The origin of this title seems pretty obvious, but a grandson suggested that I post it. Random House writes that the use of wigs apparently started in France in the seventeenth century and reached England a bit later. The English wore wigs differentiated based on class and profession, and “…men of great importance naturally wore larger wigs that the rabble…” earning them the title “big wigs.” The term is also recorded as “bigwig” and it was considered to be a derisive term. Other words used to poke humor were “bigwiggery” and “bigwiggism.”

This expression is used when someone seems to have been rendered speechless by a question or accusation. Ask Yahoo says there is no certainty about the origin, and the three guesses are all pretty disgusting. One is that liars had their tongues taken out and fed to the king’s cats in the Middle East. Another is that fear of being whipped with a cat-o-nine-tails renders a victim speechless. The final is that witches in the Middle East were feared and put to death. The cats of witches would control your tongue so you couldn’t report her.

I selected this expression to post today because I posted both a review and blog about the book “Angry Pigs Organized Against Gerbils: The Farmer Island War.” Therefore, I am going whole hog on the web site today (and I probably should apologize).

I am often surprised about the origin of an expression, and that is the case with this one. I had believed that the wikianswers explanation was the obvious source. That site says that it originated from the Southern barbecue process of cooking and serving a whole hog, and that it is easy to see how going whole hog means going all the way. However, The Phrase Finder explains that the expression actually came from “…a rather obscure satirical work by…William Cowper.” The poem “…teases Muslims over the supposed ambiguity of restrictions against eating pork…” The gist is that each part of a hog is tested to learn which part wasn’t permissible to eat until the whole hog is eaten. (As an aside, a whole hog can easily feed fifty people.)

Phrases.org.uk has some interesting discussion about the origin of this idiom. It has been incorrectly attributed to a supposed law in England in the 1700s that allowed a man to beat his wife as long as the stick was no thicker than his thumb. The origin is described as being unknown. However, it is speculated that thumbs have always been used to estimate distance by seeing how much of the object is covered by holding the thumb up and over the object. The thumb is also used to estimate the temperature of beer. The length of the thumb nail or the width of the thumb has also been used to estimate an inch.

Answers.com says that the originated with Richard Cromwell who was the son of the English dictator Oliver Cromwell. Richard succeeded his father but was quickly deposed. The phrase is said to refer to the crown he never got to wear. Wikianswers.com has a slightly different version, saying it refers to a crown that was too tight for one of the kings. Regardless, the expression is used to describe anything that is too tight.

This expression is said by a web site to mean to get a boost or advantage. It is said to originate from the act of receiving help in mounting a horse when a helper creates “…a foothold by cupping the hands to heft the driver upward, throwing a leg up and over the steed.”