The Origins of Terms and Phrases

There are terms and phrases which remain in use today, despite the fact they were coined many years or many centuries ago. In some cases it is quite remarkable that they have survived and stand as testament to the rich heritage of the English language.

In no particular order I have listed a few examples, some of which may be familiar and some that I hope come as a bit of a surprise. I am pretty sure however that in a hundred years time, new entries will have made it into common usage, like ginger growler, qweer Starmer and Roland Rat.

(I)

In the early Tudor period, the City of London had hospitals which were largely run by the church. It was, however, decreed that mental institutions like Bedlam were to be situated outside the city walls. Severe cases of lunacy were not uncommon and led to patients being sent to an asylum in the hamlet of Barking, Essex. This, therefore, gave rise to the term “barking mad.”

(II)

In the Middle Ages most houses would have a dirt floor. Only the rich could afford tiles, which in turn became slippery. To counter this, the owners would spread straw on the tiles, which they would frequently add to. When the straw or thresh had built up, it was common for a piece of wood to be nailed across the door frame to stop the floor covering from blowing away. this gave rise to the term threshold.

(III)

After the Crusades, the Holy Land became a popular place of pilgrimage. While travelling through villages in France, the pilgrims would be asked where they were going and would reply, “A la Sainte Terre,” or to the Holy Land. The pilgrims, therefore, became known as sainte terre-ers, which is the origin of the word saunter.

(IV)

In Victorian times, Army officers stationed in India would be referred to in Hindi as bābū or sir. to signify that an order had been understood, the Hindi response was, thīk hai bābū (it is alright, Sir), which is the origin of the phrase tickety-boo.

(V)

After the invention of the transistor radio, broadcasting companies started to give live commentaries of sports events & in particular football matches. As no vision was involved, there was a grid made so listeners could be told by numbers where the ball was. A pass to the goalkeeper was the origin of the phrase “back to square one.”

(VI)

In rural Norfolk, a pig would be attached to a yoke and strung up for slaughter. The yoke was referred to as the bucket and in its death throes the pig would lash out giving rise to the phrase “kicking the bucket.”

(VII)

In the 1870s, a number of opium dens were opened in and around Chinatown in Limehouse, London. In Three Colt Street, a den was in the attic of a Georgian house, where you can still see the char marks on the rafters. Hallucinations were part and parcel of smoking opium and gave rise to the term “pipe dreams.”

(VIII)

During the Medieval Period, most houses had thatched roofs which overhung the building almost to the floor. The thatch became a haven for rodents, which were chased by cats and terriers. When activity reached fever pitch, it was not uncommon for the roof to give way, showering sleeping incumbents with animals and coining the phrase that it was “raining cats and dogs.”

(IX)

The Black Death decimated the population of England, and landowners who had once leased land for strip farming were now forced to lease larger plots to maintain food production and income. Many of the new farmers came in from Spain and France. The immigrant farmers were often referred to using the French for meadow and the Spanish for field, which is the origin of the surname “prat.”

(X)

In the 15th century, it was customary for a warship or merchant vessel to be inspected before it was sealed with pitch. In doing this, all the nails or spikes would be visible along with a fair amount of wood shavings which were known as span. This gave rise to the phrase “spick and span” as reference to something new or tidy.

(XI)

In 1814, the poet and fabulist Ivan Krylov wrote a fable entitled “The Inquisitive Man”, which tells of a man who visits a museum. while looking at all the smaller exhibits in minute detail, he fails to see the larger items and is the proverbial origin of the term “the elephant in the room.”

(XII)

When the British started trading with the Cantonese, the Chinese foremen used to get labourers to speed up using the Mandarin expression “chop-chop!” or hurry up.

(XIII)

In 1887, the British prime minister, Robert Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, appointed his nephew Arthur James Balfour as Minister for Ireland. In a subsequent speech by Balfour in the Houses of Parliament, he abstractly referred to the prime minister as Uncle Bob.

In 1892, the playwright Brandon Thomas wrote a farce called ‘Charley’s Aunt’ which tells of a man being visited by a male imposter dressed as his aunt who visits from Brazil. By using his own narrative and that of Balfour he created the expression, “Bob’s your uncle and Charley’s your aunt.”

(XIV)

James Kilroy of Halifax, Massachusetts, was employed as a checker at the Fore River Shipyard, Quincy. Riveters were paid on piecework and as a checker, he would use semi-waxed chalk to indicate a section of rivets had been checked. This is the origin of the phrase Kilroy woz here.

(XV)

In 2,600 BC, the Egyptians began the process of wrapping bodies in cloth which became known as mummification. The best linen for this purpose was woven in the state of Gaza which is why a bandage is now called “gauze.”

(XVI)

17th-century French hat makers used mercury to treat felt which over a period of time caused tremors and delirium. This was the origin of the phrase “mad as a hatter” and has nothing to do with Lewis Carrol.

(XVII)

In the 1700s, English dramatist John Dennis invented a device which would replicate the sound of thunder. His play, however, was a complete disaster and was quickly closed. A few years later, the device was located under the stage and used in the Shakespeare play Macbeth. John Dennis was furious but was responsible for the phrase “stealing one’s thunder.”

(XVIII)

English pirates in the 17th century were forever fearful of running out of ammunition. To this end, they carried a pistol in each hand, a cutlass in a scabbard and a knife which was held in the mouth, creating the term, “armed to the teeth.”

(XIX)

In 1837, the Marquis of Waterford, a known lush & mischief maker, led a group of friends on a night out in Melton Mowbray. As the evening wore on, their rowdy behaviour intensified and led to broken flowerpots, handles pulled off doors and broken windows. To top it off, the party painted a toll booth and a swan statue. The next day, he made recompense for the damage but not before he had created the phrase “painting the town red.”

(XX)

It was part of medieval etiquette that banquets were brought to a close by dropping hints that it was time for guests to go home. One of the favourite options was to serve a single slice of cheap meat, either pork, lamb or beef which gives us the term “cold shoulder.”

That’s all folks.
 

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