TO COIN A PHRASE

In a workshop I attended recently, the presenter shared an anecdote about when the British parliament released an extensive report into domestic violence. The final line of the report read something like: ‘as a rule of thumb, we do not condone violence in any form’. The contemporary and accepted definition of ‘rule of thumb’ is a means of estimation in the absence of exact tools of measurement. What one can presume the authors of the report didn’t realise, however, is that the possible historical origin of the phrase was as an English common law that allowed a man to beat his wife with a rod, so long as it was no thicker than his thumb. There is much disagreement and discussion about the accuracy of the historical basis for the phrase, but whether or not the phrase is derived from an early form of spousal abuse, it has entered (rightly or wrongly) into the lexicon of domestic violence. The use of it in a report condemning all forms of domestic violence was not an entirely well-considered decision.

Idioms such as ‘rule of thumb’ are common expressions that have become part of everyday speech. They are often said with little thought, rolling easily off the tongue and into sentences. The word idiom comes from the Greek idios – ‘one’s own, peculiar, or strange’. And the meanings of idioms are often strange, miles away from the literal meaning if the sentence was to be taken on its grammatical merits.

Humpty-Dumpty discusses semantics with Alice in Through the Looking Glass and proclaims: “When I use a word … it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.” Alice fires back with “The question is… whether you can make words mean so many different things?”

If, like Humpty-Dumpty, we know what words and phrases mean, do their origins matter? Should we know where idioms come from if we’re going to use them? Or should idioms be banished from writing altogether? I’m inclined to answer yes to the latter, mostly because they make writing sound informal and a little bit silly. But I would agree that they can add a bit of flair and humanity to your writing. It’s nice to make people smile occasionally.

In any case, to ensure none of us makes such a gaffe as the authors of the domestic violence report, here’s a couple of interesting idioms, with their current meanings and their possible strange origins.

Mad as a hatter

Meaning: A colloquial phrase for someone who is crazy or a little bit insane. Origin: A possible explanation for the phrase suggests a historic connection to the hat-making trade. In 19th century England, mercury was used in the production of felt, which was used to make hats that were in vogue at the time. The mercury in the felt quite possibly caused mercury poisoning in the hat-makers, with symptoms including slurred speech, tremors, stumbling and even hallucinations.

Over the barrel Meaning: To be helpless and under someone’s control. Origin: There are two possible origins of this phrase and, again, they come from the 19th century. The first is from when misbehaving prisoners were routinely strapped to barrels and flogged. The second is related to the practice of draping drowning victims over a barrel to clear their lungs of water. While the flogging metaphor appears closer to the meaning of the modern use and is therefore more likely the origin, both practices seem highly unpleasant and should be avoided at all costs.

Take the piss Meaning: To ridicule someone or something. Origin: One theory on the origin of this term is that during the 13th century in Medieval England, urine was used in the process of fixing dye to wool. Someone’s job, surely one of the worst in history, was to trample wool knee-deep in barrels of stale urine. The urine had to be transported up the canals in England to the wool mills in the North. It’s been said that, because transporting urine was not lucrative or particularly glamorous, when the boatmen were questioned as to what they were transporting they would lie and answer “Wine”, and the disbelieving response would be “No, you’re taking the piss!”

Cat’s pyjamas Meaning: A person who is the best at what they do. Origin: This is one of my favourite idioms, because I love the image of a cat in flannelette pyjamas. The phrase was popular in the 1920s with flappers and hipsters, along with a load of other nonsense phrases used to denote excellence, like the bee’s knees, the spider’s ankles and the snake’s hip. All equally delightful in my opinion. My sage advice is to bring them all back. Less “you’re awesome”; more “you, my friend, are the clam’s garters”.

So there you go. You have been warned. Using an idiom is no piece of cake – it can all go pear shaped quickly. Don’t bite off more than you can chew or you’ll get yourself in a right pickle. Although, whatever you decide to do, it’s really no skin off my nose.

Jennifer Macdonald is the Editor-in-Chief of Flycatcher and is currently finishing her PhD at RIEL.