Origins of common sayings we use

R

Rose65

Well-known Member
Location
United Kingdom
People speak using all sorts of phrases, metaphors and sayings, it's interesting to look up the origins.
Do you know the reasons behind well known ones? I find it interesting to find the truth behind them.

Let me begin:

Turning a blind eye - at the Battle of Copenhagen 1801, Nelson was given an order from the Admiral of the Fleet but he didn't carry it out as he felt it would endanger his ships. He famously put his telescope to his blind eye as an excuse. So it means to ignore something.

No room to swing a cat - this is to do with the cat-of-nine-tails used to lash sailors in times past. Whips of 9 strips of leather each 3 feet long. Floggings were done on the deck due to space rather than below deck.
 

Origin of the idiom “don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater”​

It is thought to have originated in 16th century England, when people bathed infrequently and often shared the same bathwater. People usually had a bath once a year in May, after the long winter. The water had to be carried to the home; then the mother would have to boil it, and that would take hours. Then she would fill the biggest beer barrel they had.

The father would bath first, then any other grown-up men, then the women, and then the children, in order of their age. When the baby’s turn came the water was black with the dirt accumulated over the winter by all the rest of the family. If someone were to accidentally throw the baby out with the bathwater, they would have lost a valuable life along with the dirty water!
 
There are so many "misheard lyrics" forms of idioms as well. It seems to be on the increase, probably with the fall in literacy. Seeing the correct expression used in print is armor against a tin ear, and a lot of people never were big readers. Maybe less so today. Lately more and more writers self-publish, a great thing but without professional proofing and editing a lot of those goonerisms are getting into print.
 

Knight said:

Origin of the idiom “don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater”​

It is thought to have originated in 16th century England, when people bathed infrequently and often shared the same bathwater. People usually had a bath once a year in May, after the long winter. The water had to be carried to the home; then the mother would have to boil it, and that would take hours. Then she would fill the biggest beer barrel they had.

The father would bath first, then any other grown-up men, then the women, and then the children, in order of their age. When the baby’s turn came the water was black with the dirt accumulated over the winter by all the rest of the family. If someone were to accidentally throw the baby out with the bathwater, they would have lost a valuable life along with the dirty water!
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Yuk! We are so lucky now to have baths and showers easily.
I do remember however, one bath a week as kids.
 
Some sayings I thought were just rude are in fact macabre. Like 'Sweet Fanny Adams' is a horrible little story. It was about a murdered girl in 1867 and her body dismembered. At that time canned corned beef was given to the navy, and sailors thought it looked like her corpse - yuk! So it was an expression used to describe unpleasant meals and eventually just something of no value.

Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey has a solid reason. Brass triangles supporting stacks of iron canon balls on ships could contract in very cold temperatures so the balls fell off. So not rude at all.

So we say lots of things without knowing the original meanings.
 
"Caught between the devil and the deep blue sea" indicating between caught between two evils.

The "devil" was the bottom part of a wooden sailing ship's hull, which picked up barnacles easily. Barnacles needed to be removed periodically in order for the ship to sail properly.

The ship would be heeled over and a sailor would be lowered quickly on a bosun's chair to scrape as many barnacles as he could before the ship returned to position. He had to be pulled up quickly or he would be smacked against the hull by the waves and he was cut by the barnacles and possibly drowned. Thus, you didn't want to get caught "between the devil (ship) and the deep blue sea (self explanatory)".
 
Mad as a Hatter.

18th and 19th centuries, fur was treated with mercury used in making felt hats. Hatters were confined in small spaces and breathed toxic mercury fumes, resulting in “mad” or irrational behavior. Mercury poisoning.
 
jujube said:
"Caught between the devil and the deep blue sea" indicating between caught between two evils.

The "devil" was the bottom part of a wooden sailing ship's hull, which picked up barnacles easily. Barnacles needed to be removed periodically in order for the ship to sail properly.

The ship would be heeled over and a sailor would be lowered quickly on a bosun's chair to scrape as many barnacles as he could before the ship returned to position. He had to be pulled up quickly or he would be smacked against the hull by the waves and he was cut by the barnacles and possibly drowned. Thus, you didn't want to get caught "between the devil (ship) and the deep blue sea (self explanatory)".
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In nautical terms, the"Devil" is defined as - "the seam between the deck planking and the topmost plank of the ship's side". Other sources suggest that it is the ship's side just above the waterline which if necessary, had to be caulked to stop leaks rather than for barnacle removal.

For inspection or cleaning the hull, a process of "Careening" was used where the boat / ship was moored either in a careening wharf of grounded side on to a steeply sloping beach. This allowed access to the hull to remove barnacles etc. at low tide without getting wet.
 
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This is always a fascinating topic. An interesting example is the use of "Bob's yer uncle". There's another thread, still actives of yesterday, that got launched on this specific expression. As a latecomer to that thread, here's what I offered (believing it to be a longstanding British expression):

What I've heard, but can't really verify, is this. The expression refers to the advantage of going to trial with a judge by the name of Robert (Bob for short), if he's your doting uncle. "Bob's your uncle" conveys things are looking good for you or simply the situation's copasetic.

I think I originally found that explanation in an early Internet forum about phrase origins. Anyway, the SF thread starting from this saying is here: Nobody took the bait...
 

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