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.
Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
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 your stories. Send them to our American Stories dot com.
Up next, we continue with our recurring series about the
curious origins of everyday sayings the stories behind them. Here
to join us again is Andrew Thompson as he continues
(00:31):
to share another slaves from his Ultimate Guide to understanding
these mini mysteries of our precious English language.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
On skid Row means a squalid area where vagrants and
derelicts live, and it's an expression that originated in the
American lumber industry of the nineteenth century. Large tree trunks
were hauled by rolling them along tracks made of greased
logs that were laid crosswise.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
This was known as the skid road.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Because the trunk skidded across the logs. The timber industry
was booming at the time, and many men came to
the logging town's to find work. The large numbers of
single men created a demand for bars and brothels, which
would spring up in a certain part of the town.
This area also became known as skid row due to
the imagery of someone slipping or skidding down in society
(01:20):
when falling victim to these vices. By the nineteen thirties,
skid road had been altered to skid row and the
wider use was born. On the bandwagon means to join
in in an already successful venture, as normally said to
jump or climb on the bandwagon, and it has its
origins in politics. In the nineteenth century in America, traveling
(01:43):
bands or circuses would prey through towns on brightly coloured,
well decorated bandwagons. They would often perform at political rallies
and attracted large crowds of people. Because the bandwagons were
usually the center of attention at any given event, cunning
politicians often saw an opening and they would climb up
on the bandwagon, interrupt the performance and campaign to the
(02:05):
captive audience below. To be on the bread line means
to be very poor, and that expression originated in America
in the eighteen sixties. Charles and Max Fleischmann were brothers
who revolutionized the baking industry and created the first commercially
produced yeast. Their bakery in New York was also famous
for the freshness and quality of its bread, While other
(02:27):
bakeries would use any leftover bread to sell to the
next morning's customers. The Fleischmans would give away any unsold
bread to the poor people in the city. At the
end of each day, a line of starving people would
form outside the bakery and wait for the free bread.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
They were on the breadline.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
To leave no stone unturned means to make every possible effort,
and that expression is arguably the oldest one that we have.
It comes from ancient Greek and from fourteen seventy seven BC,
when the Greeks defeated the Persians in the bat Plateau.
It was rumored at the time that the Persian general
had buried a large treasure in his tent after the defeat.
(03:08):
Unable to find the treasure, the Greek leader consulted the
oracle of Delphi, who advised him to move every stone
in his search. He did just that and eventually found
the treasure. Leaving no stone unturned on the fiddle means
that someone's not operating within the rules and it's getting
more than their fair share, and like many expressions, it
(03:30):
has nautical origins.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
The dining tables on ships had.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Raised edges known as fiddles, which were used to prevent
the plates from sliding off the table during rough weather
at sea, the sailors ate from the wooden plates that
were built with their own fiddles to stop the food
from sliding off them.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
If a sailor.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Selfishly overfilled his plate so that the food piled up
over the edge.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
It was said that he was on the fiddle.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
On the grapevine means via informal means of communication, particularly gossip.
He dosed its origins to the early days of American telegraphy.
Samuel Moose invented the telegraph, which was first used in
eighteen forty four. The invention was widely recognized as a
useful means of wrap of communication, and many companies across
(04:15):
America rushed to put up telegraph lines. But in their haste,
some of them cut corners and used trees instead of
fixed telegraph poles to save money. But the movement of
the tree stretched the wire, often leaving it tangled. A
notable instance of this was in California, where people likened
the tangle wires to local grapevines. The expression on the
(04:37):
grapevine then developed its current meaning during the American Civil War,
when messages transmitted via the telegraph were sometimes unreliable. The
expression on the level means honest, reliable, or trustworthy, and
that began with the freemasons, the skilled stone workers of
fourteenth century, and any construction was acknowledged that a perfectly
flat base was essential if the building was going to
(04:59):
be structural.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Sound and of high quality.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
They developed an instrument known as a level, which was
used to ensure a flat and true base from which
to work. The level symbolized integrity in the building process,
and on the level was soon adapted into the wider
sense that is used today. On the right track means
to do something correctly or well, and it's an expression
that's being corrupted from its original form. It has nautical
(05:24):
origins and was originally.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
On the right tack.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
In order to progress into a headwind, a sailing ship
follows a zigzag style of path, angling left to right.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
As it moves forward.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
This type of plotting is known as tacking, which is
a technical art, and a captain must be precise in
order to use the wind to his benefit. It is
important to stay on the right track because otherwise the
ship will make little or no progress, and then that
expression then developed into on the right track. On the
wagon means abstaining from drinking alcohol, and many believe this
(05:58):
expression derives from when prisoners had their last drink when
being transported from the Old Bailey criminal courts in London
to the gallows on a wagon. Some even suggested that
the criminals were sometimes given one for the road, which
was a final drink before they were hanged, but it's
now widely accepted that these explanations are incorrect and the
(06:18):
expression actually is a contraction of the words on the
water wagon. In the early twentieth centuries, water wagons were
used in America to damp and dusty streets. At the time,
the drinking of alcohol was high, and people who had
vowed to give it up would crowd around waiting for
the water wagon to arrive to quench their thirst. Some
(06:39):
people would even ride around town on the wagon, drinking
the water in an effort to stay away from alcohol.
To be on your high horse means to behave in
a self righteous manner, and that expression began with the
army of officers of medieval England. To assume a commanding
position of supremacy. These officers would ride around on large
horses and would look down upon those of a lower rank.
(07:02):
The higher the officer's rank, the larger his horse. A
large horse was also needed for such high ranking men,
as they generally wore heavy suits of armour, and a
strong horse was needed to bear that weight. Political leaders
then adopted this idea as a symbol of power.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
They would parade around town.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
On large horses, which gave them an air of superiority
as they look down on the common folk. Once in
a blue moon means very rarely, and it's an expression
that's related to the moon.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Although the colour blue.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Has no significance in the origin of the phrase, the
moon can actually appear blue at any time, depending on
certain weather conditions. But the main Farmer's Almanac provides the
explanation for the saying. Since eighteen nineteen, that publication listed
the dates of the various moons, for example, the harvest
moon and the hunter's moon. Typically there are three full
moons for each season, but because the lunar and the
(07:53):
calendar months are not the same, some years have thirteen
full moons instead of twelve, and the almanac named, for
no apparent reason, the third full moon in an unusual
four moon season as the blue moon. An amateur American
astronomer named James Proot misinterpreted the almanac and described the
blue moon as the second full moon in a month
(08:14):
in a nineteen forty six edition of Sky and Telescope magazine.
This took hold and is now the accepted definition. A
blue moon actually occurs about every three years. Having your
work cut out for you means there's a lot to
be darl or a difficult time lies ahead, and that
began in the eighteen hundreds when taylors began streamlining their operations. Traditionally,
(08:36):
a tailor would make a suit using one large piece
of cloth, cutting the material and then stitching as he went.
In order to make the work more efficient, the practice
developed where a tailor's assistant would cut out the various
patterns beforehand, leaving the tailor to stitch them together. At first,
this would seem to make the tailor's job easier, but
it resulted in piles of cut material heaping up for
(08:56):
the tailor to stitch. This made it difficult for him
to keep up, so he had his work cut out
for him and he had a very busy time ahead.
The expression was first used metaphorically by Charles Dickens in
his eighteen forty three novel a Christmas Carol.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
And a special thanks as always to Greg Hangler for
the great work on the production. And also a special
thanks to Andrew Thompson for narrating portions of his own
terrific book, and the book is called Hair of the Dog.
To Paint the Town. Read Andrew Thompson's storytelling here on
our American Story
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
including your stories. Send them to our American Stories dot com.
Up next, we continue with our recurring series about the
curious origins of everyday sayings the stories behind them. Here
to join us again is Andrew Thompson as he continues
(00:31):
to share another slaves from his Ultimate Guide to understanding
these mini mysteries of our precious English language.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
On skid Row means a squalid area where vagrants and
derelicts live, and it's an expression that originated in the
American lumber industry of the nineteenth century. Large tree trunks
were hauled by rolling them along tracks made of greased
logs that were laid crosswise.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
This was known as the skid road.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Because the trunk skidded across the logs. The timber industry
was booming at the time, and many men came to
the logging town's to find work. The large numbers of
single men created a demand for bars and brothels, which
would spring up in a certain part of the town.
This area also became known as skid row due to
the imagery of someone slipping or skidding down in society
(01:20):
when falling victim to these vices. By the nineteen thirties,
skid road had been altered to skid row and the
wider use was born. On the bandwagon means to join
in in an already successful venture, as normally said to
jump or climb on the bandwagon, and it has its
origins in politics. In the nineteenth century in America, traveling
(01:43):
bands or circuses would prey through towns on brightly coloured,
well decorated bandwagons. They would often perform at political rallies
and attracted large crowds of people. Because the bandwagons were
usually the center of attention at any given event, cunning
politicians often saw an opening and they would climb up
on the bandwagon, interrupt the performance and campaign to the
(02:05):
captive audience below. To be on the bread line means
to be very poor, and that expression originated in America
in the eighteen sixties. Charles and Max Fleischmann were brothers
who revolutionized the baking industry and created the first commercially
produced yeast. Their bakery in New York was also famous
for the freshness and quality of its bread, While other
(02:27):
bakeries would use any leftover bread to sell to the
next morning's customers. The Fleischmans would give away any unsold
bread to the poor people in the city. At the
end of each day, a line of starving people would
form outside the bakery and wait for the free bread.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
They were on the breadline.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
To leave no stone unturned means to make every possible effort,
and that expression is arguably the oldest one that we have.
It comes from ancient Greek and from fourteen seventy seven BC,
when the Greeks defeated the Persians in the bat Plateau.
It was rumored at the time that the Persian general
had buried a large treasure in his tent after the defeat.
(03:08):
Unable to find the treasure, the Greek leader consulted the
oracle of Delphi, who advised him to move every stone
in his search. He did just that and eventually found
the treasure. Leaving no stone unturned on the fiddle means
that someone's not operating within the rules and it's getting
more than their fair share, and like many expressions, it
(03:30):
has nautical origins.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
The dining tables on ships had.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Raised edges known as fiddles, which were used to prevent
the plates from sliding off the table during rough weather
at sea, the sailors ate from the wooden plates that
were built with their own fiddles to stop the food
from sliding off them.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
If a sailor.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Selfishly overfilled his plate so that the food piled up
over the edge.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
It was said that he was on the fiddle.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
On the grapevine means via informal means of communication, particularly gossip.
He dosed its origins to the early days of American telegraphy.
Samuel Moose invented the telegraph, which was first used in
eighteen forty four. The invention was widely recognized as a
useful means of wrap of communication, and many companies across
(04:15):
America rushed to put up telegraph lines. But in their haste,
some of them cut corners and used trees instead of
fixed telegraph poles to save money. But the movement of
the tree stretched the wire, often leaving it tangled. A
notable instance of this was in California, where people likened
the tangle wires to local grapevines. The expression on the
(04:37):
grapevine then developed its current meaning during the American Civil War,
when messages transmitted via the telegraph were sometimes unreliable. The
expression on the level means honest, reliable, or trustworthy, and
that began with the freemasons, the skilled stone workers of
fourteenth century, and any construction was acknowledged that a perfectly
flat base was essential if the building was going to
(04:59):
be structural.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Sound and of high quality.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
They developed an instrument known as a level, which was
used to ensure a flat and true base from which
to work. The level symbolized integrity in the building process,
and on the level was soon adapted into the wider
sense that is used today. On the right track means
to do something correctly or well, and it's an expression
that's being corrupted from its original form. It has nautical
(05:24):
origins and was originally.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
On the right tack.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
In order to progress into a headwind, a sailing ship
follows a zigzag style of path, angling left to right.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
As it moves forward.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
This type of plotting is known as tacking, which is
a technical art, and a captain must be precise in
order to use the wind to his benefit. It is
important to stay on the right track because otherwise the
ship will make little or no progress, and then that
expression then developed into on the right track. On the
wagon means abstaining from drinking alcohol, and many believe this
(05:58):
expression derives from when prisoners had their last drink when
being transported from the Old Bailey criminal courts in London
to the gallows on a wagon. Some even suggested that
the criminals were sometimes given one for the road, which
was a final drink before they were hanged, but it's
now widely accepted that these explanations are incorrect and the
(06:18):
expression actually is a contraction of the words on the
water wagon. In the early twentieth centuries, water wagons were
used in America to damp and dusty streets. At the time,
the drinking of alcohol was high, and people who had
vowed to give it up would crowd around waiting for
the water wagon to arrive to quench their thirst. Some
(06:39):
people would even ride around town on the wagon, drinking
the water in an effort to stay away from alcohol.
To be on your high horse means to behave in
a self righteous manner, and that expression began with the
army of officers of medieval England. To assume a commanding
position of supremacy. These officers would ride around on large
horses and would look down upon those of a lower rank.
(07:02):
The higher the officer's rank, the larger his horse. A
large horse was also needed for such high ranking men,
as they generally wore heavy suits of armour, and a
strong horse was needed to bear that weight. Political leaders
then adopted this idea as a symbol of power.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
They would parade around town.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
On large horses, which gave them an air of superiority
as they look down on the common folk. Once in
a blue moon means very rarely, and it's an expression
that's related to the moon.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Although the colour blue.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Has no significance in the origin of the phrase, the
moon can actually appear blue at any time, depending on
certain weather conditions. But the main Farmer's Almanac provides the
explanation for the saying. Since eighteen nineteen, that publication listed
the dates of the various moons, for example, the harvest
moon and the hunter's moon. Typically there are three full
moons for each season, but because the lunar and the
(07:53):
calendar months are not the same, some years have thirteen
full moons instead of twelve, and the almanac named, for
no apparent reason, the third full moon in an unusual
four moon season as the blue moon. An amateur American
astronomer named James Proot misinterpreted the almanac and described the
blue moon as the second full moon in a month
(08:14):
in a nineteen forty six edition of Sky and Telescope magazine.
This took hold and is now the accepted definition. A
blue moon actually occurs about every three years. Having your
work cut out for you means there's a lot to
be darl or a difficult time lies ahead, and that
began in the eighteen hundreds when taylors began streamlining their operations. Traditionally,
(08:36):
a tailor would make a suit using one large piece
of cloth, cutting the material and then stitching as he went.
In order to make the work more efficient, the practice
developed where a tailor's assistant would cut out the various
patterns beforehand, leaving the tailor to stitch them together. At first,
this would seem to make the tailor's job easier, but
it resulted in piles of cut material heaping up for
(08:56):
the tailor to stitch. This made it difficult for him
to keep up, so he had his work cut out
for him and he had a very busy time ahead.
The expression was first used metaphorically by Charles Dickens in
his eighteen forty three novel a Christmas Carol.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
And a special thanks as always to Greg Hangler for
the great work on the production. And also a special
thanks to Andrew Thompson for narrating portions of his own
terrific book, and the book is called Hair of the Dog.
To Paint the Town. Read Andrew Thompson's storytelling here on
our American Story
Host
Lee Habeeb
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.