Red Herrings & White Elephants - The Origins of the Phrases We Use Every Day. Albert Jack
expression to be Left High And Dry describes being stranded in a situation without support or resource. It’s quite simply a nautical phrase, in use from the early 1800s (around the time of the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805), and used to describe a ship left grounded and vulnerable as the tides goes out. A ship’s captain who had been left ‘high and dry’ could do nothing to resolve his situation until the tide returned and refloated his boat. In the meantime the ship was exposed and vulnerable.
To be Put Through The Hoop means to be punished or chastised for a wrongdoing. This is a nautical phrase related to the ancient marine custom of ‘running the hoop’. The punishment comprised four or more convicted sailors being stripped to the waist, and having their left hands tied to an iron hoop. In the other hand each would hold a length of rope known as a nettle. The bosun would then hit one sailor with a cat o’ nine tales and he in turn would have to hit the man in front of him. Being put ‘through the ordeal of the hoop’ later became shortened to the phrase we know today. Originally, it was a form of horseplay when the ship was in calm waters, but as each blow landed the angry recipient would land a harder blow on the man in turn. As it went on the blows became harder, leading to its effectiveness more as a punishment rather than a game.
Telling a person to Shake A Leg means encouraging them to get on with a task. In recent centuries the phrase was well used in public school dormitories, prisons and other institutions where people sleeping in communal rooms would be ordered out of bed at dawn every day. The origin of the saying dates back to the time when civilian women were first allowed on board a ship. At that time the bosun’s mate would traditionally rouse the sailors with the cry ‘Shake a leg or a purser’s stocking.’ When a stocking-clad female leg appeared the lady was allowed to stay in her bunk until the men were all up and departed. This was an obvious attempt to preserve her modesty while dressing, but it would seem fair to suggest that a lady on board a ship full of 18th-century sailors may not have had much modesty left worth preserving.
When a person Splices The Mainbrace, they are celebrating the successful outcome of an event. The phrase is another dating back to the days of the tall ships that relied upon the wind in their sails. During heavy seas the bosun granted extra rum rations to the sailors who undertook the dangerous duty of climbing the highest rigging, known as the mainbrace. Such sailors were able to celebrate a little more than the others who were given more menial tasks to perform.
Money For Old Rope is simple to explain. In days long gone, when the tall ships returned to their ports, some sailors were allowed to claim old rigging damaged during the voyage. Although of no use to the ships needing long undamaged lines for their sails, parts would still be in good condition and sought after by local traders. Sailors profited by selling it on and, as no effort was required on their part (it was regarded as a perk amongst senior shipmen), some jealousy occurred. The chosen few were criticised for making ‘money out of old rope’. These days estate agents have replaced favoured crewmen.
When it is cold enough to Freeze The Balls Off A Brass Monkey, we really had better wrap up warm. But who ever heard of such a thing? Old nautical records provide the answer. The guns on 18th-century men-of-war ships needed gunpowder to fire them, and this was stored in a different part of the ship for safety reasons. Young boys, usually orphans, who were small enough to slip through tight spaces, carried this powder along tiny passages and galleys. Because of their agility the lads became known as ‘powder monkeys’ and by association the brass trays used to hold the cannonballs became known as the brass monkeys. These trays had 16 cannonball-sized indentations that would form the base of a cannonball pyramid. Brass was used because the balls would not stick to or rust on brass as they did with iron, but the drawback was that brass contracts much faster in cold weather than iron. This meant that on severely cold days the indentations holding the lower level of cannonballs would contract, spilling the pyramid over the deck, hence ‘cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey’.
When something is In The Offing it is considered to be likely to happen, possibly imminently. The origin of this saying can be found on the high seas in the 17th century. ‘Offing’ was nautical slang for ‘offshore’ and a ship approaching a port or coastline, close enough to be seen from land, was considered to be ‘in the offing’.
To Push The Boat Out is used to describe a large celebration or expense. This is obviously a nautical expression and relates to the large parties and celebrations sailors would have before setting out on long voyages. A ‘pushing the boat out’ celebration was always a popular one to attend.
When we look out of the window and it is Raining Cats And Dogs, it is too wet to go out. There are several suggestions for the origin of this phrase, one alluding to a famous occasion when it actually rained frogs. Apparently many were lifted into the air during a howling gale and then dropped to the ground around startled pedestrians. Cockney rhyming slang then substituted ‘cats and dogs’ for ‘frogs’. But I prefer the ancient nautical myth, which led sailors to believe that cats had some sort of influence over storms. According to the Vikings dogs were also a symbol of storms and they always appear in illustrations and descriptions of their own Norse god of storms. (Odin, father of Thor, was the god of thunder and is described as an old bearded man with one eye who wore a cloak and wide-brimmed hat. Many claim he was the inspiration for JRR Tolkien’s character Gandalf in The Lord Of The Rings.) Because of this connection, ancient mariners believed that when it rained it was the cats who caused it, and when the gales appeared they were brought by the dogs, leading to the phrase ‘raining cats and dogs’. The phrase first appeared in literature in 1738 when Jonathan Swift wrote in his book A Complete Collection Of Polite And Ingenious Conversation, ‘I know Sir John will go, though he was sure it would rain cats and dogs.’ In 1653 Richard Broome wrote in his play City Wit, ‘It shall rain dogs and polecats,’ suggesting he too alluded to the old nautical tales.
You Scratch My Back And I’ll Scratch Yours is a saying with its origins in the English Navy. These days we use it to suggest two people will do each other a favour, or look out for each other so that both parties benefit from one another’s actions. During the 17th and 18th centuries the English Navy was traditionally brutal and punishments for disobedience or absenteeism were unimaginably harsh. It was common for a crewmember to be tied to a mast after being sentenced to a dozen lashes, with a ‘cat o’ nine tails’, for minor offences such as being drunk. A ‘cat’ was nine lengths of thin knotted ship rope bound at one end into a handle. These punishments were usually carried out in full view of the crew, by one of the victim’s crewmates. But it was also likely that the crewmate would himself be a victim of the cat o’ nine tails at some stage on a voyage, so would be lenient with his victim by applying only light stokes and merely ‘scratching’ his back. He himself would then receive equally lenient treatment by another shipmate if and when he was on the receiving end.
When you find a person Three Sheets To The Wind they are roaring drunk and capable of very little. There are two suggested origins for this phrase. The first is that a windmill with only three sails (sheets) would rotate badly and wobble like a drunk. But the second is far more likely, especially as, like so many phrases, it has a nautical origin. The sails of a tall ship were controlled by rope (the rigging) and these ropes were – and still are – called ‘sheets’. Two sheets controlled each sail and the story is that if one of the sheets wasn’t properly handled, then the other three (of the two sails) would be ‘to the wind’. The boat would then be blown about from side to side and not under full control, much like a drunk trying to navigate his way home.
Shipshape And Bristol Fashion is used to say that everything is neat, tidy and in good order. In the days before Liverpool became a major English port, Bristol was the premier western port from which most ships would embark on transatlantic voyages. It was also a naval port and prided itself on its reputation for efficiency and neatly packed cargoes. The traditional high standards of ships leaving Bristol lead to the phrase passing into the English language.
To Sling Your Hook is often used as a ‘polite’ instruction for somebody to go away. There are several possibilities for this, some referring to the hooks miners