July 25, 2024 • 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
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 dishoonded 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 that had
in fact slipped, and he was correct he had 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
(02:39):
Middle Ages, before the medical profession had fully understood comas,
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
(03:02):
the person 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.
(03:25):
The early 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 were made at the bottom of
the pan. A prospect would wait and see how each
attempt panned out. To set off on the wrong foot
(03:47):
means to make a bad start, or 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 left.
They believed the left was evil, and in fact, the
Latin word for left is sinister. In the first century,
(04:07):
under Emperor Nero, 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 Romans agreed that
to go against the ruling was to flirt with disaster,
and they rarely set off on the wrong foot. Shaker
(04:30):
leg means to 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
(04:51):
smooth and shapely female leg was presented as opposed to
a hairy sailor's leg, the lady was permitted to stain
in her bunk until all the men were dressed and gone.
To this day, shaker 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 said
a short shift, but it's short shrift. It's hard to
(05:13):
say that more 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 tuesdays when people
go to confession. In the seventeenth century, as soon as
criminals were convicted and sentenced. They were sent to the
(05:35):
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 from the early eighteenth century in
(05:58):
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
(06:19):
run up a different 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 dollars question. They mean it's a crucial
(06:42):
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 nineteen 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 next valued question. The first
(07:05):
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 a skeleton the closet means
(07:26):
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 avoid detection. They were
(07:46):
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 ropes that were stretched
(08:07):
across the bed frame in a criss cross 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 wind 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 or a real life
(08:30):
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 prime time, and Procter and Gamble,
a prominent soap manufacturer, saw the opportunity to obtain widespread
exposure and began advertising their products during the breaks in
(08:52):
the show. They then went on to sponsor the program,
and a trend soon developed and other soap manufacturers began
sponsoring similar ship. 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 go to Amazon dot Com or all of
the usual suspects the story of our everyday expressions. Here
(09:27):
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 dishoonded 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 that had
in fact slipped, and he was correct he had 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
(02:39):
Middle Ages, before the medical profession had fully understood comas,
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
(03:02):
the person 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.
(03:25):
The early 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 were made at the bottom of
the pan. A prospect would wait and see how each
attempt panned out. To set off on the wrong foot
(03:47):
means to make a bad start, or 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 left.
They believed the left was evil, and in fact, the
Latin word for left is sinister. In the first century,
(04:07):
under Emperor Nero, 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 Romans agreed that
to go against the ruling was to flirt with disaster,
and they rarely set off on the wrong foot. Shaker
(04:30):
leg means to 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
(04:51):
smooth and shapely female leg was presented as opposed to
a hairy sailor's leg, the lady was permitted to stain
in her bunk until all the men were dressed and gone.
To this day, shaker 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 said
a short shift, but it's short shrift. It's hard to
(05:13):
say that more 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 tuesdays when people
go to confession. In the seventeenth century, as soon as
criminals were convicted and sentenced. They were sent to the
(05:35):
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 from the early eighteenth century in
(05:58):
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
(06:19):
run up a different 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 dollars question. They mean it's a crucial
(06:42):
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 nineteen 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 next valued question. The first
(07:05):
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 a skeleton the closet means
(07:26):
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 avoid detection. They were
(07:46):
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 ropes that were stretched
(08:07):
across the bed frame in a criss cross 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 wind 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 or a real life
(08:30):
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 prime time, and Procter and Gamble,
a prominent soap manufacturer, saw the opportunity to obtain widespread
exposure and began advertising their products during the breaks in
(08:52):
the show. They then went on to sponsor the program,
and a trend soon developed and other soap manufacturers began
sponsoring similar ship. 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 go to Amazon dot Com or all of
the usual suspects the story of our everyday expressions. Here
(09:27):
on our American Stories.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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