Charles Earle Funk’s book “A Hog on Ice & Other Curious Expressions” explains that long in the past the knuckle was the knee or elbow. “Thus ‘to knuckle under,’ meaning to submit to—or acknowledge oneself defeated by—another, carries back to the time when one knelt before one’s conqueror in token of submission…” I think references in other sources to putting the knuckles of the hands on the ground as you kneel in front of the conqueror make less sense.
Category Archives: Expressions
Pantywaist
Bill O’Reilly used this as his word of the day in one of his recent shows, and he said something to the effect that it merely referred to clothing babies once wore and was not an insulting term. The dominant theme from an internet search is that it is “…a mild slur, meaning someone who is weak; a sissy. It is almost universally applied to men.” The term originated with the clothing of babies “…in one piece suits, a shirt and pants with snaps or buttons around the garments’ middles to allow easy access to diapers.” It was a “union suit” if it had long pants or a “pantywaist” if it had shorts. It might be called the trademarked “Onesie” today. Regardless, the consensus (and I often think things determined by consensus don’t turn out to be all that accurate) is that the term “…is an insult, so should be used with care.”
Sinister
I’m deviating from expressions because I find the etymology of the word interesting. It refers to being left- handed, and both of our children are dominantly left-handed. The root of the word sinister is the Latin sinistra, which refers to being left-handed. Left-handed evolved over time to mean evil, threatening, or unlucky. It has also been considered as meaning the person has been touched by the devil. On the other hand (so to speak) another web site explains, “There is something righteous about the right hand: it is supposed to point in the right direction and do everything right.” I’ve not noticed that our children have suffered any more than other left-handed people who have to deal with right-handed tools, etc., and I noted in sports that being left-handed (and left-footed in soccer) was an advantage.
Blow Hot and Cold
The expression is used to describe someone who is inconsistent. Charles Dunk explains in his book “A Hog on Ice & Other Curious Expressions” that the expression comes from one of Aesop’s fables. A satyr “…comes upon a traveler in winter who is blowing on his fingers.” The traveler explains he is doing that to warm his fingers. The satyr then offers the traveler hot soup, and the man blows on it. When asked whether the soup is not hot enough, the man explains he is trying to cool it. The satyr orders the man to leave with the admonition, “I will have no dealings with one who can blow hot and cold from the same mouth.”
Dead Ships and Dead Ducks
Funny label for wine
Grammar-monster defines “dead in the water” as a nautical term meaning to have no momentum or chance of progression.
Answers.yahoo doesn’t find the origin either, calling it a colloquialism.
Good old Phrase Finder offers “all the pre-1829 citations I can find of that phrase are literal references to things (fish etc.) that are in the water and dead,” but doesn’t mention the first metaphorical use.
The site diverted me to a phrase with a more explicit origin. The term “dead duck” is called an “old saying” but first found printed in the New York Courier in June, 1829:
“There is an old saying ‘never waste powder on a dead duck’; but we cannot avoid flashing away a few grains upon an old friend, Henry Clay.”
Beside Myself
According to the Urban Dictionary, this expression has been used for centuries to explain how someone has been placed in an emotional state that would cause them to be “out of one’s mind” because of strong emotions. Forms of the expression have been around from at least the 15th century. Other versions include “…beside oneself, out of one’s wits, out of one’s senses. An example that I found to be quite odd is, “I was so beside myself looking at all the women on the beach that I hadn’t heard my wife yelling for help.” That would be the statement of a man in trouble, but it doesn’t seem to match someone in such an emotional state that they were “beside themselves.”