Just yesterday, I looked up the root of the word “noggin.” It’s unclear, but apparently a noggin is a small container of alcohol in old school UK, so it’s something to do w/ that… and may be linked to the term “mug” to describe a face. For some time, it was popular to decorate beer mugs w/ distorted faces.
“take it with a grain of salt” refers to an italian proverb of adding salt to your pumpkin or something like that.
The name Peggy is short for Megan, but nobody really knows why. I think the welsh get blamed.
The name Peggy is short for Megan, but nobody really knows why. I think the welsh get blamed.
[/quote]
Peggy is short for Margaret.
Margaret gave us Margot, Marguerita, Rita, Greta, Gretel, Gretchen, Marjorie (originally Margery), Margie, Maggie, Madge, May, Maisie, Daisy, Maidie, Megan, Meg, and Mog. Meg and Mog became Meggy and Moggy, which transmogrified in to Peggy and Poggy.
[quote]1 Man Island wrote:
Just yesterday, I looked up the root of the word “noggin.” It’s unclear, but apparently a noggin is a small container of alcohol in old school UK, so it’s something to do w/ that… [/quote]
We still see a derivation of noggin used in “eggnog”.
Eating High on the Hog- When a Southern farmer raised hogs he would always sell the best(high) part because it brought the most money.
ya’ll- You all -plural not singular-replaces the yankee term “you guys”
Wish I could take credit for this, but a buddy sent this info to me years ago …
On old war ships it was necessary to keep a large supply of cannon balls near the cannons. The problem was how to keep them from rolling around the deck. It was determined the best method was to stack them as a square based pyramid - one ball on top, resting on four, resting on nine, which rested on sixteen.
With this system 30 cannon balls could be stacked into a fairly small area near the cannon. The problem was how to prevent the bottom layer of cannon balls from sliding or rolling from under the others.
The solution was, initially, an iron plate with 16 indentations for the bottom layer of cannon balls - called (unknown origins) a “monkey.” Sailors soon found that this wouldn’t work in cold climates, as the cannon balls would rust to the iron “monkeys.” The solution to the rust issue was to make them out of brass - hence the term “brass monkeys.”
But the brass monkeys didn’t solve all of the cold weather problems. While the cannon balls didn’t rust to the brass monkeys like the iron version, brass contracts much more and faster than iron. As a result, when temperatures dropped too far, the brass indentions would shrink so much that the iron cannon balls would come right off the monkey.
So, it was literally COLD ENOUGH TO FREEZE THE BALLS OFF A BRASS MONKEY …
The name Peggy is short for Megan, but nobody really knows why. I think the welsh get blamed.
[/quote]
Peggy is short for Margaret.
[/quote]
Margaret… that’s it. I was going of memory.
Also, black friday was coined by the Philly police to discourage people from going out because they couldn’t control them. SUPPOSEDLY, it was used to describe a day when people acted black.
[quote]1 Man Island wrote:
Just yesterday, I looked up the root of the word “noggin.” It’s unclear, but apparently a noggin is a small container of alcohol in old school UK, so it’s something to do w/ that… and may be linked to the term “mug” to describe a face. For some time, it was popular to decorate beer mugs w/ distorted faces.
[/quote]
A naggin is the small container of spirits. 200ml. Noggin refers to your head.
It’s thought that “dibs” is a shortening of dibstones (jacks) but I can’t find anything in my books about how dibs then meant a claim on something. In the UK, it’s called bags, thought to be from putting your bag under your desk.
[/quote]
I’ve seen that reference before, but it doesn’t make sense to me. How does it translate to reserving something? I’ve asked a lot of girls (who seemed to like to play knucklebones or jacks…at least in Oz) if they know of a dibs and they can’t shed light on it. Ditto calling baggsies. I just don’t see the connection to reservation.
Also on a seperate note, I’ve always thought it was called ‘going cold turkey’ because during the sudden detox your skin took on the appearance of cold turkey.
It’s thought that “dibs” is a shortening of dibstones (jacks) but I can’t find anything in my books about how dibs then meant a claim on something. In the UK, it’s called bags, thought to be from putting your bag under your desk.
[/quote]
I’ve seen that reference before, but it doesn’t make sense to me. How does it translate to reserving something? I’ve asked a lot of girls (who seemed to like to play knucklebones or jacks…at least in Oz) if they know of a dibs and they can’t shed light on it. Ditto calling baggsies. I just don’t see the connection to reservation.
Also on a seperate note, I’ve always thought it was called ‘going cold turkey’ because during the sudden detox your skin took on the appearance of cold turkey.
[/quote]
I have no idea how dibs took on it’s current meaning.
I can see how “bags” or bagssies did, though. Walk into an empty classroom, place your bag under your chair, then get up to sharpen your pencil. Someone sits at the desk you were at, but you point to your bag under the seat, hence reserving or making a claim to something by “calling bags”.
I’ve heard that for cold turkey as well. Really, who knows?
Between the devil and the deep blue sea: Devil is a nautical term for either the longest seam on the side of a wooden ship or the one just above the water line. Caulking or applying pitch to these seams was precarious and left little room for error. We also see the word “devil” used as a nautical term in “devil to pay”. In this case, to pay means to caulk to if you have the devil to pay, you’re the one hanging off a side of a ship caulking the seams with hot pitch.
Lame duck: During US Revolutionary times, there was a saying, “never waste powder on a dead duck” from which we’ve kept “dead duck”. Some political writer whose name has been lost, wittily referred to those politicians who had lost an election, but net yet vacated office as not yet dead, but merely “lamed”.
HIll of beans: interesting because it’s one of the oldest recorded idioms in the English language. In 1297 Robert of Gloucester wrote, “The King of Germany sent a message to King John to forget his hurt and receive the archbishop, and let the Holy Church have her franchise, clear and clean; altogether not worth a bean”. “Hill” was added sometime later.
Bonus!
to take forty winks: The Thirty Nine Articles are the articles of faith of the Church of England which the clergy are required to accept. Reading them would be somewhat dreary, leading an author in Punch to say, “If a man, after reading through the Thirty Nine Articles, were to take forty winks…”
And how’s about being described as ‘a cad of the first water’, or being involved in ‘a disaster of the first water’!
I love that term. I have read that it derives from the jewellery trade, specific to diamonds which are rated by their clarity. A diamond of the first water, being the clearest and most brilliant.
And as a question to the gallery ‘At the end of the day’. Am I right in thinking that this expression was one of the Iron Dukes bon mots?
[quote]MartyMonster wrote:
And how’s about being described as ‘a cad of the first water’, or being involved in ‘a disaster of the first water’!
I love that term. I have read that it derives from the jewellery trade, specific to diamonds which are rated by their clarity. A diamond of the first water, being the clearest and most brilliant.
And as a question to the gallery ‘At the end of the day’. Am I right in thinking that this expression was one of the Iron Dukes bon mots? [/quote]
I’d never heard this before, but my first thought was “cad of the first order” which was transformed over time to “…of the first water” based upon the way the words sound. A “cad of the first order” would be the highest ranking sleazebag.
The author of The Guardian article I linked to hackneyed another of my favorite idioms in the body of the article. “Hoist by his own transgressions” derived from “hoist by his own petard”.
From Hamlet:
There's letters seal'd: and my two schoolfellows,
Whom I will trust as I will adders fang'd,
They bear the mandate; they must sweep my way
And marshal me to knavery. Let it work;
For 'tis the sport to have the enginer
Hoist with his own petar'; and 't shall go hard
But I will delve one yard below their mines
And blow them at the moon: O, 'tis most sweet,
When in one line two crafts directly meet.
A petard was a small breaching detonation, so to be hoist by one’s own petard would mean that the bombmaker was lifted up and thrown by his own bomb. Or, to suffer by one’s own making.
Also, black friday was coined by the Philly police to discourage people from going out because they couldn’t control them. SUPPOSEDLY, it was used to describe a day when people acted black.[/quote]
I think it meant “black” in the sense of irksome, problematic, and a general pain in the ass. Directing traffic, keeping pedestrians off the streets, and a ton of out-of-towners in for the Army-Navy game made life difficult for cops.
The first modern reference was in the 1950s and was taken from a Management book. The concern was how to keep factory workers from taking the Friday after Thanksgiving off and turning into a 4 day weekend.
Couldn’t find anything online, but the phrase “good as a mug” was common in the St. Louis area.
Obviously, it could mean “good as a mug ,” but I think it’s probably more of a g-rated version “good as a motherfucker,” especially considering most people I’ve heard use the phrase would pronounce it “mafugga.”
I have no idea how dibs took on it’s current meaning. [/quote]
Most game-based idioms are territorial. Dibs could refer to the winning of the game and calling it out loud (similar to calling bingo) or the use of the jacks to stake a claim to the playing space in the street (‘crapshoot’ is a double reference to a game of chance and playing illegally thus risking getting caught in a double gamble).
There’s also a connection with bagssies in that they are both schoolyard idioms. Bags are used in some varieties of dibs. In addition to your explanation of bagssies, I’ve also heard that idiom was used in factories to claim work space for the day and in mines for eating breaks (where the miner would sit down anywhere with his bag to ‘claim’ the space.
I’d never heard this before, but my first thought was “cad of the first order” which was transformed over time to “…of the first water” based upon the way the words sound. A “cad of the first order” would be the highest ranking sleazebag.
Its a good point that the saying can be transformed over time for many reasons. Going balls to the wall just sounds ruder than ball to the wall and is thus a better expression. But simply mishearing an expression can’t be ruled out. Its the difference between “Gladly the cross I’d bear” and “Gladly, the cross eyed bear”.