Wyn Drabble takes a look ar the origin of expressions.
A friend was visiting our home and, during the course of discussion, used an expression I had never heard before.
Given my advancing years, you might say I needed to get out more during my life, though I don’t think you can accuse me of not being interested in the vagaries of my mother tongue.
“Close but no cigar” was a newbie to me, but our visitor delivered it in such a way as to suggest it was an everyday phrase that everybody knew.
It certainly piqued my interest in the origin of a number of expressions, so I engaged in (just a tasteful amount of) research.
I cannot guarantee the correctness of these, as they are probably one person’s interpretation and I accept that vastly different versions might also be valid. But I certainly did not want my research to become too intense.
Naturally enough, I was also tempted to make up some of my own explanations. And I did. In fact, I have included one of my own made-up ones in the summary which follows. See if you can pick it. What fun!
Let’s start with the cigar one. The explanation I found had its roots in carnival prizes. Today’s prizes are invariably cheap, shoddy stuffed toys and the like, but in the late nineteenth century, sideshow games were often aimed at adults rather than kids, so the prize might have come from Cuba rather than China. If you almost won, you just missed out on the cigar.
“Bite the bullet” means to accept something difficult or unpleasant. The explanation my research unearthed was that in earlier times of battle when anaesthesia was in short supply, doctors would ask patients to bite down on a bullet to distract them from the pain. This no doubt required some follow-up work from a dentist as well.
“Let the cat out of the bag” originated in medieval markets. Vendors used to sell piglets which were tied in bags for farmers to carry home more easily. Unscrupulous dealers would sometimes swap the piglet for a less expensive animal such as a cat. When the buyer let the cat out of the bag at home, the con was exposed.
Keeping to things porcine, “pig in a poke” indicates an offering or deal that had been foolishly accepted without prior examination. In the 1500s, a poke was a bag. While the item was offered as a bag containing a pig, it sometimes contained a cheaper animal such as the aforementioned cat (but also potentially a chicken, duck or goose).
Staying medieval, “give the cold shoulder” was once more literal than it now is. According to my research, the phrase originated from medieval etiquette. At the end of a feast, hosts would serve guests a cold slice of pork, mutton or beef shoulder, which would (subtly?) suggest the meal was over and it was time for guests to leave.
To “rub the wrong way” originated in the early days of erasers. Charles Goodyear invented the process of curing rubber (vulcanisation), which made it durable enough to become a household item. Rubbed the wrong way, however, it smeared the mistake across the page instead of removing it.
Possibly my favourite was the explanation for “turn a blind eye”. British naval hero Admiral Horatio Nelson was blind in one eye. British forces signalled for him to stop attacking a fleet of Danish ships, so he held up a telescope to his blind eye and said he couldn’t see the signal. He then attacked and was victorious. Bravo, Horatio!
So, which of my explanations do you not see eye to eye with? I will reveal the answer next week.
Wyn Drabble is a teacher of English, a writer, musician and public speaker.