LANGUAGE MYTHS # 7: Son of a Gun, Spud, Throw the Baby out with the Bathwater, Tip, Turn the Tables, Wallop

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False etymologies abound on the internet purporting to explain the origin of certain words and phrases. These are a few more in the series.

 

Son of a gun (a scoundrel or rogue; sometimes even used affectionately)

MYTH: Boys who were born at sea under the protecting shelter of a cannon were given this name, as if the gun were the father.

REALITY: A single source entitled Smyth’s Sailor’s Word-Book,

written in 1867—long after the fact—has led countless people astray. He used the phrase,“cradled under the breast of a gun” to drive the story home. There are a few flaws in hisclaim. Daughters were born on board, too, but nowhere do we find “daughter of a gun.”When the phrase first appeared in 1708, the context had nothing to do with the sea. It was a word play on a family name and a slang term for a criminal. Finally, it’s a well-known euphemism used to replace the vulgar phrase son of a bitch. As happens with so manyeuphemisms, a rhyming word is used for symmetry: son/gun. The 3^rd edition of theOxford English Dictionary confirms it as a milder form of son of a bitch.

 

Spud (slang for potato)

MYTH: When the potato was introduced into Britain in the 16^th century, it wasviewed with great suspicion. The Powers That Be reasoned that it would be bad as a diet forordinary people. Therefore, they formed the Society for the Prevention of an UnwholesomeDiet (S.P.U.D.)

REALITY: Though human consumption of potatoes did get off to a slow start, there is no trace of any such society. Spud was the name for the tool used to dig a potato out ofthe ground, sort of a sharp spade. By the 19^th century, it was applied to the vegetable itself. [General rule of thumb: acronyms began to be used only in the 20^th century.]

 

Throw the baby out with the bath water (discard the good along with the bad)

MYTH: In the Middle Ages, people took their yearly bath in May, but it was in a bigcommunal tub that they would fill with hot water. The man of the house would get theprivilege of the nice clean water. Then came all the other sons and men, then the women, and finally the children. Last came the babies. By then, the water was pretty thick. It was so dirty, you could literally lose someone in it.
REALITY: Can you imagine a mother that inattentive? This was always a figure of speech, not a literal reality. Originally, it was a German proverb from 1512: das Kind mit den Badeausschütten. Three hundred years later (not the Middle Ages), it finally entered the Englishlanguage when Thomas Carlyle translated it to make a point.

Tip (a gratuity given to reward good service)

MYTH: TIP is an acronym standing for To Insure Promptness.

REALITY: Tip was a 17^th century underground slang term meaning “to pass on asmall amount of money.” By the 18^th century, the verb had acquired the present meaning of a gratuity. There is a connection to the kind of surreptitious tip that one might receive about a particular horse race.

 

Turn the tables (reverse your relationship with someone to your own advantage)

MYTH: In Britain in the older days, removable table tops were finished on one side only in order to save money. When a family was alone, they used the unfinished side to avoid damage. When guests came to dinner, the good side was turned up.

REALITY: It may have come from the custom of reversing the table or board in games like checkers or backgammon so that opponents’ positions are reversed. I have seen this happen in a version of Scrabble: at a predetermined time, players trade the tiles on their rack, making it a brand new challenge. After all, turnabout is fair play.

 

Wallop (to beat someone mercilessly)

MYTH: Henry VIII sent Sir John Wallop to carry out a reprisal raid on the French. In the course of his attack, he burned almost two dozen villages.

REALITY: There was such a man, but King Henry used him as a diplomat, not an avenging hammer. “Wallop” in the current sense didn’t appear until 1823. It seems to havebeen imitative of the sound of a slap or blow. Before 1375 it meant to gallop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

Wallop (to beat someone mercilessly)

MYTH: Henry VIII sent Sir John Wallop to carry out a reprisal raid on the French. In the course of his attack, he burned almost two dozen villages.

REALITY: There was such a man, but King Henry used him as a diplomat, not an avenging hammer. “Wallop” in the current sense didn’t appear until 1823. It seems to havebeen imitative of the sound of a slap or blow. Before 1375 it meant to gallop.