Sayings

[conyoviejo]

The expression the hair of the dog, for an alcoholic drink taken to cure a hangover, is a shortening of 'a hair of the dog that bit you'. It comes from an old belief that someone bitten by a rabid dog could be cured of rabies by taking a potion containing some of the dog's hair.Hair of the dog

[elwaclaret]

Bob on....plum

The plum bob, still familiar to builders was a lead weight attached to a string to create straight lines for building projects, first brought to Britain (it is thought) by the Romans.

[Volvoclaret]

I think that swinging the lead comes more from the sailor not allowing the lead weight to sink to the bottom and then hauling it back up, which was hard work. He would in fact only swing the lead and not release it fully to the sea bottom because it was easier, hence swinging the lead..

Happy to be corrected Vino

[Vino blanco]

There are also two other explanations put forward for "nutmegging" in football. One is that it comes from the Cockney rhyming slang for "nutmeg" meaning "leg" and the nutmeg resembling the human testicle, under which the ball passes. This is another saying of uncertain origin.

[FactualFrank]

The expression the hair of the dog, for an alcoholic drink taken to cure a hangover, is a shortening of 'a hair of the dog that bit you'. It comes from an old belief that someone bitten by a rabid dog could be cured of rabies by taking a potion containing some of the dog's hair.Hair of the dog

Yeah, and there was some paradoxical thinking in that the bite contained alcohol, which helped.

[Vino blanco]

It's a plumb bob coming from the Latin plumbum for lead. Hence plumber, plumbing etc.

[FactualFrank]

My Dad would sometimes come out with the line, "He's not plumb" - saying that somebody was basically daft as a brush.

Used to measure walls and make sure they're straight I think it originated from?

[elwaclaret]

Surprised no one has mentioned “Back to square one” tbh....so, I will lol.

When the BBC first commentated the cup final on wireless they produced a map of the pitch for listeners to follow the action. When the ball was in the corner of the pitch it was....

[FactualFrank]

Surprised no one has mentioned “Back to square one” tbh....so, I will lol.

When the BBC first commentated the cup final on wireless they produced a map of the pitch for listeners to follow the action. When the ball was in the corner of the pitch it was....

I thought it was about Snakes and Ladders but happy to be corrected but I don't think it was down to the BBC.

[elwaclaret]

Crossing the rubicon....

The Rubicon was the border river for the Roman Empire, beyond which no returning general was allowed to cross with his army. When Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon there was no going back.... he would either be emperor or killed for treason.

[elwaclaret]

I thought it was about Snakes and Ladders but happy to be corrected but I don't think it was down to the BBC.

1927 FACup final. The BBC created the card. The snakes and ladders is the American (later claim).

[FactualFrank]

1927 FACup final. The BBC created the card. The snakes and ladders is the American (later claim).

Fair enough pal. It's great to read things like this.

My book arrived this morning... the A to Z of everything. It might take a while for me to get through

[elwaclaret]

Cardiff beat Arsenal 1-0 in another first btw... first time the cup went out of England too.

I’ve just re- checked it is ’Google-able’ they even show the card that was issued for anyone interested.

[kentonclaret]

"Frog in the Throat"

The earliest use of this name for a sore throat was actually supposed to be a "cure". In the Stevens Point Journal, November 1894, the Taylor Bros advertised a medicine called "Frog in the Throat" that will "cure hoarseness" for only 10 cents a box. A real bargain!

"Mad as a Hatter"

19th Century Mercury used to be used in the making of hats. This was known to have affected the nervous systems of hatters, causing them to tremble and appear insane. Mercury poisoning is still known today as "Mad Hatters Disease".

[Vino blanco]

The problem with the football connection to the phrase "back to square one" is that the first written citation is in 1952 in the Economic Journal:
"He has the problem of maintaining the interest of the reader, who is always being sent back to square one in a sort of intellectual game of snakes and ladders"
This has tended to promote more strongly the snakes and ladders theory, especially as the citation in 1952 is decades ahead of the use of football squares (which weren't squares anyway but rectangles). You pays your money, you takes your choice, it is classed as uncertain origin.
.

[elwaclaret]

Fair enough pal. It's great to read things like this.

My book arrived this morning... the A to Z of everything. It might take a while for me to get through

I love language origins, there have been many variations over the years, Past Times did a good one called ‘Lock Stock and Barrel’ many moons ago that first started my fascination. Often thought over the years I would put it down in an academic format, including full referencing. As some tend to be a bit hap hazard in the fact basis I’ve found over the years.

[FactualFrank]

"Frog in the Throat"

The earliest use of this name for a sore throat was actually supposed to be a "cure". In the Stevens Point Journal, November 1894, the Taylor Bros advertised a medicine called "Frog in the Throat" that will "cure hoarseness" for only 10 cents a box. A real bargain!

Nothing to do with Miss piggy?

[Vino blanco]

Sorry, should read decades AFTER the use of football squares.

[elwaclaret]

The problem with the football connection to the phrase "back to square one" is that the first written citation is in 1952 in the Economic Journal:
"He has the problem of maintaining the interest of the reader, who is always being sent back to square one in a sort of intellectual game of snakes and ladders"
This has tended to promote more strongly the snakes and ladders theory, especially as the citation in 1952 is decades ahead of the use of football squares (which weren't squares anyway but rectangles). You pays your money, you takes your choice, it is classed as uncertain origin.
.

Several references regarding this from the BBC Themselves over the years On this one Vino.

[Vino blanco]

In order to promote football on the BBC, we all know it's a self promoting organisation.

[Vino blanco]

"Frog in the throat coming from Taylor Bros medicine in 1894 is apocryphal . It is an Americanism used well before this date because of the sound you make when you have a frog in your throat.

[FactualFrank]

I love language origins, there have been many variations over the years, Past Times did a good one called ‘Lock Stock and Barrel’ many moons ago that first started my fascination. Often thought over the years I would put it down in an academic format, including full referencing. As some tend to be a bit hap hazard in the fact basis I’ve found over the years.

The book looks to cover everything.

It's a massive book, so will look to read it all over the next 12 months. But yeah, it is interesting to learn things about where things originated for, for sure.

[FactualFrank]

Boxing Day

Can somebody research and get back to me on where it originated from.

[Bigvince]

Crossing the rubicon....

The Rubicon was the border river for the Roman Empire, beyond which no returning general was allowed to cross with his army. When Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon there was no going back.... he would either be emperor or killed for treason.

True but julius Caesar was dictator infinitum, dictator for life

[Vino blanco]

Boxing Day : several theories but many tend towards gifts being given in boxes to tradesmen, servants, the clergy on that particular day.

[elwaclaret]

In order to promote football on the BBC, we all know it's a self promoting organisation.

It certainly can be but I cannot link from I-pad, it is not hard to google if you are interested and not just point scoring (I find this sudden turn a little odd, but never mind). It is there including photons of the card with squares from the game.

[Vino blanco]

I know the cards with the squares on exist, but this doesn't prove they are the origin of the phrase in question. There is no proof, hence it is said to be of "uncertain origin". As I said you pays your money, you takes your choice.

[KateR]

It is clearly a literal fact that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. The conversion of that notion into a figurative phrase was established in the language by the 18th century. Thomas Reid's Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man, 1786, included this line:

"In every chain of reasoning, the evidence of the last conclusion can be no greater than that of the weakest link of the chain, whatever may be the strength of the rest."

[KateR]

Boxing Day

Can somebody research and get back to me on where it originated from.

I was brought up to believe that it came from when the manor houses had serfs, where the manor house had a large gathering on Christmas Day, all left overs were packaged/boxed and sent to serfs the following day.

However a little research leads me to this:

Before we start we ought to mention the spelling of the expression. It is 'Boxing Day' and not, as is often used incorrectly, 'Box in Day'. Judging from the search terms that are typed into Google, 'box in day' is looked for almost as often as the correct 'Boxing Day'. I suppose they sound similar enough for anyone unfamiliar with the day's name to make that mistake.

The meaning and origin of the phrase Boxing Day.'Christmas boxes' were originally literally earthenware boxes. In medieval England these boxes were used by the poor (servants, apprentices etc.) to save money throughout the year. At Christmas the boxes were broken open and the savings shared to fund Christmas festivities. This meaning of 'Christmas box' dates back to at least the early 17th century. The boxes were known in France as tirelire and are referred to in Randle Cotgrave's A Dictionarie of the French and English tongues, 1611:

"Tirelire, a Christmas box; a box having a cleft on the lid, or in the side, for money to enter it; used in France by begging Fryers, and here by Butlers, and Prentices, etc."

In a similar tradition, which is almost as old as the above and which is the one that has stayed with us until the present day, Christmas boxes are gifts, usually money, given to tradespeople or others who have rendered some service throughout the year but who aren't normally paid directly by the donor - for example, office cleaners, milkmen etc.

So, why is Boxing Day so called? Sporting fixtures, which used regularly to include boxing, have taken place over the holiday season for centuries. The view that Boxing Day was a day for pugilism gets some support via the earliest reference to the name that I can find, which is in The Sporting Magazine, Volume 25, 1805:

On boxing-day, Dec. 26, a numerous assemblage of the holiday folk were amused by a hard fought battle, in St. Pancras-fields. This fight was one that afforded plenty of diversion to several pugilists and admirers of the art present.

Nevertheless, the link to boxing in that citation is purely co-incidental and the origin of the name is the giving of 'Christmas box' gifts to tradespeople, which traditionally took place not on Christmas Day but on the first subsequent working day.

These days, Boxing Day is the day we send unwanted boxes back to Amazon and a century from now that may be the origin

[Bosscat]

I prefer the OP's rule ... I never beat the wife with a stick thicker than my Thumb

I would just like to say this was meant as a joke ...

I do beat the wife regularly , not with a stick but at Scrabble and various other games

[conyoviejo]

I would just like to say this was meant as a joke ...

I do beat the wife regularly , not with a stick but at Scrabble and various other games

The chase ?

[Bosscat]

The chase ?

[KateR]

I have to say when I opened this thread I was expecting things around saying that your parents may have said to you when growing up, I know I have tried to avoid most of them but occasionally find myself in mid sentence thinking, ohhh no I sound like my mother !

So many, when I think about them they were so silly, that if you tried to rationalize it, would be so difficult but intuitively you knew, because of the tone of voice and the facial expression, oohhhh yes and the wagging finger. My sister told me off a few weeks ago about wagging my finger at her and said, your not my mother!!

"You'll be wearing that smile on the other side of your face in a minute young lady", always quickly brought about a change in my demeanor!

[RMutt]

If we were mistaken and ‘thought’ something was correct when it wasn’t we used to get, ‘ Well, you know what thought did?’ To which we replied ‘ Followed a muck cart and thought it was a wedding’. If we were supposed to just look at something but used our hands it was known as ‘A Bacup look’. I suspect the latter one to be very localised with perhaps regional variants?

[Cirrus_Minor]

I had an old aunty who had a secret pouch sawn into her bra to keep money safe. She always used to refer to this as her 'Haggate pocket'.

Another weird one is from Mrs. CM, if you were just loitering about she would say, 'you were standing like cheese at four pence'. I think this is a Burnley saying.

[eastanglianclaret]

"Like cheese at fourpence"...this is one I use all the time much to the mirth of my Suffolk acquaintances. I think it is definitely a Northern term which my gran always said was down to the fact that you can't sell cheese at fourpence because it's too expensive and therefore stays in the shopwindow. Presumably cheese at fourpence sold well in the affluent south!!