Meanings/origins of common/old sayings

[PILTDOWN MAN]

I'll start with Painting the Town Red..

It was the Marquis of Waterford who in 1837 after spending the evening with his pals, drinking ale decided to indeed paint the town red, which they did the following morning. The town in question.... Melton Mowbray

 

[Titanic]

Are you the famous Countdown lexicographer, Susie Dent, in disguise?

 

[Icy Gull]

Plenty of cock and bull stories on here at the moment

One of Stony Stratford’s many claims to fame is as the place of origin of the term 'Cock & Bull Story', recognised throughout the English-speaking world.

This dates back to the late 18th/early 19th centuries, at the height of the great coaching era, when Stony Stratford (which is located on the old Roman Road of Watling Street, latterly the A5) was an important stopping-off point for mail and passenger coaches travelling between London and the North.


Travellers on these coaches were regarded as a great source of current news from remote parts of the country - news which would be imparted in the town's two main inns, The Cock and The Bull. The two establishments rapidly developed a rivalry as to which could furnish the most outlandish and scurrilous travellers' tales

 

[Bigtomfu]

You've already done it by starting the thread but here's how breaking the ice came into being:

Popularised by appearing in Lord Byron's Don Juan De Marco in 1873 the expression had been in common parlance for approximately 400 years. Most commonly associated with the breaking of river or lacustrine ice to allow the recommencement of passing trade by ships following a harsh winter.

 

[Seagull kimchi]

'If she says she likes to swallow - she's a liar and wants your money'

My mum.

 

[Lankyseagull]

From a recent e-mail I received:

There is an old Hotel/Pub in Marble Arch, London, which used to have gallows adjacent to it. Prisoners were taken to the
Gallows, (after a fair trial of course) to be hung.
The horse drawn dray, carting the prisoner, was accompanied by an armed guard, who would stop the dray outside the pub and ask the prisoner if he would like ''ONE LAST DRINK''. If he said YES, it was referred to as “ONE FOR THE ROAD”
If he declined, that prisoner was “ON THE WAGON”

They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken & sold to the tannery. If you had to do this to survive you were, "Piss Poor". But worse than that, were the really poor folk, who couldn’t even afford to buy a pot, they "Didn’t have a pot to Piss in" & were the lowest of the low.

Most people got married in June, because they took
Their yearly bath in May and they still smelled pretty good by June.
However, since they were starting to smell, brides carried a bouquet of flowers, to hide the body odour. Hence the custom today, of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water!"

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 cats and other small animals (mice, 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."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house.
This posed a real problem in the bedroom, where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top, afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt.
Hence the saying, "Dirt Poor." The wealthy had slate floors, that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread
Thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh, until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the door-way. Hence: a thresh hold.

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle, that always hung over the fire. Every day, they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight, then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: ''Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot, nine days old''.

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special.
When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon, to show off.
It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "Bring home the Bacon." They would cut off a little, to share with guests and would all sit around talking and ''Chew the fat''.

Bread also was divided, according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or ''The Upper Crust''.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination, would sometimes knock the imbibers 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''.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So, they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, thread 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, (the graveyard shift) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, ''Saved by the Bell '' or was considered a ''Dead Ringer''

 

[Gwylan]

Plenty of cock and bull stories on here at the moment

One of Stony Stratford’s many claims to fame is as the place of origin of the term 'Cock & Bull Story', recognised throughout the English-speaking world.

This dates back to the late 18th/early 19th centuries, at the height of the great coaching era, when Stony Stratford (which is located on the old Roman Road of Watling Street, latterly the A5) was an important stopping-off point for mail and passenger coaches travelling between London and the North.


Travellers on these coaches were regarded as a great source of current news from remote parts of the country - news which would be imparted in the town's two main inns, The Cock and The Bull. The two establishments rapidly developed a rivalry as to which could furnish the most outlandish and scurrilous travellers' tales

Great story - but no truth in it, See here World Wide Words: Cock and bull story

I'd always thought it came from edicts from Pope known as Bulls and stamped with St Peter and the cock.At the time of the Reformation anything from the Pope was dismissed as rubbish, hence cock and bull story.

 

[Icy Gull]

Great story - but no truth in it, See here World Wide Words: Cock and bull story

I'd always thought it came from edicts from Pope known as Bulls and stamped with St Peter and the cock.At the time of the Reformation anything from the Pope was dismissed as rubbish, hence cock and bull story.

Nothing there to dispel the truth of the story except a bunch of nay sayers though. As the article suggests, the nay sayers don't have a better or more credible suggestion

I will keep believing.

 

[Gwylan]

Nothing there to dispel the story except a bunch of nay sayers though. As the article suggests, the nay sayers don't have a better or more credible suggestion

I will keep believing.

Well, except there's no evidence for it. There would surely be some contemporary reference.

And why Stony Stratford, there were hundreds of coaching inns all over England. Why would two inns in a small village be so renowned?

 

[Icy Gull]

Well, except there's no evidence for it. There would surely be some contemporary reference.

And why Stony Stratford, there were hundreds of coaching inns all over England. Why would two inns in a small village be so renowned?

I have to confess I would be floundering in bullshit if I tried to come up with an argument to TOTALLY support this rather nice little story.

 

[nevergoagain]

Why is a prostitute known as a Brass ?.

 

[KZNSeagull]

Well, except there's no evidence for it. There would surely be some contemporary reference.

And why Stony Stratford, there were hundreds of coaching inns all over England. Why would two inns in a small village be so renowned?

I stayed there once on business and it was the first thing anyone told me once I got there. So perhaps it is just a good piece of marketing!

I was watching the history of London with Adam Hart-Davies and he said the meaning of the phrase "to take down a peg or two" came from the pubs at the time that served beer in huge flagons marked by pegs. One person would drink down to the first peg and then pass it on etc. I have just looked that up and came up with an alternative of "Flags used to be raised or lowered on ships by a system of pegs. A flag flying high carried more rank than one on a lower peg."

 

[8ace]

Why is a prostitute known as a Brass ?.

Brass rubber - scrubber

 

[Surrey_Albion]

Brass Door

 

[Brovion]

There's so many of these urban myths. Some of the ones referring to acronyms are laughable: 'Gay' is supposed to have come from San Fransisco equal rights campaigners carrying banners saying 'Good As You'. 'Shit' is purported to come form 'Ship High In Transit' whereby bags of guano (bird shit used for fertiliser) apparently exploded if they were stored at the bottom!

Those two were obviously false, but I only found out recently that ''posh' (as in people, not the football team) has got nothing to do with travelling 'Port Out Starboard Home'.

 

[Surrey_Albion]

or brass nail, slang for tail inturn is a slang word

 

[KZNSeagull]

Why is a prostitute known as a Brass ?.

Just googled it and there are two alternatives, both cockney rhyming slang: Brass Nail - rhyming slang for Tail or Brass Flute - Prostitute. I suspect the first one is more likely.

 

[Icy Gull]

There's so many of these urban myths. Some of the ones referring to acronyms are laughable: 'Gay' is supposed to have come from San Fransisco equal rights campaigners carrying banners saying 'Good As You'. 'Shit' is purported to come form 'Ship High In Transit' whereby bags of guano (bird shit used for fertiliser) apparently exploded if they were stored at the bottom!

Those two were obviously false, but I only found out recently that ''posh' (as in people, not the football team) has got nothing to do with travelling 'Port Out Starboard Home'.

How about Poms (POHMs) - Prisoners of his majesty, the question is why are we the Poms now?

 

[Surrey_Albion]

COLD ENOUGH TO FREEZE THE BOLLOCKS OFF A BRASS MONKEY

Apparently also where the word bollocks derived from
On ship they had fittings called Brass Monkeys (named due to their resemblance to the animal) and these would be used to hold cannon balls, when it was cold the brass Ball Locks(bollocks) stretched and the cannon balls would drop to the floor, hence the saying and the use and change of the word ball/locks/bollocks over the years

 

[KZNSeagull]

How about Poms (POHMs) - Prisoners of his majesty, the question is why are we the Poms now?

I am told it comes from Pomegranates. A Brit in a hot country will have a face resembling a Pomegranate from sun burn.