The Craftiest Workshop

I never really noticed when I was growing up how many idioms and sayings are incorporated into my father’s day to day speech. As I see him less often, living in a different part of the country, when we are together I notice his use of these colourful phrases. I decided to do a bit of research as to the origins of some of them. A couple of these I added after catching myself saying them.

Didn’t have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of

During the 1500s, poor families would urinate in a pot and at the end of the day this urine would be sold at the local tannery to tan animal hides. Some families were so poor that they “didn’t have a pot to piss in” thus the term. It basically means the poorest of the poor.

All we have to look forward to is death and taxes

Penned by Benjamin Franklin in one of the last letters he ever wrote in November of 1789,

“Our new Constitution is now established, everything seems to promise it will be durable; but, in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.”

https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/benjamin-franklins-last-great-quote-and-the-constitution

As useless as tits on a boar – pointless or no use

A boar is a male pig and does not produce milk so it’s tits are rendered useless. This saying seems to have originated in the American South.

Don’t change the horses in the middle of the road

Or “Don’t change horses in midstream” is from an 1864 speech by Abraham Lincoln. It basically means don’t choose or back a different political figure after the decision has already been made or the position filled.

Ignorance is bliss– It means that one is unaware of an unpleasant fact or situation and therefore cannot be troubled by it.

A phrase coined from a poem written by Thomas Gray(1716-1771) entitled “Ode On A Distant Prospect of Eton College”.

To each his Suff’rings: all are Men,

Condemn’d alike to groan,

The Tender for another’s Pain;

Th’ Unfeeling for his own.

Yet ah! Why should they know their Fate?

Since Sorrow never comes too late,

And Happiness too swiftly flies.

Thought would destroy their Paradise.

No more; where Ignorance is Bliss,

’Tis Folly to be wise.

Don’t let the cat out of the bag – don’t reveal the secret

At medieval markets pigs were on display for sale. Vendors would put a cat in a bag and give it to customers telling them not to open it until they got home. They would think they were getting a pig but receive a cat instead.

A second interpretation relates to sailors who were disciplined. A cat-o-nine tails was kept in a bag only to be brought out for the most serious of offenses. The “cat” name for the whip because of the many marks or scratches the whip would leave on a person’s back

Don’t bite off more than you can chew– don’t take on more than you can handle

From the American west where chewing tobacco came in chunks. You would have to bite off a piece. If you took too much, you might end up swallowing and that could prove to be fatal.

Also, in general, if you take too big a bite of food, you could choke on it.

I have to pee like a racehorse – have to pee really badly

Racehorses are sometimes given a diuretic to force fluids in their bodies into their bladders. While horses normally pee 2.5 gallons per day, this drug forces them to pee many gallons within an hour after taken it. It makes them lighter for racing.

That is it in a nutshell – a short concise description

 “In a nutshell” comes from a story from AD 77 by the Roman scholar Pliny claiming that Homer’s epic poem the Iliad was written on a parchment small enough to fit inside a walnut shell. 

It’s raining cats and dogs – it is pouring down rain

In the 1700’s in England all matter of filth was put in the streets; human waste, food waste and dead animals. When it would rain hard, having no gutters, the street would swell up with water and everything would wash away downhill including dead cats and dogs.

Another theory was the cats would perch themselves in the rooofs of thatched huts and when it rained, they would lose their footing and fall.

Not my cup of tea – not something you like

In Britain, as far back as the mid 18th century, the positive version was already in use. A “cup of tea” meant acceptability. It was the name given to a favored friend.
The negative form of the phrase seems to have caught on during WWII as Americans did not favour tea as much as the British.

Cheap like borscht – inexpensive but substantial

I am not sure if I got this one from my dad or not but I say it all the time.

The ingredients for borscht (beets, cabbage, onion, garlic) were not expensive and make a hearty meal. Borscht is a Russian or Ukrainian soup.

There are a few more sayings that my dad uses but they are a little less politically correct so I have left them out. Can any of you think of any other “clean” idioms that you hear often or use yourself? Please share!!