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
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American stories. And up next
we continue with our recurring series about the curious origins
of everyday sayings. Here to join us once again is
Andrew Thompson as he continues to share another slaves from
his Ultimate Guide to understanding these mini mysteries of the
(00:32):
English language.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
To have someone over a barrel means that someone is
helpless or at someone's mercy, and it has naudical origins
and relates to the practice of rescuing a drowning sailor.
Once hauled from the water, the other crew members would
place the sailor face down over a barrel in order
to empty his lungs of water. The sailor would be
rolled back and forth in an attempt to expel the
(00:56):
water from his mouth. Being completely helpless and of unconscious,
the sailor was totally reliant on the other crew members
to save him, and he was said to be over
a barrel. To have the bit between your teeth means
to take control of a situation, and it has origins
in horse racing. The bit is derived from the Old
English word meaning bite, and is the mouthpiece in a
(01:19):
horse's bridle that is used to control the horse's movements.
When a horse is being ridden, normally, the reins pressed
the bit against the soft part of the horse's mouth,
causing him to turn his head. But if the horse
grabs it so that the bit is between his teeth,
it takes the control away from the rider and the
reins have no effect. The horse can then run freely
(01:39):
however it chooses. This expression was being used by the
late sixteen hundreds. When someone says head over heels, it
generally means that they're completely in love. And this expression
began in the fourteenth century and actually began as heels
over head, and this in fact made more logical sense,
as it meant to be upside down, or to be
(02:01):
so excited that you turn your heels over your head
in a cartwheel or somersault. The phrase then became inverted
towards the end of the eighteenth century when Herbert Lawrence
used it mistakenly in a novel The Contemplative Man. But
it was the incorrect usage by Davy Crockett in eighteen
thirty four that cemented the expression to the one we
(02:21):
used today and gave it romantic connotations when he said
I soon found myself head over heels in love with
this girl to say here here is a strong signal
of encouragement or endorsement, and that expression began with the
British Parliament in the late seventeenth century, in both the
House of Commons and the House of Lords. There, if
(02:43):
anyone disagreed with a speaker, they would hum loudly to
try to drown out the speech, but if other members
were in agreement with what was being said, they would
shout hear him, hear him, in an attempt to make
those humming men actually listen. That was later contracted to hear,
and it is still used in parliament today in England
to signify the listener's agreement with the point being made.
(03:06):
It is also thought to be said because applause is
generally forbidden in the British Parliament. To hedge your bets
means to support one or more person or outcome to
minimize the possibility of losing, and that expression originated in
the seventeenth century in England, where landowners at the time
would enclose pieces of their land by planting a row
(03:27):
of trees and then pruning them to form a hedge.
These hedges were normally made from the spiny hawthorn bush,
which formed an impenetrable barrier. This method acted as a
means of protecting against escaping animals. The hedges made the
farmer's land more secure and limited the risk. The expression
was first used by John Don in sixteen oh seven.
(03:50):
The expression hell bent for leather means to go all
out or willing to do anything to achieve a goal,
and it relates to horse riding. The word bent means
to be determined, as in bent on doing something. To
ride a horse aggressively for long distances can push it
to injury or even death, With either result the horses
rendered useless and is destined to be skinned for leather.
(04:13):
Someone who pushed a horse to those extremes would be
said to be hell bent on turning into leather. High
jinks relates to excited or silly behavior when people are
enjoying themselves, and that expression was originally the name of
a drinking game that was popular in Scotland in the
seventeen hundreds. In the game, dice were thrown and the
players were scored. The loser could either forfeit or drink
(04:36):
a potent cocktail of alcohol, which was likely to make
him drunk and foolish. Walter Scott referred to the game
in his eighteen fifteen book Guy Mannering, and the phrase
had acquired its present meaning by the mid eighteen hundreds.
To hit the ground running means to get off to
a quick and successful start, or to seize an opportunity.
Many believe that the expression originated from the Two World Wars,
(05:00):
where soldiers were trained to hit the ground running when
leaving a moving boat, tank, or aircraft. This allowed the
soldier to land on the ground smoothly, using the momentum
of the craft so as to not lose his footing.
The more likely origin of the phrase, though, was from
stowaways jumping off a moving freight train before it entered
the station. The expression existed well before the twentieth century,
(05:21):
so this is likely the origin of the expression. Others
think it came from the Pony Express mail riders of
the eighteen hundreds, who were avoiding delays when they changed mounts,
so they'd jump off and hit the ground running. To
hold a candle means to be far inferior to someone
or something else, and it's generally used in this sense
of he couldn't hold a candle to you, and it
(05:45):
dates back to the time before electricity. Usually expressed as
as I said, not fit to hold a candle, couldn't
hold a candle. Unskilled workers or apprentices were expected to
hold a candle so that the more experienced craftsmen had
light while they did their work. Holding a candle was
obviously not a very challenging role, so being told that
you were not even fit to do that task placed
(06:07):
you at the very bottom of the pecking order and
as vastly inferior to the craftsmen at work. Hold the
fort means to maintain things in the absence of others,
and it owes its origins to the American Civil War.
During the Battle of Allatoona in eighteen sixty four, General
William Sherman was gathering his army at the top Mount
Kennesaw near Atlanta to fight a Confederate troop. He told
(06:31):
General Course that reinforcements were being mounted and to hold
the fort at all costs for im coming. While Sherman
immortalized the phrase, it earned widespread acclaim in the late
eighteen hundreds when the American composer and popular evangelist Philip
Bliss wrote the gospel song hold the fort. Hunky dory,
(06:51):
which means everything is fine and okay, as an expression
with strange origins. It began with a group of American
sailors in the nineteenth century. There was a major street
in Yokohama, Japan called Hancho Dori, and it was well
known for housing ladies of ill repute and when imported
after a long voyage, the sailors would frequent the street
(07:12):
to partake in the recreational activities being offered. Hunky meaning sexy,
was a play on the similar looking word hancho, and
when dory was added, the phrase hunky dory was spawned.
Olbion monkey's uncle is used as an expression of shock
or disbelief or skepticism at an idea, and it relates
(07:33):
to the theory of evolution postulated by Charles Darwin. As
a follow up to his groundbreaking book The Origin of Species,
Darwin published The Descent of Man in eighteen seventy one.
In it, he suggested that man was descended from apes.
Creationism was widespread at the time and his theory was
greeted with almost universal skepticism. In fact, his claims were
(07:56):
considered so outrageous that people began saying well olby a
monkey's uncle as a sarcastic response to ridicule his theory.
The expression then started being used to show doubts about
any improbable situation. Ignorance is bliss means that what you
don't know won't hurt you, and it derives from the
(08:17):
world of poetry. Thomas Gray was an eighteenth century English
poet and professor at Cambridge University. In seventeen forty two,
he wrote a poem called ode on a distant prospect
of Eton College, and in it he said fort would
destroy their paradise no more where ignorance is bliss till
folly be wise. It was that poem that brought the
(08:40):
expression that is now so common in A jiffy means
a short period of time, and while many people think
that's a slang term, it's actually a scientific unit of time.
The first technical usage of the term was by the
American physical chemist Gilbert Newton Lewis, and he defined a
jiffy as the time it takes light to travel one
(09:02):
centimeter in a vacuum, which is approximately thirty three picho seconds,
which is a very small unit of time. Since then,
a jiffy has been redefined as different measurements depending on
the field of study, but in all instances it's a
very small period. So in the jiffy now means a
short period of time.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Generally, a special thanks to Greg for finding that piece,
and to Andrew Thompson for sharing the stories of these
phrases and everyday sayings. And if you want to learn
more and read more, get Andrew's book. And again it's
Andrew Thompson, and the book is Hair of the Dog
to Paint the Town Red, the curious origins of everyday
(09:45):
sayings and fun phrases, Andrew Thompson's storytelling. Here are now
American stories
And we continue with our American stories. And up next
we continue with our recurring series about the curious origins
of everyday sayings. Here to join us once again is
Andrew Thompson as he continues to share another slaves from
his Ultimate Guide to understanding these mini mysteries of the
(00:32):
English language.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
To have someone over a barrel means that someone is
helpless or at someone's mercy, and it has naudical origins
and relates to the practice of rescuing a drowning sailor.
Once hauled from the water, the other crew members would
place the sailor face down over a barrel in order
to empty his lungs of water. The sailor would be
rolled back and forth in an attempt to expel the
(00:56):
water from his mouth. Being completely helpless and of unconscious,
the sailor was totally reliant on the other crew members
to save him, and he was said to be over
a barrel. To have the bit between your teeth means
to take control of a situation, and it has origins
in horse racing. The bit is derived from the Old
English word meaning bite, and is the mouthpiece in a
(01:19):
horse's bridle that is used to control the horse's movements.
When a horse is being ridden, normally, the reins pressed
the bit against the soft part of the horse's mouth,
causing him to turn his head. But if the horse
grabs it so that the bit is between his teeth,
it takes the control away from the rider and the
reins have no effect. The horse can then run freely
(01:39):
however it chooses. This expression was being used by the
late sixteen hundreds. When someone says head over heels, it
generally means that they're completely in love. And this expression
began in the fourteenth century and actually began as heels
over head, and this in fact made more logical sense,
as it meant to be upside down, or to be
(02:01):
so excited that you turn your heels over your head
in a cartwheel or somersault. The phrase then became inverted
towards the end of the eighteenth century when Herbert Lawrence
used it mistakenly in a novel The Contemplative Man. But
it was the incorrect usage by Davy Crockett in eighteen
thirty four that cemented the expression to the one we
(02:21):
used today and gave it romantic connotations when he said
I soon found myself head over heels in love with
this girl to say here here is a strong signal
of encouragement or endorsement, and that expression began with the
British Parliament in the late seventeenth century, in both the
House of Commons and the House of Lords. There, if
(02:43):
anyone disagreed with a speaker, they would hum loudly to
try to drown out the speech, but if other members
were in agreement with what was being said, they would
shout hear him, hear him, in an attempt to make
those humming men actually listen. That was later contracted to hear,
and it is still used in parliament today in England
to signify the listener's agreement with the point being made.
(03:06):
It is also thought to be said because applause is
generally forbidden in the British Parliament. To hedge your bets
means to support one or more person or outcome to
minimize the possibility of losing, and that expression originated in
the seventeenth century in England, where landowners at the time
would enclose pieces of their land by planting a row
(03:27):
of trees and then pruning them to form a hedge.
These hedges were normally made from the spiny hawthorn bush,
which formed an impenetrable barrier. This method acted as a
means of protecting against escaping animals. The hedges made the
farmer's land more secure and limited the risk. The expression
was first used by John Don in sixteen oh seven.
(03:50):
The expression hell bent for leather means to go all
out or willing to do anything to achieve a goal,
and it relates to horse riding. The word bent means
to be determined, as in bent on doing something. To
ride a horse aggressively for long distances can push it
to injury or even death, With either result the horses
rendered useless and is destined to be skinned for leather.
(04:13):
Someone who pushed a horse to those extremes would be
said to be hell bent on turning into leather. High
jinks relates to excited or silly behavior when people are
enjoying themselves, and that expression was originally the name of
a drinking game that was popular in Scotland in the
seventeen hundreds. In the game, dice were thrown and the
players were scored. The loser could either forfeit or drink
(04:36):
a potent cocktail of alcohol, which was likely to make
him drunk and foolish. Walter Scott referred to the game
in his eighteen fifteen book Guy Mannering, and the phrase
had acquired its present meaning by the mid eighteen hundreds.
To hit the ground running means to get off to
a quick and successful start, or to seize an opportunity.
Many believe that the expression originated from the Two World Wars,
(05:00):
where soldiers were trained to hit the ground running when
leaving a moving boat, tank, or aircraft. This allowed the
soldier to land on the ground smoothly, using the momentum
of the craft so as to not lose his footing.
The more likely origin of the phrase, though, was from
stowaways jumping off a moving freight train before it entered
the station. The expression existed well before the twentieth century,
(05:21):
so this is likely the origin of the expression. Others
think it came from the Pony Express mail riders of
the eighteen hundreds, who were avoiding delays when they changed mounts,
so they'd jump off and hit the ground running. To
hold a candle means to be far inferior to someone
or something else, and it's generally used in this sense
of he couldn't hold a candle to you, and it
(05:45):
dates back to the time before electricity. Usually expressed as
as I said, not fit to hold a candle, couldn't
hold a candle. Unskilled workers or apprentices were expected to
hold a candle so that the more experienced craftsmen had
light while they did their work. Holding a candle was
obviously not a very challenging role, so being told that
you were not even fit to do that task placed
(06:07):
you at the very bottom of the pecking order and
as vastly inferior to the craftsmen at work. Hold the
fort means to maintain things in the absence of others,
and it owes its origins to the American Civil War.
During the Battle of Allatoona in eighteen sixty four, General
William Sherman was gathering his army at the top Mount
Kennesaw near Atlanta to fight a Confederate troop. He told
(06:31):
General Course that reinforcements were being mounted and to hold
the fort at all costs for im coming. While Sherman
immortalized the phrase, it earned widespread acclaim in the late
eighteen hundreds when the American composer and popular evangelist Philip
Bliss wrote the gospel song hold the fort. Hunky dory,
(06:51):
which means everything is fine and okay, as an expression
with strange origins. It began with a group of American
sailors in the nineteenth century. There was a major street
in Yokohama, Japan called Hancho Dori, and it was well
known for housing ladies of ill repute and when imported
after a long voyage, the sailors would frequent the street
(07:12):
to partake in the recreational activities being offered. Hunky meaning sexy,
was a play on the similar looking word hancho, and
when dory was added, the phrase hunky dory was spawned.
Olbion monkey's uncle is used as an expression of shock
or disbelief or skepticism at an idea, and it relates
(07:33):
to the theory of evolution postulated by Charles Darwin. As
a follow up to his groundbreaking book The Origin of Species,
Darwin published The Descent of Man in eighteen seventy one.
In it, he suggested that man was descended from apes.
Creationism was widespread at the time and his theory was
greeted with almost universal skepticism. In fact, his claims were
(07:56):
considered so outrageous that people began saying well olby a
monkey's uncle as a sarcastic response to ridicule his theory.
The expression then started being used to show doubts about
any improbable situation. Ignorance is bliss means that what you
don't know won't hurt you, and it derives from the
(08:17):
world of poetry. Thomas Gray was an eighteenth century English
poet and professor at Cambridge University. In seventeen forty two,
he wrote a poem called ode on a distant prospect
of Eton College, and in it he said fort would
destroy their paradise no more where ignorance is bliss till
folly be wise. It was that poem that brought the
(08:40):
expression that is now so common in A jiffy means
a short period of time, and while many people think
that's a slang term, it's actually a scientific unit of time.
The first technical usage of the term was by the
American physical chemist Gilbert Newton Lewis, and he defined a
jiffy as the time it takes light to travel one
(09:02):
centimeter in a vacuum, which is approximately thirty three picho seconds,
which is a very small unit of time. Since then,
a jiffy has been redefined as different measurements depending on
the field of study, but in all instances it's a
very small period. So in the jiffy now means a
short period of time.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Generally, a special thanks to Greg for finding that piece,
and to Andrew Thompson for sharing the stories of these
phrases and everyday sayings. And if you want to learn
more and read more, get Andrew's book. And again it's
Andrew Thompson, and the book is Hair of the Dog
to Paint the Town Red, the curious origins of everyday
(09:45):
sayings and fun phrases, Andrew Thompson's storytelling. Here are now
American stories
Host
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