LANGUAGE MYTHS #5: Not enough room to swing a dead cat, Not playing with a full deck, Not worth a tinker's damn, Posh, Rule of thumb

 

Listen to the podcast here.

 

Not enough room to swing a cat (cramped quarters)

MYTH: The cat was the cat-o-nine-tails, the whip used to punish wayward sailors aboard sailing vessels. To effect the punishment, the quartermaster had to have enough room to swing the whip freely. Otherwise, the punishment would be far too lenient.

REALITY: Spare me! This is one for PETA to deal with. We’re talking about cruelty to animals here: grab a cat by the hind leg, swing it around vigorously, then let it fly in order to kill it or at least injure it badly.

 

Not playing with a full deck  (below normal intelligence)

MYTH: A tax was levied when purchasing playing cards, but it applied only to the Ace ofSpades. To avoid paying the tax, people would purchase the other 51 cards instead. Sincemost games
require 52 cards, these people were thought to be stupid or dumb because they weren’t “playing with a full deck.”

REALITY: There was a tax on playing cards, but the tax stamp was used to seal the entirebox, not just one card. This phrase joins a host of other picturesque ways of saying dumb, andnone is meant literally: not the sharpest knife in the drawer, a few sandwiches short of a picnic, his wheel is turning but the hamster is dead, etc.

 

Not worth a tinker’s damn (totally without value)

MYTH: In Scotland and Ireland, a tinker was an itinerant mender of household utensils. To solder a hole in a metal plate or pot, he would form a raised barrier of bread dough around thehole (a dam) to keep the solder from flowing where it wasn’t needed. When the job wascomplete, he would remove the dough and throw it away.

REALITY: Tinkers were generally a scurrilous lot without roots who swore without cessation. So many curse words flowed from their mouths that they were totally devalued; anyshock value was lost. In the early part of the 19^th century, it was “tinker’s damn.” The Victorians later tried to clean it up by turning it into “tinker’s dam.”

 

Posh (luxurious; suitable for the affluent)

MYTH: This phrase comes from ship travel between Britain and India on the fleet operated by the Peninsular and Oriental Steamship Company. P.O.S.H. is an acronym for Port Out,Starboard Home. A person with a cabin on the port side on the leg to India and a cabin on the starboard side returning to England had the best of everything: a cooling sea breeze and shelter from the unrelenting sun. Such accommodations were saved for wealthy frequent travelers, and their tickets were stamped with a P.O.S.H. designation.

REALITY: The highly specific nature of that explanation is what torpedoes it. ThePeninsular and Oriental Steamship Company absolutely denies the story; there were no such tickets. The most likely origin is London street slang, where posh meant money. It is possiblethat it was adapted from Romany (the language of Gypsies), where posh-houri meant half-pence, and posh-kooroona meant half-crown.

 

 

Rule of thumb (a useful principle, but one not strictly scientific or technical)

MYTH: In the old days, English common law allowed a man to discipline his wife bybeating her, as long as the rod that he used was no thicker than a thumb.

REALITY: There was no such law on the books. Stupid men beat their wives occasionally, but it was not sanctioned by such a code. The saying refers to rough and ready measurement:the length of the first joint of a carpenter’s thumb is about an inch long. Rule in this saying is a shortening for ruler. Likewise, a single pace covers about a foot, the distance from the tip of thenose to the outstretched fingers of an adult is roughly a yard, and horse heights are still measured by hands (the width of the palm and closed thumb is about four inches).

Raining cats and dogs (a driving, vicious rain)

MYTH: Houses in the Middle Ages had thatched roofs constructed of thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath. They were the only place for the little animals to get warm. So all the pets—dogs, cats and other small animals, mice, rats, bugs—lived in the roof. When it rained, it became slippery, so sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Thus the saying, “it’s raining cats and dogs.”

REALITY: There’s no question that bugs and mice and the occasional bird might live in a straw roof, but dogs and cats? Give me a break! And people in those days had wood- burningfireplaces to keep all creatures, great and small, warm. The explanation that I favor is that in 18^th century London (not particularly noted for its urban hygiene), after a torrential downpour,gutters would overflow with garbage, sewage, and dead animals left by the side of the street, allof which would be swept along as if they had fallen with the rain. An alternative explanation isthat in Norse mythology, cats and dogs were associated with Odin, the god of storms.

 

 

Language Myths # 4: Keep Your Nose to the Grindstone, Let the Cat out of the Bag, Losing Face, Mind Your Own Beeswax, News

   
Listen to the podcast here.
    Keep your nose to the grindstone (keep on working assiduously)
    MYTH: This is a reference to the old water-powered grist mill and its huge grinding stone. The miller had to check adjustments by sniffing. If the stone was set too close to the grain, the meal would overheat and begin to burn. His nose would alert him.
    REALITY: The grindstone was the sharpening tool used by a blacksmith. Originally, the phrase indicated harshness or implacable cruelty that could wear a person down.
Let the cat out of the bag (disclose the real truth)
    MYTH: The cat was the cat-o-nine-tails, the whip used to punish wayward sailors aboard sailing vessels. It was kept in a sealed bag to protect it from the elements. When it was taken out of the bag, the terrible truth was revealed: you are about to be flogged.
    REALITY: It is probably a reference to a scam that was perpetrated on rural folk visiting cathedral towns and their markets in the Middle Ages. A slaughtered suckling pig was displayed to the buyer. If a price was agreed upon, the seller would pull a bait-and-switch by putting a shaved dead cat into a sack out of view of the buyer and cinch it tightly. The weight and the feel through the sacking would fool the victim until he got home. There, he would take the cat out of the bag and discover to his chagrin that he had been duped. This phrase is mirrored by “to buy a pig in a poke” (a sack).
    Losing face (to suffer embarrassment; to be publicly humiliated)
    MYTH: In the old days, many women had developed acne scars by adulthood. The women would spread bee’s wax over their facial skin to smooth out their complexions. When they sat too close to the fire, the wax would melt, leading to the expression “losing face.”
    REALITY: See mind your own beeswax. First of all, if your face was covered with wax, body heat alone would be enough to soften it. Second, there is no doubt that the term arose only in the late nineteenth century, and that it is a translation of the Chinese tiu lien. The opposite is to save face. How would they explain that? Women sat on a block of ice to save face?
Mind your own beeswax (stay out of my business)
    MYTH: In the old days, many women had developed acne scars by adulthood. The women would spread bee’s wax over their facial skin to smooth out their complexions. When they were speaking to each other, if a woman began to stare at another woman’s face she was told “mind your own bee’s wax.”
    REALITY: It never happened. The term developed in the 1930s as a humorous variant on the word business.
News (information reported by the media)
    MYTH: Since reports come from all parts of the compass (North, East, West, and South), the acronym NEWS was invented.
    REALITY: Plain and simple, it refers to new information. In fact, when it showed up in English in the 14th century, a translation of the French noveles, it was spelled newes, which ruins the so-called acronym. Remember: there were no acronyms before 1900.

Language Myths # 3: Devil to Pay, Frog in One's Throat, Golf, Gossip, Hunky Dory

 

Listen to the podcast here.

 

These are more phony internet stories about the origin of familiar words and phrases.

 

Devil to pay (serious trouble is foreseen)

MYTH: The devil is the long seam at the ship’s keel, and paying

meant caulking that seam with tar, a very dirty and difficult job.

REALITY: This one is marginal. Originally, it was a reference to paying the devil with your eternal soul, the core ofthe Faust legend presented by Christopher Marlowe, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
and countless imitators. It first shows up in print in Jonathon Swift’s Journal to Stella, and there it is a reference tothe ultimate payment: eternal damnation. At a much later date, sailors may have latched on to it because of themeaning overlap, but that wasn’t the source; that was an adaptation.

 

Frog in one’s throat (hoarseness or phlegm in the throat)

MYTH: it was a common practice in the Middle Ages to stick a frog in a patient’s mouth when he or she had a throat infection known as thrush.

REALITY: Just think about that alleged treatment: do you think that people would let some clown shove a frog down their throats when they could hardly breathe already? A frog in my throat refers to a temporary thickness in the voice, especially of a radio talk show host. It’s an allusion to the hoarse, throaty croaking of frogs.

Golf (a game which Mark Twain described as “a good walk spoiled”)

MYTH: Golf is an old acronym for Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden.

REALITY: No one knows for sure, but there is some speculation that it may come from the Dutch word kolf, aclub or bat. At any rate, it wasn’t a sexist slogan. Besides, before the 20^th century, acronyms were nonexistent.

 

Gossip (rumor or talk of a personal, sensational, or intimate nature)

MYTH: Early politicians required feedback from the public, so they sent their assistants to local pubs to “go sip some ale” and listen to people’s conversations and political concerns. “Go sip” soon turned into the word gossip.

REALITY: The word comes from the Anglo-Saxon godsibb, a godparent or spiritual relative. By the Middle Ages, the word had come to mean a close friend. The modern use of the word to mean idle (often spiteful) conversation was in place by the 19^th century

hunky-dory (perfectly satisfactory; fine)

MYTH: American sailors docking in Yokohama Japan would

head for the red light district on a street named Huncho-Dori.

REALITY: A very popular song sung by the original Christy Minstrels during the Civil War (JosephusOrange Blossom) contained the line, “red-hot hunky-dory contraband.” This slang term meant “in good condition,” and it probably evolved from a Dutch word honk, meaning “home” or “goal” as in a game of tag. Once you reached honk, everything was hunky-dory.

 

Language Myths #2: Cold Enough to Freeze the Balls off a Brass Monkey, Giving the Cold Shoulder, Cop, Costing an Arm and a Leg, Crack a Smile

 

Listen to the podcast here.

 

Here are some more phony stories that you'll find on the internet about the origin of common words and phrases.

 

Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey (really, really cold!)

MYTH: On sailing ships, cannon balls were stacked in pyramid shape using a triangular piece of brass calledthe monkey. When it got cold enough, the metal would contract, and the cannon balls would scatter all over the deck.

REALITY: There is no historical evidence validating “monkey” in this sense. In fact, cannon balls were storedbelow deck near the cannons on wooden racks with holes in them (shot racks or shot garlands). Rolling cannonballs would have been totally unacceptable, a toe-crunching danger to the crew on a rocking vessel. Like it or not, what we have here is a vulgar anatomical reference. Herman Melville had a character say this in his seafaringnovel Omoo: “It was ‘ot enough to melt the nose h’off a brass monkey.” The temperatures are opposite and the body parts differ, but the affinity is obvious.

 

Cold shoulder (deliberate disregard or disrespect)

MYTH: In the Middle Ages [here we go again!], unwelcome guests were given a cold shoulder of meat ratherthan the customary hot meal. They would get the message that they were unwanted, and be on their way the next day.

REALITY: Meat of any kind was a luxury in the Middle Ages, not a thinly coded message. The phrase doesn’t even show up in print until 1816, when Sir Walter Scott used it in The Antiquary. Its use in that novel makes it clear that it referred to human anatomy, not mutton. It’s a dismissive shrug, a prelude to turning one’s back on someone.

 

Cop (police officer)

MYTH: This is an acronym for “Constable on Patrol” or “Constabulary of Police” or . . . [fill in the blank.]Analternative explanation is that  it started because policemen wore copper buttons on their uniforms.

REALITY: It arose because of what they did: capture people. As a verb, cop was a slang term for “grab” in GreatBritain in the late 18^th/early 19^th century. Ultimately, it tracks back to the Latin verb capere, to take or seize.

 

Cost an arm and a leg  (heavy price to pay)

MYTH: In George Washington’s day, there were no cameras. One’s image was either sculpted or painted.Some paintings of George Washington showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back whileothers showed both legs and both arms. Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted, but by how many limbs were to be painted. Arms and legs are limbs; therefore, painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence the expression “Okay, but it’ll cost you an arm and a leg.”

REALITY: It has nothing to do with physical reality. It’s a deliberate hyperbole, an exaggerated statement,much like “This’ll kill you!” “That blew me away!” “I work my fingers to the bone,” and “I split my sideslaughing!” Besides, it doesn’t appear until the 20^th century.

 

Crack a smile  (produce the beginnings of a smile)

MYTH: In the old days, many women and men had developed acne scars or smallpox scars by adulthood. Thewomen would spread bee’s wax over their facial skin to smooth out their complexions. If a woman smiled, the wax would crack, leading to the expression, “to crack a smile.”

REALITY: First, refer to mind your own beeswax. Second, to crack a smile literally means to part the lipsslightly, the same way we’d say, “crack that window open a bit,” or “leave that door open a crack.”

 

 

Language Myths 1: Above Board, Amazon, Bigwig, Chairman, and Chew the Fat

 

Listen to the podcast here.

 

There are more myths floating around the internet about

the origin of words and phrases than there are fruit flies on a

rotten banana. Most of them, quite obviously, are the invention

of imaginative jokesters—probably English teachers on summer

vacation—who enjoy gulling the gullible. I’ll grant that these

stories often show imagination and verve, but when they are taken

as gospel and inserted in cascading e-mails which clog the inbox

and the brain, it’s time to call a halt.

 

In a series of podcasts, I’m going to cover some of the phony stories

that I’ve encountered. Some are silly, some are funny, and some have

the ring of possibility, but all of them are provably wrong. They

do illustrate a common human tendency: when we don’t know the

origin of something, we become uneasy. Humans are fabricators;

we would rather make something up or grasp at an off-the-wall

explanation than admit that no one knows—admit that some things

simply have been lost in the mists of history.

 

Above board (in full view; honest)

MYTH: The board was the deck of a sailing ship. When you approached

a sailing vessel, if the crew was out of sight for no good reason (below board), you were prudent to suspect pirates and run the other way.

REALITY: A board was a table, and when card-playing

gamblers slipped their hands under the table, or board, cheating

was assumed.

 

Amazons (in Greek mythology, a nation of women warriors)

MYTH: They took their name from the Greek word a-mazos,

without a breast. This is because they voluntarily cut off their right

breasts to be able to use a bow and arrow to maximum effect.

REALITY: The Greeks borrowed the term from the Iranian ha-

mazon, “fighting together.”

 

Big wig (a very important person)

MYTH: Wealthy men could afford good wigs made from

wool. The wigs couldn’t be washed, or they'd shrink, so to clean them they would carve out a loaf of bread, put the wig in the shell, and bake it for 30

minutes. The heat would make the wig big and fluffy; hence, the

term big wig.

REALITY: It’s hard to imagine a more ludicrous cleaning

method. Baking a loaf of bread a second time would result in a hard

chunk of toast. Instead of making the wig fluffy, it would constrict

it, thus creating a really bad hair day. However, the term big wig

did originate with the large and ornate wigs that only the wealthy

could afford.

 

Chairman (the presiding officer of an assembly, meeting,

                   committee, or board)

MYTH: In the late 1700s, many houses consisted of a large

room with only one chair. The head of the household always sat in

the chair while everyone else ate sitting on the floor. To sit in the

chair meant you were important and made you the “chairman.”

REALITY: Obviously, these people never took an art history

course. By that era, everyone had chairs or benches, as painting after

painting will testify. The chairman was the person who sat in the

chair of authority at the head of the table in a political or business

situation; it had nothing to do with daddy scarfing down dinner.

 

Chew the fat (to spend time chatting)

MYTH: People in the Middle Ages would hang a side of smoked

bacon near their open fireplace to show that they were prosperous.

When a guest came, they would slice off a strip, and the host and

the guest would sit there contentedly, chewing the fat.

REALITY: In its current sense, this phrase didn’t even exist

until the late 19th century. No one is absolutely sure where it came

from, but it may originally have meant constant complaining, not

just idle conversation. It should be treated as an analogy: just as the

jaws grind away relentlessly when chewing gristly meat, so move 
the jaws of the inveterate talker