“Hair of the Dog to Paint the Town Red — the Curious Origins of Everyday Sayings and Fun Phrases” by Andrew Thompson (Ulysses Press, 265 pages, $12.95)
My dictiona rydefinesa cliche as “a trite, stereotyped expression.” We hear cliches all day long. Pay attention sometime when you are around a group of people who are conversing. The cliches will be coming fast and furious, to use a cliche.
That’s how we talk, how we write and how we think — in cliches. And while it bothers me to use them and to hear them, I am often delighted to find out wheretheyc a mefrom.We use cliches that can have mysterious origins.
Do you ever wonder where a cliche or expression originated? I found a book that explains the roots of 400 expressions. “Hair of the Dog to Paint the Town Red — the Curious Origins of Everyday Sayings and Fun Phrases” by Andrew Thompson will be a romp for those wordsmiths among us.
Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld used to employ the term to “cut and run.” We knew what he meant by that. Do you know where that expression began? During the early 1700s when a ship at anchor was suddenly attacked the sailors would “cut and run.” They hacked through the rope attached to the anchor with axes so the ship could immediately escape without laboriously raising the anchor.
To “get fired” is to lose your job. This odd cliche came down to us from English miners who brought their personal tools to work down in the mines. On occasions when miners were caught stealing the coal or ore, the punishment was severe. Their employer would take all of their tools andburntheminfrontof everybody as a warning. They were fired, literally.
“Let the cat out of the bag” is another fascinating expression. This one originated during 16th century markets. A customer who bought a suckling pig took the purchase home inside aclothbag.Thebag’s weight seemed right. Once at home they realized that while they had not been looking an unscrupulous merchant slyly swapped their pricey piglet for a cat, which promptly got out of the bag.
‘The wrong side of the bed”isafamiliarterm that dates back to ancient Rome. The Romans be lievedthat the left sides of things were evil. If you got out on the left side of your bed you could expect trouble. At least tha twas their superstitious belief.
In our modern parlance “hair of the dog” refers to the practice of trying to cure a hango verbydrinking more alcohol. The expression actually refers to a medieval English medical belief. If someone had been bitten by a rabid dog they would take some of that same dog’s hair and rubthewoundwithitto supposedly cure it.
“Bring home the bacon” is a lovely cliche that first came into use in the year 1104. Every four years a side of bacon is offered as the prize “to any married couple in England who could honestly say they had lived in complete marital harmony without a cross word being spoken for the preceding year and a day.” Few couples have ever won it.