July 10, 2025 • 9 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Andrew Thompson shares another slice from his guide to unraveling the baffling mini-mysteries of the English language. His book, Hair of the Dog to Paint the Town Red: The Wonderful Origins of Everyday Expressions and Fun Phrases, explores where our favorite sayings come from—and what they mean. This time, how the phrases "true colors" and "soap opera", among others, came to be.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American stories and up next
our recurring series about the curious origins of everyday sayings.
Here to join us again is Andrew Thompson as he
continues to share another slaves from his Ultimate Guide to
understanding these many stories, these many mysteries of the English language.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
To run a mock means to engage in wild or
erratic behavior, and it dates from the sixteenth century. In Malaysia.
The Amuko were a band of Malay warriors, and they
believe that warriors who died in victorious battles became favorites
with the gods, while warriors that failed were dishonored and killed.
This led the men to fight with extreme frenzy, and
(00:52):
this frenzied fighting fascinated the European explorers of the eighteenth century.
Captain James Cook in fact, wrote about them and said,
to run a mock is to get drunk with opium,
to sally forth from the house, kill the person or
person supposed or have injured their mock, and any other
person that attempts to impede his passage. A mock then
(01:13):
officially became a psychiatric medical condition in eighteen forty nine,
and is still considered one today. Run of the mill
means average or ordinary, and that expression originated in the
early milling towns of England. These great mill towns mass
produce wool and cotton, which was exported all over the world.
It was an extremely large industry and a mill's reputation
(01:34):
and profitability was primarily based on the quality of the
material it produced. Quality control checks were essential before the
material could be sold, but anything coming directly from the
mill without having been inspected and graded was known as
a run of the mill and was considered inferior. Saved
by the bell means at the last minute, and this
(01:56):
is an expression that has a number of conflicting explanations.
Relates to boxing and the bell rung at the end
of a round before a knockdown boxer has been counted
out to ten that allows the box to continue and
start at the next round. Another theory is that it
stems from a guard at Windsor Castle in the nineteenth
century in England falling asleep while on duty. He denied
(02:18):
the charge and in his defense said that he had
heard big ben chime thirteen times at midnight. The mechanism
in the clock was checked and a cog had in
fact slipped, and he was correct he'd been saved by
the bell. But the likely origin actually predates both of
these and has the same explanation as the expression for
dead ringer, and that is that in the Middle Ages,
(02:40):
before the medical profession had fully understood combers, people who
displayed signs of no life were presumed dead and would
be often buried. Sometimes it was later discovered that they'd
been buried alive, with seeing scratches on the top of
the coffin roof. If they happened to have been exhumed.
People started attaching a string to their loved one's wrist,
led to a bell above the ground. If the person
(03:02):
woke up underground, they were able to ring the bell
and be saved. And there were in fact a number
of safety coffins that were registered as patents during the
nineteenth century, which lends weight to this theory. See how
it pans out means to see what happens, and it's
another expression that relates to the mining industry and the
California gold rush of the mid eighteen hundreds. The early
(03:25):
prospectors used a simple technique of panning to look for
gold in the rivers and streams. A deposit of sand
and gravel from the creek was scooped into a small
metal pan, and then it was gently agitated with water
so that the lighter sand washed over the side, while
the heavier gold remained at the bottom of the pan.
A prospect would wait and see how each attempt panned out.
(03:46):
To set off on the wrong foot means to make
a bad start to a relationship or a project, and
it dates back to ancient Rome and is one of
a number of expressions that relates to the ancient romans
superstitious belief about anything on the left. They believed the
left was evil, and in fact, the Latin word for
left is sinister. In the first century, under Emperor Nero,
(04:09):
an order was made that no Roman should enter or
leave a building by the left foot. They even had
guards placed at entrances to public buildings to ensure that
the order was adhered to, but not much enforcement was
actually needed, as most Romes agreed that to go against
the ruling was to flirt with disaster, and they rarely
set off on the wrong foot. Shaker leg means to
(04:31):
hurry up, especially in getting out of bed, and it
owes its origins to the British Navy in the nineteenth century.
It was at that time that civilian women were first
allowed on board Royal Navy ships to boost morale, and
the sailors would be roused at first light with a
cry of shaker leg. This was used to distinguish between
the men and the women. If a smooth and shapely
(04:52):
female leg was presented as opposed to a hairy sailor's leg,
the lady was permitted to stain her bunk until all
the men were dressed and go on to this day.
Shake a legg means to hurry up and get out
of bed. To give something short shrift means to give
it little consideration, and it's often mistakenly set a short shift.
But it's short shrift. It's hard to say that more
(05:13):
than a few times, and it dates from the criminal
world of the seventeenth century. A shrift is a confession
given to a priest in order to obtain absolution. It
comes from the verb shrive, the past tense of which
is shrove for Shrove Tuesday, when people go to confession.
In the seventeenth century, as soon as criminals were convicted
(05:33):
and sentenced, they were sent to the gallows to be hanged.
There was usually a priest waiting with the executioner, and
the prisoners were allowed a very short time to confess
their sins. In the last minutes of their life, they
were given a short shrift before they were killed. To
show your true colours means to reveal your true intentions
or personality, and it's yet another nautical expression that dates
(05:56):
from the early eighteenth century in naval warfare, where the
flag of a ship's home country was called as colours.
Under the Articles of War that were published in seventeen
fifty seven, ship's captains were obliged to run up their
country's flag when going into battle in order to identify
the nationality of the ship, but as a method of
deceiving the enemy, unscrupulous captains would run up a different
(06:19):
flag to fool the opposing captain into believing they are
an ally. By doing this, the ship was able to
get within firing range, and with the element of surprise
on his side, the captain would only then hoist his
actual flag and show his true colours before firing on
the enemy. When someone says that's the sixty four dollar question,
(06:40):
they mean it's a crucial question or issue, and it
began in America in the nineteen forties with a radio
quiz show, Take It or Leave It. It ran from
nineteen forty to nine forty seven and involve contestants answering
increasingly difficult questions. After answering a question correctly, the contestant
had the choice to either take the money being offered
or leave it and have a go at the higher
(07:02):
next valued question. The first question was one dollar, and
it went progressively upwards, doubling up to the seventh and
final question, which was the sixty four dollar question. The
expression then entered popular use in nineteen fifty five when
the radio show moved to the more lucrative television program
and became the sixty four thousand dollar question. To have
(07:25):
a skeleton the closet means to have a shameful secret,
and it has its origins in English medical law. Until
the introduction of the Anatomy Act in eighteen thirty two,
it was illegal to dissect a human body for medical research,
but in contravention of the law, some doctors still did
use corpses for both research and teaching. So as to
(07:45):
avoid detection, they were known to store the leftover skeletons
in locked closets, so many in the medical profession had
a secret skeleton in the closet. To sleep tight means
to sleep well, and that phrase stems from a time
in England before spring mattresses were invented. In the early
mass produced beds, the straw mattresses were held together by
(08:06):
ropes that were stretched across the bed frame in a
crisscross pattern. After a while, the ropes would sag and
it was necessary to tighten them. This was done with
a forked iron or wooden tool, which was turned to
why the ropes tight. A mattress that had just been
tight and was far more comfortable and allow people to
sleep tight. A soap opera is a television serial, drama
(08:29):
or a real life situation resembling one, and that expression
began in nineteen twenty in America. Amos and Andy was
a popular weekly radio show at the time and one
of the earliest comedy series. He was broadcast during primetime,
and Procter and Gamble, a prominent soap manufacturer, saw the
opportunity to obtain widespread exposure and began advertising their products
(08:52):
during the breaks in the show. They then went on
to sponsor the program, and a trend soon developed and
other soap manufacturers began sponsoring similar show. As a result,
these serial shows were being called soap operas by the
late nineteen thirties.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
And a great job on the production by Greg Hangler
and a special thanks to Andrew Thompson and he is
the author of Hair of the Dog. To Paint the
Town Red, The curious origins of everyday sayings and fun phrases,
and you can go to Amazon dot com or all
of the usual suspects the story of our everyday expressions.
Here on our American Stories
And we continue with our American stories and up next
our recurring series about the curious origins of everyday sayings.
Here to join us again is Andrew Thompson as he
continues to share another slaves from his Ultimate Guide to
understanding these many stories, these many mysteries of the English language.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
To run a mock means to engage in wild or
erratic behavior, and it dates from the sixteenth century. In Malaysia.
The Amuko were a band of Malay warriors, and they
believe that warriors who died in victorious battles became favorites
with the gods, while warriors that failed were dishonored and killed.
This led the men to fight with extreme frenzy, and
(00:52):
this frenzied fighting fascinated the European explorers of the eighteenth century.
Captain James Cook in fact, wrote about them and said,
to run a mock is to get drunk with opium,
to sally forth from the house, kill the person or
person supposed or have injured their mock, and any other
person that attempts to impede his passage. A mock then
(01:13):
officially became a psychiatric medical condition in eighteen forty nine,
and is still considered one today. Run of the mill
means average or ordinary, and that expression originated in the
early milling towns of England. These great mill towns mass
produce wool and cotton, which was exported all over the world.
It was an extremely large industry and a mill's reputation
(01:34):
and profitability was primarily based on the quality of the
material it produced. Quality control checks were essential before the
material could be sold, but anything coming directly from the
mill without having been inspected and graded was known as
a run of the mill and was considered inferior. Saved
by the bell means at the last minute, and this
(01:56):
is an expression that has a number of conflicting explanations.
Relates to boxing and the bell rung at the end
of a round before a knockdown boxer has been counted
out to ten that allows the box to continue and
start at the next round. Another theory is that it
stems from a guard at Windsor Castle in the nineteenth
century in England falling asleep while on duty. He denied
(02:18):
the charge and in his defense said that he had
heard big ben chime thirteen times at midnight. The mechanism
in the clock was checked and a cog had in
fact slipped, and he was correct he'd been saved by
the bell. But the likely origin actually predates both of
these and has the same explanation as the expression for
dead ringer, and that is that in the Middle Ages,
(02:40):
before the medical profession had fully understood combers, people who
displayed signs of no life were presumed dead and would
be often buried. Sometimes it was later discovered that they'd
been buried alive, with seeing scratches on the top of
the coffin roof. If they happened to have been exhumed.
People started attaching a string to their loved one's wrist,
led to a bell above the ground. If the person
(03:02):
woke up underground, they were able to ring the bell
and be saved. And there were in fact a number
of safety coffins that were registered as patents during the
nineteenth century, which lends weight to this theory. See how
it pans out means to see what happens, and it's
another expression that relates to the mining industry and the
California gold rush of the mid eighteen hundreds. The early
(03:25):
prospectors used a simple technique of panning to look for
gold in the rivers and streams. A deposit of sand
and gravel from the creek was scooped into a small
metal pan, and then it was gently agitated with water
so that the lighter sand washed over the side, while
the heavier gold remained at the bottom of the pan.
A prospect would wait and see how each attempt panned out.
(03:46):
To set off on the wrong foot means to make
a bad start to a relationship or a project, and
it dates back to ancient Rome and is one of
a number of expressions that relates to the ancient romans
superstitious belief about anything on the left. They believed the
left was evil, and in fact, the Latin word for
left is sinister. In the first century, under Emperor Nero,
(04:09):
an order was made that no Roman should enter or
leave a building by the left foot. They even had
guards placed at entrances to public buildings to ensure that
the order was adhered to, but not much enforcement was
actually needed, as most Romes agreed that to go against
the ruling was to flirt with disaster, and they rarely
set off on the wrong foot. Shaker leg means to
(04:31):
hurry up, especially in getting out of bed, and it
owes its origins to the British Navy in the nineteenth century.
It was at that time that civilian women were first
allowed on board Royal Navy ships to boost morale, and
the sailors would be roused at first light with a
cry of shaker leg. This was used to distinguish between
the men and the women. If a smooth and shapely
(04:52):
female leg was presented as opposed to a hairy sailor's leg,
the lady was permitted to stain her bunk until all
the men were dressed and go on to this day.
Shake a legg means to hurry up and get out
of bed. To give something short shrift means to give
it little consideration, and it's often mistakenly set a short shift.
But it's short shrift. It's hard to say that more
(05:13):
than a few times, and it dates from the criminal
world of the seventeenth century. A shrift is a confession
given to a priest in order to obtain absolution. It
comes from the verb shrive, the past tense of which
is shrove for Shrove Tuesday, when people go to confession.
In the seventeenth century, as soon as criminals were convicted
(05:33):
and sentenced, they were sent to the gallows to be hanged.
There was usually a priest waiting with the executioner, and
the prisoners were allowed a very short time to confess
their sins. In the last minutes of their life, they
were given a short shrift before they were killed. To
show your true colours means to reveal your true intentions
or personality, and it's yet another nautical expression that dates
(05:56):
from the early eighteenth century in naval warfare, where the
flag of a ship's home country was called as colours.
Under the Articles of War that were published in seventeen
fifty seven, ship's captains were obliged to run up their
country's flag when going into battle in order to identify
the nationality of the ship, but as a method of
deceiving the enemy, unscrupulous captains would run up a different
(06:19):
flag to fool the opposing captain into believing they are
an ally. By doing this, the ship was able to
get within firing range, and with the element of surprise
on his side, the captain would only then hoist his
actual flag and show his true colours before firing on
the enemy. When someone says that's the sixty four dollar question,
(06:40):
they mean it's a crucial question or issue, and it
began in America in the nineteen forties with a radio
quiz show, Take It or Leave It. It ran from
nineteen forty to nine forty seven and involve contestants answering
increasingly difficult questions. After answering a question correctly, the contestant
had the choice to either take the money being offered
or leave it and have a go at the higher
(07:02):
next valued question. The first question was one dollar, and
it went progressively upwards, doubling up to the seventh and
final question, which was the sixty four dollar question. The
expression then entered popular use in nineteen fifty five when
the radio show moved to the more lucrative television program
and became the sixty four thousand dollar question. To have
(07:25):
a skeleton the closet means to have a shameful secret,
and it has its origins in English medical law. Until
the introduction of the Anatomy Act in eighteen thirty two,
it was illegal to dissect a human body for medical research,
but in contravention of the law, some doctors still did
use corpses for both research and teaching. So as to
(07:45):
avoid detection, they were known to store the leftover skeletons
in locked closets, so many in the medical profession had
a secret skeleton in the closet. To sleep tight means
to sleep well, and that phrase stems from a time
in England before spring mattresses were invented. In the early
mass produced beds, the straw mattresses were held together by
(08:06):
ropes that were stretched across the bed frame in a
crisscross pattern. After a while, the ropes would sag and
it was necessary to tighten them. This was done with
a forked iron or wooden tool, which was turned to
why the ropes tight. A mattress that had just been
tight and was far more comfortable and allow people to
sleep tight. A soap opera is a television serial, drama
(08:29):
or a real life situation resembling one, and that expression
began in nineteen twenty in America. Amos and Andy was
a popular weekly radio show at the time and one
of the earliest comedy series. He was broadcast during primetime,
and Procter and Gamble, a prominent soap manufacturer, saw the
opportunity to obtain widespread exposure and began advertising their products
(08:52):
during the breaks in the show. They then went on
to sponsor the program, and a trend soon developed and
other soap manufacturers began sponsoring similar show. As a result,
these serial shows were being called soap operas by the
late nineteen thirties.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
And a great job on the production by Greg Hangler
and a special thanks to Andrew Thompson and he is
the author of Hair of the Dog. To Paint the
Town Red, The curious origins of everyday sayings and fun phrases,
and you can go to Amazon dot com or all
of the usual suspects the story of our everyday expressions.
Here on our American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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