June 28, 2024 • 9 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Andrew Thompson shares another slice of his guide to understanding the baffling mini-mysteries of the English language. The book is Hair of the Dog to Paint the Town Red: The Wonderful Origins of Everyday Expressions and Fun Phrases.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
including your story. Send them to our American Stories dot com.
There are some of our favorites up next, the story
of intriguing, bizarre, and even curious Phrases that we use
each and every day in the English language, here's Andrew Thompson.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Back to square one is an expression that I've always
found interesting when someone says, you know, we're back to
square one in this project, where you've got to start
back at the beginning. It began in the nineteen thirties
in Britain in soccer matches that were broadcast on the radio.
The Radio Times was a famous magazine there, and they
published a numbered grid system which divided the soccer field
(00:55):
into eight rectangles, and this allowed commentators to describe to
listeners at zach where the ball was at any time.
In reference to this grid system, Square one was the goalkeeper,
so whenever the ball was passed back to him, the
play was going to resume again, and it was referred
to as being back to square one. Back to the
drawing board is similar to back to square one, although
(01:18):
it began in America in nineteen forty one in the
New Yorker magazine, back to the drawing board obviously means
we need to start again. A drawing board is an
architects or drafters table that they used to prepare designs on.
But in New York Magazine in nineteen forty one was
during World War II and an artist called Peter Arno
(01:42):
drew a picture of military personnel running towards a plane
that had just crashed, and there's a man in a
suit holding a set of plans under his arm, walking
away from the crash, and the caption reads well back
to the old drawing board, and the expression became widespread
straight after that. Baker's dozen is an expression that means
(02:03):
thirteen as opposed to twelve, and it's got an interesting origin.
It dates all the way back to the thirteenth century
in England, when King Henry the Third introduced a law
that regulated the price of bread based on the price
of wheat. This was to stop bakers from selling underweight
loaves of bread, which they were said to do at
(02:24):
the time. The punishment for breach of the law was
pretty harsh, and the baker could be fined, flogged, or
put in the stocks, so as a safety measure to
avoid these penalties, bakers would often give an extra loaf
of bread for every dozen. The thirteenth loaf was known
as the vantage loaf, and it protected them from prosecution
in case they accidentally missed out a loaf, so the
(02:46):
thirteen loaves became known as the baker's dozen. Bandied about
means to make frequent or casual use of a name
or idea, and it originates from the sixteenth century French
game called bander. Bander was a four were under a
tennis and involved hitting a ball to and fro between opponents.
The Irish then invented a new team sport similar to
(03:07):
modern day hockey, where the ball was hit using a
bode stick, and it too was called banda, named after
the French game, and in fact because of that bode
stick that was used in the Irish game. The term
bandy leg developed to refer to someone with boed legs.
Shakespeare immortalized the term bandy to mean to and fro
in his sixteen oh six play King Lear to bank
(03:29):
on someone as an expression which means to completely trust
or rely on someone, and it began in medieval Venice
before the day of modern banks. At that time, Venice
was the hub of world trade, and men set up
benches in the main plazas to trade various world currencies
that appeared in the city from merchants and travelers. These
men acted like banks, and the Italian word for bench
(03:51):
also happens to be banco. The traders would exchange currencies
with these men, borrow from them, even leave money with
them while they're away. And these men had high scruples
and were known to be universally trusted. They were regarded
as men who could be banked on, and that's where
the expression comes from. A baptism of fire means an
(04:11):
intense introduction to something. This began in the sixteenth century
with Protestant Christian martyrs. They were burned at the state
by Catholics, who believed that the practice gave the martyrs
a form of baptism before they were judged by God.
Napoleon was the first to use the expression, and he
used it in French, which I won't attempt, but it
meant a baptism of iron. But the phrases now used
(04:34):
to apply to military situations and a soldier's first experience
of war to barge in as a common expression which
means to rudely interrupt or intrude on something. It began
in England in the early days of transportation, before railways existed,
The major towns were connected by a network of waterways
that allowed the movement of goods. These waterways were not
(04:56):
very deep and the boats used on them with flat
bottom barges. The barges were cumbersome and very hard to steer,
making collisions common, so vessels were often referred to as
barging in. The expression became colloquially used by the early
nineteen hundreds. If someone calls you barking mad means they
(05:17):
think you're crazy, and a lot of people think this
is related to a crazy dog barking. Whilst its origins
are disputed, the likely origins actually lie in the East
London town of Barking. In medieval times, Barking was home
to a lunatic asylum which was notorious for its deranged inhabitants.
It wasn't long before the expression barking mad was used
(05:38):
throughout England to refer to someone who was crazy barking
up the wrong trees and expression that means pursuing the
wrong course of action. This began in hunting in America
in the nineteenth century. Men would go raccoon hunting at night.
The raccoon being a nocturnal animal, and dogs would be
used to track them, and in the panic to escape,
(05:59):
the raccoons would often run up trees. This dog would
pick up the scent and stand at the base of
the tree, barking to alert the hunter as to the
raccoons whereabouts, But the raccoon, being a cunning animal, would
often trick the dog and escape, and it wasn't until
the hunter had climbed the branches that he realized his
dog was barking up the wrong tree and the raccoon
(06:20):
was no longer there. A basket case is used to
refer to someone that is completely hopeless or in useless condition,
and it began as an expression in the American military
from World War One. It referred to soldiers who had
lost both arms and legs and had to be carried
in a basket, and in fact, the Surgeon General of
(06:42):
the US Army cemented the term when he used it
in a bulletin in nineteen nineteen to refer to people
as basket cases. It later became used to refer to
people who'd suffered mental incapacities. A person who's known as
an artful dodger is someone who gets away with things,
and this comes from a literary reference which is from
(07:04):
Charles Dickens's novel Oliver Twist from the early eighteen hundreds,
and in that one of the characters is a man
named Jack Dawkins who's a cunning pickpocket. But as part
of the story, Dickens' names Dawkins the artful dodger, and
the expression came to mean anyone that gets away with things.
To batten down the hatches is a nautical expression which
(07:26):
means to prepare for trouble or hard times. In the
eighteen hundreds, most sailing ships had cargo holds that opened
to the deck via hatches that were sometimes called hatchways.
These was normally left open or simply covered with a
grate that allowed for ventilation, but in bad seas or
bad weather, the ship's captain would tell people to batten
(07:46):
down the hatches to protect the cargo. At that time,
they would cover the hatches with canvas, tar, pawlands, or
strips of wood to stop them from blowing off. The
battle Royal is an intent fight or a fight to
the end, and it's an expression that originates from the
blood sport of cockfighting from the twelfth century. It was
(08:08):
a very popular end and the royal cocks were the
strongest and best fighting birds, and Henry the eighth even
had a cockpit built at Whitehall Palace. These birds would
fight in various rounds until they got down to the
two in the final and that last round was known
as the Battle Royal, which was fought until there was
(08:28):
one victor, which was often the Royal bird who was
the best.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Bread and a great job by Greg Hangler for producing
this piece, and a special thanks to Andrew Thompson who
you've been listening to. And by the way, again the
book is Hair of the Dog to Paint the Town Red,
The curious origins of everyday sayings and fun phrases. And
you can go to Amazon dot com or all the
(08:52):
usual suspects to pick up the book again, Hair of
the Dog to Paint the Town Read. And who would
have known that sports in ancient history and Shakespeare and
Dickens would be the source of so many of the
phrases that will use in common language each and every day.
The stories of bizarre phrases and ordinary ones. Here on
(09:15):
our American story.
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
including your story. Send them to our American Stories dot com.
There are some of our favorites up next, the story
of intriguing, bizarre, and even curious Phrases that we use
each and every day in the English language, here's Andrew Thompson.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Back to square one is an expression that I've always
found interesting when someone says, you know, we're back to
square one in this project, where you've got to start
back at the beginning. It began in the nineteen thirties
in Britain in soccer matches that were broadcast on the radio.
The Radio Times was a famous magazine there, and they
published a numbered grid system which divided the soccer field
(00:55):
into eight rectangles, and this allowed commentators to describe to
listeners at zach where the ball was at any time.
In reference to this grid system, Square one was the goalkeeper,
so whenever the ball was passed back to him, the
play was going to resume again, and it was referred
to as being back to square one. Back to the
drawing board is similar to back to square one, although
(01:18):
it began in America in nineteen forty one in the
New Yorker magazine, back to the drawing board obviously means
we need to start again. A drawing board is an
architects or drafters table that they used to prepare designs on.
But in New York Magazine in nineteen forty one was
during World War II and an artist called Peter Arno
(01:42):
drew a picture of military personnel running towards a plane
that had just crashed, and there's a man in a
suit holding a set of plans under his arm, walking
away from the crash, and the caption reads well back
to the old drawing board, and the expression became widespread
straight after that. Baker's dozen is an expression that means
(02:03):
thirteen as opposed to twelve, and it's got an interesting origin.
It dates all the way back to the thirteenth century
in England, when King Henry the Third introduced a law
that regulated the price of bread based on the price
of wheat. This was to stop bakers from selling underweight
loaves of bread, which they were said to do at
(02:24):
the time. The punishment for breach of the law was
pretty harsh, and the baker could be fined, flogged, or
put in the stocks, so as a safety measure to
avoid these penalties, bakers would often give an extra loaf
of bread for every dozen. The thirteenth loaf was known
as the vantage loaf, and it protected them from prosecution
in case they accidentally missed out a loaf, so the
(02:46):
thirteen loaves became known as the baker's dozen. Bandied about
means to make frequent or casual use of a name
or idea, and it originates from the sixteenth century French
game called bander. Bander was a four were under a
tennis and involved hitting a ball to and fro between opponents.
The Irish then invented a new team sport similar to
(03:07):
modern day hockey, where the ball was hit using a
bode stick, and it too was called banda, named after
the French game, and in fact because of that bode
stick that was used in the Irish game. The term
bandy leg developed to refer to someone with boed legs.
Shakespeare immortalized the term bandy to mean to and fro
in his sixteen oh six play King Lear to bank
(03:29):
on someone as an expression which means to completely trust
or rely on someone, and it began in medieval Venice
before the day of modern banks. At that time, Venice
was the hub of world trade, and men set up
benches in the main plazas to trade various world currencies
that appeared in the city from merchants and travelers. These
men acted like banks, and the Italian word for bench
(03:51):
also happens to be banco. The traders would exchange currencies
with these men, borrow from them, even leave money with
them while they're away. And these men had high scruples
and were known to be universally trusted. They were regarded
as men who could be banked on, and that's where
the expression comes from. A baptism of fire means an
(04:11):
intense introduction to something. This began in the sixteenth century
with Protestant Christian martyrs. They were burned at the state
by Catholics, who believed that the practice gave the martyrs
a form of baptism before they were judged by God.
Napoleon was the first to use the expression, and he
used it in French, which I won't attempt, but it
meant a baptism of iron. But the phrases now used
(04:34):
to apply to military situations and a soldier's first experience
of war to barge in as a common expression which
means to rudely interrupt or intrude on something. It began
in England in the early days of transportation, before railways existed,
The major towns were connected by a network of waterways
that allowed the movement of goods. These waterways were not
(04:56):
very deep and the boats used on them with flat
bottom barges. The barges were cumbersome and very hard to steer,
making collisions common, so vessels were often referred to as
barging in. The expression became colloquially used by the early
nineteen hundreds. If someone calls you barking mad means they
(05:17):
think you're crazy, and a lot of people think this
is related to a crazy dog barking. Whilst its origins
are disputed, the likely origins actually lie in the East
London town of Barking. In medieval times, Barking was home
to a lunatic asylum which was notorious for its deranged inhabitants.
It wasn't long before the expression barking mad was used
(05:38):
throughout England to refer to someone who was crazy barking
up the wrong trees and expression that means pursuing the
wrong course of action. This began in hunting in America
in the nineteenth century. Men would go raccoon hunting at night.
The raccoon being a nocturnal animal, and dogs would be
used to track them, and in the panic to escape,
(05:59):
the raccoons would often run up trees. This dog would
pick up the scent and stand at the base of
the tree, barking to alert the hunter as to the
raccoons whereabouts, But the raccoon, being a cunning animal, would
often trick the dog and escape, and it wasn't until
the hunter had climbed the branches that he realized his
dog was barking up the wrong tree and the raccoon
(06:20):
was no longer there. A basket case is used to
refer to someone that is completely hopeless or in useless condition,
and it began as an expression in the American military
from World War One. It referred to soldiers who had
lost both arms and legs and had to be carried
in a basket, and in fact, the Surgeon General of
(06:42):
the US Army cemented the term when he used it
in a bulletin in nineteen nineteen to refer to people
as basket cases. It later became used to refer to
people who'd suffered mental incapacities. A person who's known as
an artful dodger is someone who gets away with things,
and this comes from a literary reference which is from
(07:04):
Charles Dickens's novel Oliver Twist from the early eighteen hundreds,
and in that one of the characters is a man
named Jack Dawkins who's a cunning pickpocket. But as part
of the story, Dickens' names Dawkins the artful dodger, and
the expression came to mean anyone that gets away with things.
To batten down the hatches is a nautical expression which
(07:26):
means to prepare for trouble or hard times. In the
eighteen hundreds, most sailing ships had cargo holds that opened
to the deck via hatches that were sometimes called hatchways.
These was normally left open or simply covered with a
grate that allowed for ventilation, but in bad seas or
bad weather, the ship's captain would tell people to batten
(07:46):
down the hatches to protect the cargo. At that time,
they would cover the hatches with canvas, tar, pawlands, or
strips of wood to stop them from blowing off. The
battle Royal is an intent fight or a fight to
the end, and it's an expression that originates from the
blood sport of cockfighting from the twelfth century. It was
(08:08):
a very popular end and the royal cocks were the
strongest and best fighting birds, and Henry the eighth even
had a cockpit built at Whitehall Palace. These birds would
fight in various rounds until they got down to the
two in the final and that last round was known
as the Battle Royal, which was fought until there was
(08:28):
one victor, which was often the Royal bird who was
the best.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Bread and a great job by Greg Hangler for producing
this piece, and a special thanks to Andrew Thompson who
you've been listening to. And by the way, again the
book is Hair of the Dog to Paint the Town Red,
The curious origins of everyday sayings and fun phrases. And
you can go to Amazon dot com or all the
(08:52):
usual suspects to pick up the book again, Hair of
the Dog to Paint the Town Read. And who would
have known that sports in ancient history and Shakespeare and
Dickens would be the source of so many of the
phrases that will use in common language each and every day.
The stories of bizarre phrases and ordinary ones. Here on
(09:15):
our American story.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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