February 10, 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. His 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 starre 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. Has been quote
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 to me means unable to understand something or
(01:19):
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.
The expression is yet another one that was brought into
(01:41):
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 seveneen 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 went on 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 contingent 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 feds, 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 bat 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 written
(04:12):
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 neighbors. Years later, Maman 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 the same.
(04:33):
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 to hang
(04:55):
animals up by their feet for slaughter was called a bucket.
As the animals were killed, they were off struggle and
spasm their feet kicking the bucket. The kiss of death
means an action that will lead to certain failure, and
that expression began with the Bible and the betrayal of
Jesus by Judas. In the Book of Matthew, Judas kisses
(05:15):
Jesus on the cheek as a way of 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 finish work
(05:39):
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 hit to signify was
(06:00):
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. They were a race that
(06:21):
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 the skin. The expression became
(06:43):
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 outdoo and it began
in America in the mid eighteen hundreds. Carnivals were commonplace
all over the country at the time, and the most
popular side show was the shooting gallery. All comers would
(07:06):
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 ropes means to be well
(07:27):
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, and change direction.
(07:48):
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 index finger
(08:10):
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 or business or
(08:32):
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 are
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 Walpold's seventeen sixty one letter when
(08:56):
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 starre 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. Has been quote
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 to me means unable to understand something or
(01:19):
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.
The expression is yet another one that was brought into
(01:41):
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 seveneen 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 went on 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 contingent 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 feds, 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 bat 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 written
(04:12):
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 neighbors. Years later, Maman 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 the same.
(04:33):
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 to hang
(04:55):
animals up by their feet for slaughter was called a bucket.
As the animals were killed, they were off struggle and
spasm their feet kicking the bucket. The kiss of death
means an action that will lead to certain failure, and
that expression began with the Bible and the betrayal of
Jesus by Judas. In the Book of Matthew, Judas kisses
(05:15):
Jesus on the cheek as a way of 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 finish work
(05:39):
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 hit to signify was
(06:00):
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. They were a race that
(06:21):
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 the skin. The expression became
(06:43):
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 outdoo and it began
in America in the mid eighteen hundreds. Carnivals were commonplace
all over the country at the time, and the most
popular side show was the shooting gallery. All comers would
(07:06):
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 ropes means to be well
(07:27):
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, and change direction.
(07:48):
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 index finger
(08:10):
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 or business or
(08:32):
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 are
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 Walpold's seventeen sixty one letter when
(08:56):
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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