The Free Dictionary explains that during the bare-knuckle boxing match era a large circle was drawn on bare ground (called the “boxing ring”) to mark the area where the fight would occur. A line was scratched on the dirt in the middle of the ring. The fighters would indicate they were ready to fight when they stepped up to the line, or up to scratch. The expression evolved into meaning something is satisfactory or meets what is expected.
Category Archives: Expressions
Caught Flat-Footed
Charles Earle Funk explains in his book A Hog on Ice & Other Curious Expressions that this expression probably came from the game of football. It means to be unprepared and indecisive; such as would be the case with a football player who has not expected to receive the ball and is tackled before he moves.
Indian Summer – Can We Be Offended If We Don’t Know?
Recently on Weather Underground, a show on the Weather Channel, the host said management had decreed they no longer use the phrase “Indian Summer” for a warm autumn day, but rather “Second Summer.” He went on to say some Native Americans find the phrase offensive but others do not, and left the impression he disagreed with his management – I don’t know how brave or foolish that may be for an employee on cable TV.
My Google search provided this as its top link: “Although the exact origins of the term are uncertain, it is thought to have been based on the warm and hazy conditions in autumn when native American Indians chose to hunt.”
While that certainly refers to Native Americans, it hardly seems offensive. Though I doubt warm fall days were the only time to hunt!
Phrase Finder says
“Indian summer is first recorded in Letters From an American Farmer, a 1778 work by the French-American soldier turned farmer J. H. St. John de Crèvecoeur…[It arrived in England] during the heyday of the British Raj in India. This led to the mistaken belief that the term referred to the Indian subcontinent.”
No one knows why the phrase refers to Indians, but Phrase Finder lists several theories. The one that may lead to offense is:
In a parallel with other ‘Indian’ terms it implied a belief in Indian falsity and untrustworthiness and that an Indian summer was an ersatz copy of the real thing.
Since no one knows the source of the term and there are many “harmless” theories, I’m surprised the phrase is falling into disrepute.
Fly the Coop
The meaning of the expression is to escape from the rigors of requirements. Coop was slang for prison or jail, so the original meaning was to escape from prison.
What To Do With Racist Origins
I recently read an article about expressions with racist origins, which said:
- Peanut Gallery was a segregation-era term for the seating area for blacks in a theater. Wikipedia says “A peanut gallery was, in the days of vaudeville, a nickname for the cheapest (and ostensibly rowdiest) seats in the theater, the occupants of which were often known to heckle” and throw the cheap snack – peanuts – at actors. It says the popular comic strip Peanuts was named for this phrase. While Wikipedia doesn’t specifically mention a racial origin, todayifoundout says experts disagree on whether the phrase referred to race or economic class. I suspect the two overlap a great deal.
- Sold Me Down the River referred to selling disruptive slaves deeper into the South where conditions were harder. NPR agrees, citing one writer who called such a sale a death sentience. Phrase Finder adds a literal use in print is in The Ohio Repository, May 1837; and the figurative meaning of betrayal by P. G. Wodehouse’s Small Bachelor, 1927.
- Gypped, meaning cheated, referred to the supposed dishonesty of Romani (a ethnicity originating in India), called gypsies in Europe. NPR quotes the1899 Century Dictionary as tying the word to gypsies. Worldwidewords acknowledges the possibility but notes the word seems to have originated in America, where gypsies were few. “It may equally well come from the obsolete gippo, a menial kitchen servant; this once meant a man’s short tunic, from the obsolete French jupeau.”
I wonder if origins matter
If I want to communicate with people around me, I need to use words they understand. If I use the word “gyp,” launching into a monologue on why taking offense is ignorant sounds, well, offensive.
This isn’t “political correctness” to me. Words and symbols mean what the people you’re talking to think they mean. It may be a chore to stay current with the latest usage, but I don’t want to be a jerk.
Chew the Fat
There is no argument that the expression refers to casual, idle conversation, but there are several disputed sources of its origin. Wikipedia observes that there is no evidence that it came from the often sited reference of sailors chewing salt-hardened fat or Native Americans chewing animal hides in their spare time. Ditto for Inuit chewing whale blubber. The actual origin is attributed to soldiers in the British Army in India who chewed on the cloth soaked in animal fat that contained the powder and ball for loading their muskets. They chewed on the cartridges “…to pass the time and reduce nerves, and in some cases to stave off cravings for chewing tobacco.” It was first referenced in 1885 in a book by J. Brunlees Patterson titled Life in the Ranks of the British Army in India.