Figures of speech

[adragonfly]

Ever wonder where figures of speech come from? I always enjoy these tidbits of trivial knowledge... Here's a couple...

"Saved by the bell," "Graveyard shift" and "Dead ringer"... - In earlier times, coffins were really expensive, so they were sometimes dug up and reused. Well, it was discovered that in 1 out of 25 cases, scratch marks were found on the insides of the lids, which meant that some people were accidentally buried alive. To keep this from happening anymore, a rope was tied to the wrist of the person who was buried. The rope was passed through a hole in the top of the coffin, lead through the dirt and tied to a bell above ground. If the bell rang, people knew to dig up the coffin - hence the saying "saved by the bell." The person who was hired to sit around in the cemetery to listen for any bells was said to have the "graveyard shift." And lastly, we use the term "dead ringer" for someone that has the appearance of being someone else. This came from people who appeared to be dead, but weren't, so they rang their bells!

"Rule of thumb"... At one point in time, (I forget which country this was in), it was normal for men to beat their wives with sticks. I know this still happens in certain countries, but the interesting thing about this law was that there was actually a limit to the size of the stick - it could be no bigger than the size of the man's thumb!


Anyone else got any interesting ones? I've got more, but just wanted to get this started...

 

[Kooldino]

Ever wonder where figures of speech come from? I always enjoy these tidbits of trivial knowledge... Here's a couple...


"Rule of thumb"... At one point in time, (I forget which country this was in), it was normal for men to beat their wives with sticks. I know this still happens in certain countries, but the interesting thing about this law was that there was actually a limit to the size of the stick - it could be no bigger than the size of the man's thumb!


Anyone else got any interesting ones? I've got more, but just wanted to get this started...

That's absurd...how can ANYONE do damage with a stick that small? I usually take a 3 foot lead pipe to the back of my gf's head when she spills food on my wife beater.

 

[derrick1623]

spills food hell, what about when she spills the beer?man id be pissed...


back on topic...i think that Throw the book at them came from the middle ages, where the guilty(or charged) didnt want to hear the laws, and they would truely throw a book to them to see for there selves...now justice is so blind its thrown books come in brail.

 

[Kooldino]

Well, this one is weak, but "dead as a dodo" refers to the species of birds...which are now extinct due to (i think) sailors hunting them all or something.

 

[Brubeck]

Mind you P's and Q's comes from the Irish Pubs. When the crowd would start getting too rowdy, the bartender would tell them to "Mind their pints and quarts"

 

[70]

Friday the 13th comes from way back, a long long time ago, in a land across the Atlantic Ocean...

A group of people called the Knights Templar, often thought of as the origin of the Free Masons and other "secret societies", were around. Basically, they were a group of people who gathered together to talk about ideas, free thinker so to speak. Well, the Knights started to gain in popularity and the King of France (I think) at the time started getting angry about it.

So, the King signed the death warrant for all Knight's Templar in the land. And he signed it on a Friday, the 13th day of whatever month all this supposedly happened in.

So, now Friday the 13th is considered bad luck because of all the people that were killed.

 

[Sir Nuke]

PACK SAND!!! YEP...we have all probably used that one a time or two...lol

well so the story goes, this goes back to native american women....who when persued by braves of ANOTHER tribe, and find themselves about to be captured and certainly ***** would drop to the ground and, yes, pack sand to avoid the totally disgracing act of being *****....

hey...who knows for sure, its something I heard a long time ago.....

 

[adragonfly]

Pack sand? I never heard that one, Sir nuke. What does it mean?

 

[Sir Nuke]

Pack sand? I never heard that one, Sir nuke. What does it mean?

its a darogatory (spelling -5) comment....like telling someone to "shove it".....which is explained in its origin.

 

[ZoomZoomH]

PACK SAND!!! YEP...we have all probably used that one a time or two...lol

well so the story goes, this goes back to native american women....who when persued by braves of ANOTHER tribe, and find themselves about to be captured and certainly ***** would drop to the ground and, yes, pack sand to avoid the totally disgracing act of being *****....

hey...who knows for sure, its something I heard a long time ago.....

are you saying they packed sand THERE to avoid getting *****???

that must hurt!

 

[Syzygy]

...(snip)...like telling someone to "shove it".....which is explained in its origin.

Oh, my God...I didn't realize you were saying that! While grotesque, it does seem to be a valid deterrent.

My submission is more of an origin of a word than a figure of speech:

The term "gerrymandering" was coined after Elbridge Gerry, a forefather who eventually became Vice-President. While he was Governor of Massachusetts, he "creatively reassigned" district borders to facilitate the election of his party cohorts. These lines were jagged and illogical, thus the term "gerrymandering".

 

[Sir Nuke]

are you saying they packed sand THERE to avoid getting *****???

that must hurt!

Yep....and considering their options....I guess they figured that was better....for IF they were "taken advantage of" they were considered "tainted" and were looked upon as outcasts in their own tribes.

 

[adragonfly]

Yep....and considering their options....I guess they figured that was better....for IF they were "taken advantage of" they were considered "tainted" and were looked upon as outcasts in their own tribes.

Ok, but how do you get the sand out?! And, really, if you were a horny guy who didn't think that **** was out of the question, would sand really stop you? Oh... wait... chaffing- nevermind... I guess it could work.

 

[Syzygy]

...(snip)...would sand really stop you? Oh... wait... chaffing- nevermind... I guess it could work.

It would work, but would also piss off the marauder so much he'd kill the poor lass...

 

[Mazdaspeedgirl]

Sometimes to die with honor is better than to live in disgrace...:mad:

 

[70]

I guess "pack sand" or "pound sand" are things that only people in the military are used to hearing Sir Nuke...

That is why most people might not have heard that term...

Kind of like "swamp ass".

 

[Sir Nuke]

Sometimes to die with honor is better than to live in disgrace...:mad:

BINGO Diane....you hit the nail on the head....in MANY cultures honor is something not taken likely....and death is prefered over being disgraced.

 

[adragonfly]

Sometimes to die with honor is better than to live in disgrace...:mad:

I agree with that statement completely. It's extremely difficult to ever live a normal life after being so brutally violated. What's even worse is when women get pregnant by their rapists and have to choose between keeping a baby that will forever be a reminder of their suffering, or having an abortion, which, in itself, is also a traumatic and painful experience. I just got really sad thinking about this...

 

[Sir Nuke]

okay....now I am sorry I brought that one up.....lets get back to the INTERESTING subject that dragonfly started this thread about..... k?

 

[adragonfly]

Ok, here's another...

"Bringing home the bacon." In the 1500's, most people didn't have enough money to eat meat on a regular basis. Most of what they actually ate were vegetables and fruits. So, whenever there was meat around, people were so proud of it as a sign of wealth that they used to hang it up in their homes for visitors to see when they popped in. It was a way to brag basically. These days, wealth is no longer measured by how much meat we have, but back then, a man who "brought home the bacon" was considered both successful and wealthy.

This isn't the most fascinating thread, I know, but hey, I'm bored! lol...