. All comers would test their marksmanship skills, and
the most used target was a playing card, the face
of which had spots or marks on it to indicate
the suit or value of the card. The object was
to shoot through all the spots and remove as many
as possible. Anyone who could knock all the spots of
a card would win the major prize. To know the
(07:26):
ropes means to be well versed in something, and it
has nautical origins and start up with the early sailing
vessels of the sixteen hundreds. They were controlled by many
ropes and knots, which were all connected in a complicated web.
Sailors had to learn the intricate rigging required to raise, lower,
and maneuver the sails in order to speed up, slow down,
(07:46):
and change direction. The ropes were in constant use, and
to fully master these tasks took years of experience. It
was only then that a sailor could claim to know
the ropes. To knuckle down means to diligent apply oneself,
and that expression originated with the game of marbles. A marble,
also known as a tour, is held between a crooked
(08:09):
index finger and flicked by the thumb. It is an
essential rule of the game that the knuckle of the
index finger must be placed down on the ground before
taking a shot. The knuckle must also be placed in
the exact position that the player's previous marble ended. A
player breaking these rules will be quickly told to concentrate
and knuckle down. A lame duck is an ineffective person
(08:32):
or business, or a weakling, and that expression dates from
the mid seventeen hundreds and began in the financial world.
It originated with the London Stock Exchange and applied to
those who were bankrupt or could not pay their debts.
They were forced to waddle out of the exchange alley
in disgrace. Like lame ducks. The first Noel mention of
the term was in writing by Horace Walpole's seventeen sixty
(08:55):
one letter when he wrote, do you know what a
bull and a bear and a lame duck are? The
expression transferred to America in reference to ineffectual politicians by
the mid eighteen hundreds.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
And a special thanks to Greg Hangler for the production
on the piece, and a special thanks to Andrew Thompson
for this series on the curious origins of everyday sayings.
The story of the English language, or at least its
curious sayings and phrases. Here are now American stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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