DBE IN LOUISIANA
A British and Commonwealth Women's Organization
WHY DO WE SAY THAT?
Why do we say some of the things we say? Here are the origins of some of the old words and phrases that we use . . .
A BAKER'S DOZEN - Thirteen for 12. This originates in the time when a heavy penalty was inflicted for short weight. Bakers used to give an extra loaf to avoid all risk of incurring a fine. The thirteenth loaf was called the "vantage loaf."
AS MAD AS A HATTER . . . Some people say the phrase comes from the fact that in the 18th and 19th centuries, hat makers used mercury nitrate in their work. Exposure to this chemical does indeed send you mad.
CODSWALLOP . . . In the 19th century, wallop was slang for beer. A man named CODD began selling lemonade and it was called Codswallop. Codswallop began to mean anything inferior or worthless, and later anything untrue.
TO GET YOUR GOAT . . .This apparently refers to the English (or Welsh) belief that keeping a goat in the barn would have a calming effect on the cows, hence producing more milk. When you wanted to antagonize or terrorize your enemy, you would abscond with their goat, rendering their cows less- or non-productive.
HUMBLE PIE . . . The expression to eat humble pie was once to eat umble pie. The umbles were the innards of an animal and servants or lower class people at them. So if a deer was killed, the rich ate venison and those of lower status ate umble pie. In time it became corrupted to eat humble pie and became to mean to debase yourself or act with humility.
SAVED BY THE BELL . . .Before medical technology to determine if a person was dead, our ancestors realized that they were burying a great number of people before their time had actually come. So they tied a string to the 'dead' person's hand, buried them, tied the other end of the string to a bell, and then tied it to a nearby tree branch. If a person revived enough to ring the bell, their survivors would rush out and dig them up. Hence . . ."Saved By The Bell."
