August 6, 2025 • 7 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—this time exploring the phrase “put a sox in it” and others. His book, Hair of the Dog to Paint the Town Red: The Wonderful Origins of Everyday Expressions and Fun Phrases, uncovers the quirky roots behind the words we use every day. Be sure to check it out!
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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,
including yours. Send them to our American Stories dot com
with some of our favorites, and up next a recurring favorite,
we continue our series about the curious origins of everyday scenes.
Here to join us again is Andrew Thompson as he
(00:32):
continues to share another slace from his Ultimate Guide to
understanding these mini mysteries of the English language.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Here's Andrew put a sock in it means to be
quiet and its origins of it the early days of
radio broadcasts and sound recordings, the equipment in the early
nineteen hundreds was not very sophisticated, and the ability to
control the volumes of various instruments was limited.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
When orchestras were recorded.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
In the studios, the horn sections ten to be overpowering
and completely drowned out the wind and string sections. To
combat this, horn players would stuff an actual sock into
the mouth of their instrument, and if the conductor thought
it was necessary, he would yellow put a sock in it.
And then by the nineteen twenties, this expression was being
used colloquially to put the dampers on something means to
(01:19):
make something less enjoyable or to reduce your enthusiasm for something,
and a lot of people actually think the phrases put
a damper on something because of.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
The notion of putting water.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
To dampen out a fire, but it's actually put the
dampers on, and it began with music as well. The
damper is a device used on piano strings. It's operated
by a foot pedal and presses against the strings. This
reduces the sound of the piano. When the conductor instructs
the orchestra to put the dampers on, he wants to
tone down the volume of the performance. To be put
(01:52):
through the mill means to go through a hardship or
rough treatment, and it derives from the flower making process.
In medieval England before electricity was invented, classical mills were
usually powered by water which turned a large wheel. This
turned two heavy circular stones which were laid on top
of each other. Cereal seeds were fed through the topstone
(02:12):
and they would be finely ground to produce flour. By
the eighteen hundreds, being put through the mill came to
refer to a person going through a similar hardship similar
to the process of being ground down like a grain
in a mill. If you say to someone put your
thinking cap on, you're telling them to think seriously about
a problem, more to concentrate, and that expression originated with
(02:33):
the judges of the early law courts in England. It
was customary at the time for a judge to put
a black cap on to show the court that he'd
heard all the evidence in a criminal trial. The cap
was a signal that the judge was ready to deliberate
his verdict before passing sentence. Because judges were learned men
and respected intellectuals, the cap was referred to as a
thinking cap, and then the expression took on its broader
(02:55):
meaning by the mid nineteenth century. A pyrrhic victory is
a victory gained at too great a cost, and it's
a phrase that comes from the Greek king Pirris. His
army fought the Romans during the Pyhic War for control
of the Magna Gracia. In one battle in southern Italy
in two seventy nine BC, Piris defeated the Romans, but
(03:18):
he suffered severe losses, including most of his principal commanders.
He was later quoted as saying another such victory and
we are lost, and that spawn the expression pyrrhic victory,
which was used figuratively from the late eighteen hundreds. Raining
cats and dogs means very hard rain, and it has
a number of potential origins, but the seafaring one is
(03:40):
the most compelling. According to an ancient naudic or myth,
it was believed that cats had an influence over storms,
while dogs were a symbol of the wind. This belief
was held by the vikings Odin the Norse storm God
was frequently shown surrounded by dogs and wolves, and this
led early sailors to believe that in any storm, the
rain was caused by the cats and the winds were
(04:02):
brought by the dogs, So raining cats and dogs came
to mean any heavy rain and wind. To read between
the lines means to discern a meaning that isn't obvious,
and it's an expression that derives from the early days
of cryptography in the nineteenth century. Cryptography involves encoding messages
(04:22):
into seemingly normal text, and one of the first techniques
used to pass codes was to write the message on
every second line and have an unrelated, innocent message across
all the lines. So when read normally and in its entirety.
The story was simple and made sense and did not
reveal any code, but it was only when the alternate
lines were read that the code was able to be deciphered.
(04:45):
If you read the Riot Act to someone, that means
you're berating them harshly. And that's from the eighteenth century
where reading the Riot Act would literally happen. It started
in seventeen fifteen with the Riot Act, which gave British
magistrates the authority to label any group of more than
twelve people a threat to the peace. When such a
group gathered, a public official would read aloud a section
(05:08):
of the Riode Act which demanded people immediately disperse themselves
and go about their lawful business. Anyone who remained after
one hour was subject to removal by force and arrest.
This Riot Act actually remained in effect until nineteen seventy three.
If you say something's the real McCoy, you're saying it's
an authentic or genuine personal thing, not a substitute. And
(05:29):
it's an expression with a number of potential origins that
have been hotly contested over the years. The most cogent
theory is that it derives from a man named Kid McCoy,
which was a name used by Norman Selby, the American
wel toweight boxer who dominated the sport in the eighteen nineties.
McCoy had many imitators who would use his name in
an attempt to capitalize on his popularity, and it became
(05:53):
so commonplace for Kid McCoy impostors at fairgrounds that not
many people actually believed it was.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Ever the real Kid McCoy.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Then, years after he retired, McCoy was in a bar
when he was challenged by a drunk who was much
bigger than him. The drunk's friend warned him not to
fight McCoy, but the drunk didn't believe it was him,
then provoked his limit.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
McCoy knocked the man out with a single blow.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
When he came to the drunk admitted, you're right, he
is the real McCoy. A red herring is a misleading clue,
and that expression dates from the eighteenth century.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
At the time, herrings were caught in.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Great numbers, and because there were no refrigeration, they were
preserved by smoking.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
The smoking process turned.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
The fish of reddish brown color and also gave it
a pungent odor. He'd attempt to sabotage a fox hunt.
People who are against the sport would drag the strong
smelling red herring across the trail to mislead the hunting
dogs and throw them off the scent. The dogs would
often follow the scent of the red herring instead of
the fox.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
And a special thanks to Greg Angler for the production
on the piece, and to Andrew Thompson for sharing with
us the stories of everyday sayings. By the way, you
can get his book Hair of the Dog to paint
the town red. The curious origins of everyday sayings and
funphrases get Amazon or the usual suspects. The stories of
(07:15):
everyday sayings here on our American Stories. Here are to
our American Stories. We bring you inspiring stories of history, sports, business, faith,
(07:36):
and love. Stories from a great and beautiful country that
need to be told, but we can't do it without you.
Our stories are free to listen to, but they're not
free to make. If you love our stories in America
like we do, please go to our American Stories dot
com and click the donate button. Give a little, give
a lot, help us keep the great American stories coming.
(07:56):
That's our American Stories dot Com.
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
including yours. Send them to our American Stories dot com
with some of our favorites, and up next a recurring favorite,
we continue our series about the curious origins of everyday scenes.
Here to join us again is Andrew Thompson as he
(00:32):
continues to share another slace from his Ultimate Guide to
understanding these mini mysteries of the English language.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Here's Andrew put a sock in it means to be
quiet and its origins of it the early days of
radio broadcasts and sound recordings, the equipment in the early
nineteen hundreds was not very sophisticated, and the ability to
control the volumes of various instruments was limited.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
When orchestras were recorded.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
In the studios, the horn sections ten to be overpowering
and completely drowned out the wind and string sections. To
combat this, horn players would stuff an actual sock into
the mouth of their instrument, and if the conductor thought
it was necessary, he would yellow put a sock in it.
And then by the nineteen twenties, this expression was being
used colloquially to put the dampers on something means to
(01:19):
make something less enjoyable or to reduce your enthusiasm for something,
and a lot of people actually think the phrases put
a damper on something because of.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
The notion of putting water.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
To dampen out a fire, but it's actually put the
dampers on, and it began with music as well. The
damper is a device used on piano strings. It's operated
by a foot pedal and presses against the strings. This
reduces the sound of the piano. When the conductor instructs
the orchestra to put the dampers on, he wants to
tone down the volume of the performance. To be put
(01:52):
through the mill means to go through a hardship or
rough treatment, and it derives from the flower making process.
In medieval England before electricity was invented, classical mills were
usually powered by water which turned a large wheel. This
turned two heavy circular stones which were laid on top
of each other. Cereal seeds were fed through the topstone
(02:12):
and they would be finely ground to produce flour. By
the eighteen hundreds, being put through the mill came to
refer to a person going through a similar hardship similar
to the process of being ground down like a grain
in a mill. If you say to someone put your
thinking cap on, you're telling them to think seriously about
a problem, more to concentrate, and that expression originated with
(02:33):
the judges of the early law courts in England. It
was customary at the time for a judge to put
a black cap on to show the court that he'd
heard all the evidence in a criminal trial. The cap
was a signal that the judge was ready to deliberate
his verdict before passing sentence. Because judges were learned men
and respected intellectuals, the cap was referred to as a
thinking cap, and then the expression took on its broader
(02:55):
meaning by the mid nineteenth century. A pyrrhic victory is
a victory gained at too great a cost, and it's
a phrase that comes from the Greek king Pirris. His
army fought the Romans during the Pyhic War for control
of the Magna Gracia. In one battle in southern Italy
in two seventy nine BC, Piris defeated the Romans, but
(03:18):
he suffered severe losses, including most of his principal commanders.
He was later quoted as saying another such victory and
we are lost, and that spawn the expression pyrrhic victory,
which was used figuratively from the late eighteen hundreds. Raining
cats and dogs means very hard rain, and it has
a number of potential origins, but the seafaring one is
(03:40):
the most compelling. According to an ancient naudic or myth,
it was believed that cats had an influence over storms,
while dogs were a symbol of the wind. This belief
was held by the vikings Odin the Norse storm God
was frequently shown surrounded by dogs and wolves, and this
led early sailors to believe that in any storm, the
rain was caused by the cats and the winds were
(04:02):
brought by the dogs, So raining cats and dogs came
to mean any heavy rain and wind. To read between
the lines means to discern a meaning that isn't obvious,
and it's an expression that derives from the early days
of cryptography in the nineteenth century. Cryptography involves encoding messages
(04:22):
into seemingly normal text, and one of the first techniques
used to pass codes was to write the message on
every second line and have an unrelated, innocent message across
all the lines. So when read normally and in its entirety.
The story was simple and made sense and did not
reveal any code, but it was only when the alternate
lines were read that the code was able to be deciphered.
(04:45):
If you read the Riot Act to someone, that means
you're berating them harshly. And that's from the eighteenth century
where reading the Riot Act would literally happen. It started
in seventeen fifteen with the Riot Act, which gave British
magistrates the authority to label any group of more than
twelve people a threat to the peace. When such a
group gathered, a public official would read aloud a section
(05:08):
of the Riode Act which demanded people immediately disperse themselves
and go about their lawful business. Anyone who remained after
one hour was subject to removal by force and arrest.
This Riot Act actually remained in effect until nineteen seventy three.
If you say something's the real McCoy, you're saying it's
an authentic or genuine personal thing, not a substitute. And
(05:29):
it's an expression with a number of potential origins that
have been hotly contested over the years. The most cogent
theory is that it derives from a man named Kid McCoy,
which was a name used by Norman Selby, the American
wel toweight boxer who dominated the sport in the eighteen nineties.
McCoy had many imitators who would use his name in
an attempt to capitalize on his popularity, and it became
(05:53):
so commonplace for Kid McCoy impostors at fairgrounds that not
many people actually believed it was.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Ever the real Kid McCoy.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Then, years after he retired, McCoy was in a bar
when he was challenged by a drunk who was much
bigger than him. The drunk's friend warned him not to
fight McCoy, but the drunk didn't believe it was him,
then provoked his limit.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
McCoy knocked the man out with a single blow.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
When he came to the drunk admitted, you're right, he
is the real McCoy. A red herring is a misleading clue,
and that expression dates from the eighteenth century.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
At the time, herrings were caught in.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Great numbers, and because there were no refrigeration, they were
preserved by smoking.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
The smoking process turned.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
The fish of reddish brown color and also gave it
a pungent odor. He'd attempt to sabotage a fox hunt.
People who are against the sport would drag the strong
smelling red herring across the trail to mislead the hunting
dogs and throw them off the scent. The dogs would
often follow the scent of the red herring instead of
the fox.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
And a special thanks to Greg Angler for the production
on the piece, and to Andrew Thompson for sharing with
us the stories of everyday sayings. By the way, you
can get his book Hair of the Dog to paint
the town red. The curious origins of everyday sayings and
funphrases get Amazon or the usual suspects. The stories of
(07:15):
everyday sayings here on our American Stories. Here are to
our American Stories. We bring you inspiring stories of history, sports, business, faith,
(07:36):
and love. Stories from a great and beautiful country that
need to be told, but we can't do it without you.
Our stories are free to listen to, but they're not
free to make. If you love our stories in America
like we do, please go to our American Stories dot
com and click the donate button. Give a little, give
a lot, help us keep the great American stories coming.
(07:56):
That's our American Stories dot Com.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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