Bloody Marvelous English Language

At times I imagine myself as an English major,  but on reflection, an imagining of a life as a starving artist dispels such thoughts. So it is perhaps fortunate that my word-smithing is a hobby not a profession.

Nevertheless, I find the English language endlessly fascinating. (Note - the adjective "bloody" in this post’s title refers to the English English word, not the American English word.)

Some commentary on this language of some 600,000 words according to the OED.

"Drawing on my fine command of the English language, I said nothing."  Excellent advice for almost every encounter from Robert Benchley.

“The English language is like a broad river … being polluted by a string of refuse-barges tipping out their muck.” Cyril Connolly.  English of course has borrowed words from many languages, like lemon or ketchup or karaoke or beef or lager or piano or ski or ...  Makes the language richer. Good on us.

“The English language is nobody’s special property. It is the property of the imagination: it is the property of the language itself.” Derek Walcott   Indeed.  There is almost always a dozen ways to say the same thing in English.  See if you can find a way to use “defenestration” in conversation today.

"I love the English language, but I am crap at it." Unknown. Sad but true for most of us.

One of the fascinating things with English is the plethora of curious expressions, those phrases that you intuitively understand but ... haven't you wondered ... where the heck did that come from. Maybe you have, maybe not, but I have and I've researched a few of them and I'm here to tell you. Here’s a small compendium.

1. Fat chance: no chance

2. Slim chance: no chance

See the curiousness of this language. If only the same modify rule were true for BMI.

3. Cool your heels: To be kept waiting. From "cool your hoofs" for a horse who takes advantage to lay down and rest.

4. Bite the bullet.  Decide to do something necessary but unappealing. From the days before anesthesia.

5. Take the bull by the horns:  Take on a difficult task with confidence. As you might expect, this stems from bull fighting.

6. Bury the hatchet. To agree to end a conflict. From the practice of Indians tribes burying their hatchets to make them inaccessible during peace negotiations.

7. You don't know beans:  Appalling ignorance.  See also - a more earthy phrase.

8. To have cold feet: Losing one's nerve.  From England’s lack of central heating with frigid floors and unwillingness to get out of bed to check for burglars.

9. Go haywire: Badly messed up. From the days of baling wire which was often used in repairs, rusted and broke quickly, thus messing things up. Twine was not any better in this respect.

10. Mind your p's and q's:  Behave. From your pub tab. Don't charge me for quarts when I drank pints.

11. Beyond the pale:  Reckless, dangerous behavior.  The Pale was an area around Dublin inside which the English deemed themselves safe, but don't go beyond the pale.

12. Three sheets to the wind: Inebriated to the state of wobbling. You would guess this refers to a sailing ship - and it does - except the sheets refer not to sails, but to the ropes that secured them, usually three.  If the three sheets were loosed, the sail flapped uncontrollably.

13. To bell the cat: A difficult task. Just imagine.

14. Amen corner: Originally from preachers proselytizing on street corners.  Now, at least in the USA, the Masters Tournament 11th, 12th & 13th holes.

15. Carry coals to Newcastle: Doing something obviously unnecessary. See also - sell refrigerators to Eskimos

16. Knock on wood: A superstitious act to secure good luck.  Possibly from a game of tag in which tapping a tree meant safety from capture.  Also possibly religious.

17. Raising Cain:  see Genesis 4

18. Bedlam: Uproar & confusion.  From a famous London insane asylum.

19. That's the $64 question:  The most important question to answer, from the 1940's radio quiz show "Take It or Leave It", which inflated into the 1950's scandal ridden "$64,000 Question."  

20.  Bazooka: You know it as a shoulder mounted rocket launch weapon - or maybe bubble gum.  But long before that it was ... a musical instrument.

Happy is the person that findeth wisdom.

Copyright ©  2023  Dave Hoplin