ODD ENGLISH PHRASES

RAINING CATS AND DOGS 

The Spanish teacher at Malvern College – sadly no longer with us – was a delightful chap by the name of Robert Stobbs, whom the boys affectionately called El Stobbo. I remember vividly a conversation I had with him in the Common Room when I was telling him that we were going to Spain for our summer holidays. “Remember,” he said, “When you speak Spanish, imagine you have a hot potato in your mouth.” “Shi, Shenor,” I replied rather facetiously. Then someone came in and announced that it was raining cats and dogs out there. “That’s interesting,” observed El Stobbo, “In Spanish we say estalloviendo a cantaros – literally ‘it’s raining jugs’. Now, do you know the origin of the odd phrase ‘it’s raining cats and dogs’?” I confessed I did not. “In mediaeval towns, the drainage was pretty basic, if it existed at all. In a deluge, flash floods would pour down the streets, carrying away small animals.”  

They were a knowledgeable lot, the Malvern College masters, often putting my ignorance to shame. But the exchange with El Stobbo did excite my curiosity about the origins of so many of the quirky phrases that have entered the English language and survived down the centuries. Here is a selection. Some I knew. Some I had to refresh my memory. And some I had no idea. 

Bob’s your uncle: Lo and behold, what needed to be done is done. Arthur Balfour, the Conservative politician was appointed to the post of Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1887 by his uncle, the Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, Robert (‘Bob’) Cecil. The appointment smacked of nepotism because Bob was his uncle. 

Pop your clogs: to die. Poor workers in the north of England wore wooden clogs that would be pawned (‘popped’) when they died. 

Break a leg: An expression of good luck in theatrical circles or avoiding bad luck or tempting fate. It referred to breaking the leg line of the side curtains in order to go on stage and perform. 

Turn a blind eye: To ignore something obvious. The phrase referred directly to Admiral Nelson, who put his telescope to his blind eye during the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801 in order to disobey (ie, not see) his commanding officer’s orders to disengage from the enemy. 

Admiral Nelson putting his glass to his blind eye during the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801.

Spill the beans: To reveal a secret. This goes all the way back to Ancient Greek voting practice. White beans (yes) and black or brown beans (no) were placed in a jar for counting. If the jar was accidentally or intentionally knocked over, the hidden result would be revealed or ‘spilled’.

Let the cat out of the bag: To accidentally reveal a secret. Farmers sold suckling pigs in bags at agricultural markets. Dishonest traders would substitute a cat for a pig, and the fraud would be discovered if the buyer opened the bag too early. You’d think any buyer would check what was in the bag first, wouldn’t you?

Mad as a hatter: Behaving in a crazy and irrational manner. In the 18th and 19th centuries, hat makers fell ill because the mercury used in the making of hats had entered their blood stream. The ailment was known as Mad Hatters Disease.

Flash in the pan: Used to describe a sudden but brief success that isn’t repeated. Flintlock muskets used in the 17th century had a priming pan into which gunpowder was poured and when lit would ignite the main charge to fire the musket ball. Sometimes the gunpowder would flare up but not ignite the charge resulting in a loud, dramatic but useless flare.

Sometimes the gunpowder flashed (ie did not ignite) the main charge to fire a musket ball. 

To steal someone’s thunder: To take credit for someone else’s achievement. An 18th century playwright, John Dennis, created a new method to replicate the sound of thunder in one of his plays. The play was a flop but at a later production of Macbeth, his technique was used during the storm scene on the heath. “They will not let my play run,” he exclaimed loudly, “but they steal my thunder!”

Sweet Fanny Adams: Nothing at all. No, not a sanitised version of ‘sweet FA’ but actually a reference to the horrific murder in 1867 of an 8-year-old girl named Fanny Adams. For weeks, the nation spoke of little else than sweet Fanny Adams.

Get my goat: An expression of annoyance or anger. It was common practice to put a goat in a stall with a highly-strung horse before a race to keep it calm. If a competitor sneaked in and removed the goat, the horse would become agitated and perform poorly.

To take with a grain of salt: To treat something with a healthy dose of scepticism. In Ancient Roman literature, references are made to a recipe as an antidote to poison, requiring grains of salt to make it palatable.

Under the weather: Feeling ill. Sailors who were feeling ill would shelter under the weather bow, the side of the ship exposed to the harsh weather.

Brass monkey weather: Bloody cold. Originally the phrase was ‘cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey’. It has a nautical origin. A monkey was a brass frame stacking cannon balls. In freezing weather, the stack would sometimes collapse.

A monkey was a brass frame that stacked cannon balls. 

To be in high dudgeon: Angry and indignant. The dudgeon was the wooden handle of a dagger. If it was plunged in deep to the hilt, no doubt you would be a bit indignant.

What the dickens: An expression of surprise or frustration. Nothing to do with Charles Dickens but a euphemism for ‘what the devil!’.

To take a gander: To have a look. A gander (male goose) stretches out its neck to look around.

Hunky Dory: All is tickety-boo. American slang, so God knows where that came from.

Touch wood: To prevent bad luck. In a more superstitious and religious age, a hand would automatically go to the wooden cross worn around one’s neck.

Hair of the dog: To consume more alcohol to cure a hangover. Once again, we have the Romans to thank for this bit of cod science. They believed in the curative custom of placing a hair from the rabid dog that has just bitten you on the wound. (It doesn’t work.)

Push the boat out: To act extravagantly. To push your boat out to sea over the surf needed many hands to help. It would only be right and proper to reward your kindly neighbours with some decent refreshment.

To push a boat out needed many hands to be lent.

Brassed off: Distinctly unhappy. Probably has the same origin as the brass-monkey phrase.

Bite the bullet: To do something unpleasant. Soldiers had to bite open the cartridge cases greased with animal fat to load rifles.

Three sheets to the wind: Blissfully, blind drunk. On ship, each sail needs to be fastened by two ropes. If one fastening becomes detached, the ship would be difficult to control and ‘to the wind’. Three ‘to the wind’ would make steering very erratic.

With three sails (sheets) flapping in the gale, the boat would become unmanageable.

Happy as a sandboy. Happy, content. What is a sandboy? Not necessarily a child but often an adult who collected sand from beaches and coves to spread across tavern floors to absorb spills. It was dry and dusty work, so they were often thirsty and likely to get…..

Half-cut: Inebriated. ‘Cut’ was used in the 17th century as a shortened version of ‘cut in the leg’ to describe drunken staggering. ‘Half-cut’ therefore means somewhat inebriated, rather than totally pissed.

Chip on his shoulder: Holding a grudge, harbouring resentment. In 19th century America, boys and men seeking a fight would place a wood chip on their shoulder and dare anyone to knock it off, signifying readiness for a scrap.

Straight from the horse’s mouth: Getting information from the highest authority. The phrase originally stems from horse racing. Buyers of racehorses would check the horse’s teeth in order to verify its age. Since a horse’s teeth showed its true, undeniable age, the information gleaned was totally reliable.

On cloud nine: A feeling of extreme happiness. Apparently, there are ten types of cloud. Cloud No. 9 is the cumulonimbus, the highest and fluffiest. So, if you’re feeling high and fluffy, you are on Cloud 9. I’m not so sure. Several contemporaries of mine at university were frequently on Cloud 9, and they weren’t Geographers.

It looks pretty fluffy up there on Cloud Nine.