ORIGINS OF SAYINGS

These anecdotes about the sources of popular expressions will make a good phone-in bit. Tell the anecdote, then ask listeners to guess which common expression resulted. (Most of these come from around 1500 in Merrie Olde England.)

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and were still smelling pretty good by June, although they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the B.O. Baths were a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. What expression did this lead to? “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water”.

Houses had thatched roofs. Thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for 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 and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. What expression did this lead to? “It’s raining cats and dogs”.

A Two-Parter: The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt, hence the saying … ? “Dirt poor”. The wealthy had slate floors which in the winter they would get slippery when wet. So they spread thresh on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on they kept adding more thresh until when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed at the entry way to keep the thresh in place, and so a doorway became known as …? A “thresh hold”.

A Three-Parter: Sometimes they could obtain pork and would feel really special when that happened. When company came over, they would bring out some bacon and hang it to show it off. It was a sign of wealth … hence the expression … ? It showed a man could really “bring home the bacon.” They would cut off a little to share with guests and they would all sit around and …? “Chew the fat”. However, if they had bacon hanging up and they saw someone approach the house or cottage that they didn’t particularly like, they would put the bacon away from view, this was to … ? “Save your bacon”.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top. And so the best-off among them were … ? The “upper crust”.

A giant pot was used over a fire to cook meat. This could have been almost anything … beef, pork … or even mice. The pot was never cleaned out, and would have remains of meat from months, if not years ago. Sometimes you would be served fresh meat, sometimes it would be old meet from the pot … it was hard to tell – leading to what expression? “Pot luck”.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock them out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. This lead to what expression? “Holding a ‘wake’.

Another Three-Parter: England started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take their bones to a house and re-use the grave. In reopening these coffins, one out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they thought they would tie a string on their wrist and lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night to listen for the bell. This night-time work became known as … ? “The “graveyard shift.” Someone who pulled the string to be let out of their coffin was … ? “Saved by the bell.” And they were called a … ? “Dead ringer.”