Life in the 1500's -- Poppycock! Balderdash! Folderol!
Posted by: root <root@...>
This a completely phony etymology.
Here is the answer by a respected verbaphore:
Spook Etymology on the Internet
by Richard Lederer
Recently, all around the Internet has been sparking an item called "Life
in
the 1500s." The color and romance of the word and phrase explanations in
the
message are as beguiling as can be. But as soon as I opened the messages
(sent to me by more than 50 people because I'm on everybody's list), I
knew
that most of the so-called historical revelations therein were false.
-----------------------
Take (please!) this electronic explanation of a common meterological
phrase: "Houses had thatched roofs. Thick straw, piled high, with no wood
underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the
pets
-- dogs, cats, mice, rats and bugs -- lived in the roof. When it rained
it
became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the
roof.
Hence the saying, 'It's raining cats and dogs.'"
* DUBIOUS. The literal explanation is that during heavy rains in not so
Merry Olde England some city streets became raging rivers of filth
carrying many dead cats and dogs. But there is also strong evidence
that the phrase "it's raining cats and dogs" may not be literal.
In the dark Ages, people believed that animals, including cats and
dogs,
had magical powers. Cats were associated with storms, especially the
black cats of witches, while dogs were frequently associated with winds.
The Norse storm god Odin was frequently shown surrounded by dogs and
wolves. So when a particularly violent storm came along, people would
say "It's raining cats and dogs," with the cats symbolizing the rain and
the dogs representing the wind and storm. This folkloric explanation is
supported by such expressions as "it's raining dogs and polecats" and
"it's raining pitchforks."
--------------------------
The e-message continues: "The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had
something other than dirt, hence the saying 'dirt poor.' The wealthy
had slate floors which would get slippery in the winter when wet.
So they spread thresh on the floor to help keep their footing. As the
winter wore on they kept adding more thresh until when you opened
the door, you would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was
placed at the entry way, hence a 'thresh hold.'"
* NONSENSE. "Threshold," first recorded in A.D. 1000, descends
from an Old English compound "threscold," "doorsill, point of entry."
The "hold" has nothing to do with keeping one's footing. The original
meaning of "thresh" was "to tread, to trample." Farmers originally
threshed wheat, separated the grain from the chaff, by treading
on piles of it. The treading seemed similar to wiping one's feet
at the doorway of a house, and that entrance took the name
"threshold" from such threshing, or treading.
-------------------------
The e-drivel continues flowing: "Sometimes they could obtain pork
and would feel really special when that happened. When company
came over, they would bring out some bacon and hang it to show
it off. It was a sign of wealth and that a man 'could really bring
home the bacon.' They would cut off a little to share with guests
and would all sit and 'chew the fat.'
* RIDICULOUS. Here the bacon refers to the greased pig that once
figured so prominently in American county fairs. The slippery swine
was awarded to whoever caught it, and the winner could take (bring)
it home. "Chew the fat" is unknown before the American Civil War.
One theory contends that sailors working their jaws on the tough
salt pork rationed out when supplies ran low constantly grumbled
about their poor fare while literally chewing the fat. What seems
clear is that chewing the fat, like shooting the breeze, provides
little sustenance for the amount of mastication involved.
-------------------------
Which is just what happens with jerry-built, jury-rigged etymologies.
The Greek "etymon" means "true, original," and the Greek root "-logia"
means "science or study." Thus, etymology is supposed to be the
science or study of true and original word meanings.
But I have learned that the proud house of etymology is populated
by all manner of ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggety beasties
miscreated by spook etymologists. ("Spook" reaches back to the
Dutch "spooc," "ghost,specter.") These sham scholars would
rather invent a word origin after the fact than trace it to its true
source. Spooks prefer drama and romance to accuracy and truth.
A dramatic example of spook etymology is dragging its chains
around the Internet even as I write. "Life in the 1500s" purports
to explain all sorts of words and phrases on the basis of life 500
years ago. Alas, almost all the etymologies in "Life in the 1500s"
are spookily haunted. Some of the most bogus explanations
pertain to death:
---------------------
"Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey," proclaims the Internet
message. "The combination would sometimes knock people out for a
couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them
for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the
kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around
and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence
the custom of holding a 'wake.'
* FOLDEROL! PIFFLE! POPPYCOCK! "Wake" descends from
the Middle English "wakien," "to be awake," and is cognate with
the Latin "vigil." "Wake" simply means, traditionally at least, that
someone stays awake all night at the side of the casket on the
night before the funeral.
----------------------
Now for the tour de farce of the spook etymologies that clank
throughout this e-message: "England is old and small, and they
started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up
coffins and would take their bones to a house and reuse the grave.
In reopening these coffins, one out of 25 coffins were found to have
scratch marks on the inside and they realized that they had been
burying people alive. So they thought they would tie string on their
wrist and lead it through the coffin and up through the ground
and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard
all night to listen for the bell. Hence on the 'graveyard shift' they
would know that someone was 'saved by the bell' or he was a
'dead ringer.'
* COMPLETE BALDERDASH! In factories that work around the clock,
employees report for work at 8 am for the "regular" or "day" shift;
at 4 pm for the "swing" or "night" shift; and at midnight for the
"graveyard" shift,lasting until 8 am. According to Harold Wentworth
and Stuart Berg Flexner's Dictionary of American Slang, the name
"graveyard shift" refers to "the ghostlike hour of employment" --
and nothing more.
---------------------
Now the plot deepens, and our subject turns grave: "Dead ringers"
actually originated at the race track. To take advantage of the long
odds against an inferior horse's winning a race, unscrupulous
gamblers would substitute a horse of superior ability and similar
appearance. Nowadays, "dead ringer" means any close look-alike.
Why "ringer"? Probably because "ringer" was once a slang term
for a counterfeiter who represented brass rings for gold ones at
county fairs. And "dead" here means "absolute, exact," as in
"dead heat" and "you're dead right."
-------------------------
Should I even dignify the above explanation of "saved by the bell"
with a logical explanation. Oh well, here 'tis, and it's just what you
thought in the first place. "Saved by the bell" is nothing more than
the obvious -- a reference to the bell signaling the end of a round
of boxing. No matter what condition a fighter is in during a boxing
contest, even if he is being counted out, he is saved by the bell
and gains a reprieve once that bell rings. I do hope that we all gain
a reprieve from these idiotic spook etymologies that clank around
the Internet and haunt the proud house of our English language.
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Richard Lederer and Simone van Egeren
9974 Scripps Ranch Blvd. #201
San Diego, CA 92131