Hi People!  

In this thread I will post very interesting English phrases with a brief explanation of their origins.  I hope this will be very helpful for those, who like me, study English or for anyone who wants to improve their English language skills.


Enjoy it!

Head over Heels  

          

 



Meaning : Excited, and/or turning cartwheels to demonstrate one's excitement.

Origin

'Head over heels' is now most often used as part of 'head over heels in love'. When first coined it wasn't used that way though and referred exclusively to being temporarily the wrong way up. It is one of many similar phrases that we use to describe things that are not in their usual state - 'upside-down', 'topsy-turvy', 'topple up tail' etc. I would also include 'XXX over tea-kettle' if it weren't for the fact that I know that many automated e-mail systems would filter it out and bounce the mail back. So please, substitute something appropriate for XXX, in the knowledge that a similar euphemistic phrase is 'bass-ackwards'.

Herbert Lawrence's 'Contemplative Man', 1771 is the first known citation of 'head over heels':

"He gave [him] such a violent involuntary kick in the Face, as drove him Head over Heels."

The first mention of love comes in 1834, by which time the phrase had crossed the Atlantic, and into David Crockett's 'Narrative of the life of David Crockett':

"I soon found myself head over heels in love with this girl."

Note: Non-American readers might not realize that Davy Crockett was a real person. Certainly in the UK he has the semi-mythic status of characters like Robin Hood and William Tell. Crockett is best known here by the old joke: "Did you know Davy Crockett had three ears? A left ear, a right ear and a wild frontier."

'Head over heels' is a good example of how language can communicate meaning even when it makes no literal sense. After all, our head is normally over our heels. The phrase originated in the 14th century as 'heels over head', meaning doing a cartwheel or somersault. This appeared later in Thomas Carlyle's 'History of Frederick the Great', 1864:

"A total circumgyration, summerset, or tumble heels-over-head in the Political relations of Europe."

Another note: Carlyle's spelling of summerset for somersault. John Lennon reinvented that in 'Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite' - "Ten somersets he'll undertake on solid ground."

'Head over heels' isn't alone - many everyday idioms make no literal sense. Another nice example is 'putting your best foot forward'. Anyone trying that should arrange to have at least three legs. Us humans should limit our efforts to 'putting our better foot forward', unless we want to end up 'heels over head'.

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Ultima edición por Saskia el Dom Mar 25, 2007 3:46 pm; editado 1 vez

Shake a leg


Meaning

Rouse yourself from sleep and get out of bed.

Origin

Shake a leg and show a leg are usually discussed together, but it isn't at all clear that they are in any way connected. Both phrases have more than one meaning. So what were their original meanings and which came first?

We now sometimes use shake a leg to mean 'hurry up'. It was explicitly defined that way in the New York Magazine in 1904:

"Shake a leg ... meaning to 'hurry up'."

The more recent UK phrase 'get a legger on' is another way of saying the same thing. Before that though shake a leg had another meaning, which was 'to dance'. There are several citations from various US and UK sources from the mid 19th century that relate to dancing. For example, the Dubuque Democratic Herald, October 1863, in an advertisement for a local ball:

"Nearly every man in town able to shake a leg has purchased a ticket."

Show a leg means either 'make an appearance', usually by getting out of bed or at least showing willing by poking your leg out, or it means 'hurry along'. The second meaning isn't commonly used, nor is it old. It appears to be a confusion of the two terms 'show a clean pair of heels' and 'stretch your legs'. It may also have been confused with the 'hurry up' version of shake a leg. Whatever the source, that certainly isn't the original meaning of show a leg. Most commentators report that the phrase derives from the Royal Navy and that this was the order given to sailors to put a foot from their hammocks and get up.

An alternative version comes from the fact that women were allowed on board Royal Navy ships in the 19th century and that they were allowed to stay asleep after the sailors had been roused. The order of show a leg was supposed to have been given so that the shapely-legged women could be distinguished from the hairy-legged sailors. Believe that if you will; personally I don't.

The use of show a leg as a wake-up call is well documented though. John Masefield (Poet Laureate from 1930 to 1967) was a trainee mariner on HMS Conway until 1891. He reported the full version of the morning call as:

Heave out, heave out, heave out, heave out! Away!
Come all you sleepers, Hey!
Show a leg and put a stocking in it.

That's the earliest citation of the naval call I can find, although it may have been used well before 1891. There is an earlier non-naval version, from Cuthbert Bede, the pseudonym of Edward Bradley, in 'The Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green', 1854:

"I would answer Robert when he hammered at the door; but, instead of getting up, I would knock my boots against the floor... But that wretch of a Robert was too old a bird to be caught with this dodge; so he used to sing out, 'You must show a leg, sir!' and he kept on hammering at the door till I did."

All in all, although both are sometimes used to mean 'hurry up', the idea that shake a leg and show a leg are related doesn't seem to be supported by the facts. They are two independent phrases that were coined with different meanings.


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Taken aback






Meaning

Surprised or startled by a sudden turn of events.

Origin

Aback means in a backward direction - toward the rear. It is a word that has fallen almost into disuse, apart from in the phrase 'taken aback'. Originally 'aback' was the two words 'a' and 'back' but these became merged into a single word in the 15th century. The word 'around' and the now archaic 'adown' were formed in the same way.

The allusion of 'taken aback' is to something that is startling enough to make us jump back in surprise. The first to be 'taken aback' weren't people though but ships. The sails of a ship are said to be aback when the wind blow them flat against the masts and spars that support them. A use of this was recorded in the London Gazette in 1697:

"I braced my main topsails aback."

If the wind were to turn suddenly so that a sailing ship was facing unexpectedly into the wind the ship was said to be 'taken aback'. An early example of that in print comes from an author called Eeles in the 'Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society', 1754:

"If they luff up, they will be taken aback, and run the hazard of being dismasted."

Note: 'to luff' is to bring the head of a ship nearer to the wind.

The figurative use of the phrase, meaning surprised rather than physically pushed back, came in the 19th century. It appeared in The Times in March 1831:

"Whigs, Tories, and Radicals, were all taken aback with astonishment, that the Ministers had not come forward with some moderate plan of reform."

Charles Dickens also used it in his 'American Notes' in 1842:

"I don't think I was ever so taken aback in all my life."


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Shanks' mare


Meaning

One's legs, used as a means of transport.

Origin

Shanks' (or shanks's) mare (or nag or pony) derives from the name of the lower part of the leg between the knee and ankle - the shank, nowadays more often known as the shin-bone or tibia. This was alluded to in the early form of this term - shank's nag. This originated in Scotland in the 18th century. There are several early citations in Scottish literature, as here in Robert Fergusson's 'Poems on Various Subjects', 1774:

"He took shanks-naig, but fient may care."

The term migrated into Shank's mare, which remains the common form in the USA. It was first referred to there in the 1860s. This rather unfortunate prediction was made in the Iowa newspaper The Dubuque Daily Herald in May 1869:

"A public exhibition of the velocipede [a predecessor of the bicycle] was given on the streets last evening by Mr. Clark, who managed the vehicle with considerable skill... They are a toy, and will never come into general use in competition with Shank's mare."

In the UK and Australia the term is commonly shanks' pony. It is sometimes capitalized as Shank's pony as some reports claim it to have derived from an individual called Shanks, or from the Shanks & Company Ltd. (formed in 1853 - now absorbed into Armitage Shanks), who previously manufactured lawn-mowing machines. One such horse-drawn mower had no seat and the driver had to walk behind it. These machines did exist and this would be a plausible theory (albeit one lacking in any real evidence) if it weren't for the clear pre-dating of the Scottish references.

An alternative version of this allusory phrase is "the horse of ten toes".


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Go berserk




Meaning

Behave in a frenzied and violent manner.

Origin

This term has something in common with 'run amok'. The two phrases, as well as sounding rather similar, mean virtually the same thing. Their sources though could hardly be further apart. 'Run amok' derives from the Far East, whereas 'go berserk' is of Viking (Norse) origin. In that tradition a 'Berserker' was a warrior of great strength and courage, who fought with wild ferocity. The word is believed to be derived from 'bear sark', i.e. bear coat, or 'bare sark', i.e. 'bare of coat'. That berserker fighting tradition, in which the warriors took on the spirit (or even in their belief, the shape) of bears whilst foaming at the mouth and gnawing the edges of their shields, is the source of the Vikings' fierce reputation. It dates back to the first millennium but had died out by the 1100s and thereafter the word berserker didn't feature widely in the English language until the 19th century.

Who better to bring the word to our notice than that inveterate reviver of historical stories, Sir Walter Scott? In his 1822 book 'Pirate', he wrote:

"The berserkars were so called from fighting without armour."

It was quite some time before the word began to be used in the figurative sense, i.e. for it to be applied to people who 'went berserk' without an allusion to Viking warriors. Rudyard Kipling's book 'Diversity of Creatures', 1908 has:

"You went Berserk. I've read all about it in Hypatia ... you'll probably be liable to fits of it all your life."

The first reference I can find to the actual use of the term 'go berserk' is in the obscure US newspaper the La Crosse Tribune and Leader-Press, 1919:

"With hungry Russians crowding in from the east, a hungry Germany may shortly toss its new conventions after the old and go berserk in the teeth of the cannon."

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Eat humble pie



Meaning

Act submissively and apologetically, especially in admitting an error.

Origin

In the USA, since the mid 19th century, anyone who had occasion to 'eat his words' by humiliatingly recanting something would be said to 'eat crow' (previously 'eat boiled crow'). In the UK we 'eat humble pie'. The unpalatability of crow, boiled or otherwise, seems clear, but what about humble pie?




In the 14th century, the numbles (or noumbles, nomblys, noubles) was the name given to the heart, liver, entrails etc. of animals, especially of deer - what we now call offal or lights. By the 15th century this had migrated to umbles, although the words co-existed for some time. There are many references to both words in Old English and Middle English texts from 1330 onward. Umbles were used as an ingredient in pies, although the first record of 'umble pie' in print is as late as the 17th century. Samuel Pepys makes many references to such pies in his diary. For example, on 5th July 1662:

"I having some venison given me a day or two ago, and so I had a shoulder roasted, another baked, and the umbles baked in a pie, and all very well done."

and on 8th July 1663:

"Mrs Turner came in and did bring us an Umble-pie hot out of her oven, extraordinarily good."

It is possible that it was the pies that caused the move from numbles to umbles. 'A numble pie' could easily have become an umble pie', in the same way that 'a napron' became 'an apron' and 'an ewt' became 'a newt'. This changing of the boundaries between words is called metanalysis and is commonplace in English.

The adjective humble, meaning 'of lowly rank' or 'having a low estimate of oneself' derived separately from umbles, which derives from Latin and Old French words for loins. (Incidentally, if you feel like girding your loins and aren't sure exactly where they are, the OED coyly describes them as 'the parts of the body that should covered with clothing'). The similarity of the sound of the words, and the fact that umble pie was often eaten by those of humble situation could easily have been the reason for 'eat humble pie' to have come to have its current idiomatic meaning.

It's nice to know that, for we vegetarians, humble pie and crow are both off the menu.


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Thumbs up




Meaning

A sign of acceptance, approval or encouragement, made with closed fingers and the thumb extended upwards.

Origin

It is widely known that this gesture originates from the gladiatorial contests of ancient Rome, in which the fate of a losing fighter was decided by gestures from the crowd. Okay, so if it's widely known, why does it need to be included here? Well, as so often with etymology, the truth isn't quite so simple.

The belief that the 'thumbs-up' and 'thumbs-down' gestures indicated approval and disapproval respectively entered the public consciousness with Jean-Léon Gérôme's 1872 painting 'Pollice Verso'. The 'thumbs down' gestures of the crowd in Gérôme's popular picture were interpreted by the 19th century public as signs of disapproval. Actually, the artist probably never intended that, as 'pollice verso' just means turned thumb.

Prior to that date the references in print don't support that interpretation either. The earliest such citation in English is Pliny's ' Natural Historie', translated into English in 1601 by Philemon Holland:

"To bend or bow downe the thumbes when wee give assent unto a thing, or doe favour any person."

There's now some debate amongst scholars as to the meaning of the thumb gesture in Roman amphitheaters. The meaning of the original Latin texts is difficult to interpret. Some say that Holland mistranslated Pliny's original 'pollices premere' text and that it should be 'to press the thumbs' rather than 'bend the thumbs'. Two positions are argued:

One view is that we just have thumbs up and down the wrong way round.

The other camp say that approval was indicated by a closed fist and disapproval by showing the thumb (either up or down).

Either way, a defeated gladiator in the Roman Coliseum looking toward the crowd for support, would have hoped not to see any 'thumbs up'.



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Helter-skelter




Meaning

In chaotic and disorderly haste.

Origin

Those of a certain age might remember The Beatles' song from the 1968 White Album - Helter Skelter. If so, the song's lyrics may also evoke memories of clinging on to hessian mats and spiralling down fairground slides. These slides began appearing at British fairs around the turn of the 20th century. In 1906, the UK newspaper 'The Westmorland Gazette' included this:

"The World's Manufacturing Company, examples of whose 'helter-skelter' lighthouses are at Earl's Court, Blackpool, Southport, and other places."

(Note - apropos of nothing in particular: 'The World's Manufacturing Company' - it's been some years since a British company had the confidence to call itself something like that.)

But, beyond the fairground, what is helter-skelter? The term long predates the fairground ride and has been used to mean disorderly haste or confusion since at least the 16th century. Thomas Nashe used it that way in his 'Four letters confuted', 1592:

"Helter skelter, feare no colours, course him, trounce him."

('To confute' is, or rather was, as it has been used only rarely since the 17th century, 'to render futile', 'to prove an argument to be false'.)

Helter-skelter has been in common use in England for the past 400 years and has been known in the USA since the 1820s.

Neither helter nor skelter had any meaning in themselves. Like many word pairs of this sort (called rhyming reduplications), they only exist as part of the pair - although skelter was used alone later, but only as a shortened form of helter-skelter.

Another reduplication with a similar meaning is pell-mell (a confused throng or, in disordered haste). This originated around the same time - the first recorded use dates from 1579. Others which came later, but which are in shouting distance in terms of meaning, are harem-scarum (reckless rowdiness) and hurly-burly (commotion and confusion).


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Flotsam and jetsam






Meaning
  
Ships' goods which are lost at sea. Also used figuratively in non-nautical contexts to means odds and ends, bits and pieces.
  
Origin
  
Flotsam and jetsam are rarely seen apart nowadays although the words, in a variety of spellings, have separate meanings and were frequently used independently in the 17th century. John Cowell, in his 1607 publication The interpreter: or booke containing the signification of words [what we would now prosaically call a dictionary] wrote of "Flotsen alias (Flotzam)". In Boys' Sandwich [that's a book, of course, not a snack], 1570, we find:
"[At a special brother-hood held at Sandwich: Decreed to give the Lord Warden of free gift and not otherwise the third part] of all wrecks and fyndalls floating and the half of all wrecks and fyndalls jottsome, viz. dryuen to the londe yshore."
There's a simple mnemonic that helps distinguish flotsam from jetsam. Flotsam (or floatsome) are those items which are floating as a consequence of the action of the sea - lost during a storm, for example. Jetsam are those items which have been jettisoned by a ship's crew (although jetsam may float too of course).
  
Whenever flotsam and jetsam meet for a drink they always reminisce about the family's long-lost triplet - lagan. That's the word for goods or wreckage that lie at the bottom of the sea and, like Gummo and Zeppo Marx, it rarely gets a mention.
Around the turn of the 17th century though, lagan was still in vogue. The 1591 record - Articles concerning the admiralty of England, and the iurisdiction thereof stated:
"Any ship, yron, leade, or other goods floating or lying under the water or in the depth, of which there is no possessor or owner, which commonly are called Flotzon, Jetson, and Lagan."
The English royal household rarely missed a trick where money was concerned and by 1622 it was said that those watery items described above as having 'no owner' now became property of the King. Robert Callis wrote "Flotsan, Jetsan and Lagan are goods on or in the Sea, and . they belong to the King."   
Flotsam and jetsam formed an alliance of their own and allowed lagan to sink out of trace in the early 19th century. Sir Walter Scott, in his Diary (1848), mentions this:
"The goods and chattles of the inhabitants are all said to savour of Flotsome and Jetsome."


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Knuckle down




Meaning

Get down to work and apply oneself earnestly to it.

Origin

The BBC broadcast an antiques programme recently on the subject of marble collecting. The game was demonstrated and the presenters showed how a marble, which aficionados call a taw, was held by the crooked index finger and flicked by the thumb. They declared that "this is where the phrase 'knuckle down' came from". The same series had recently included the confidently expressed 'fact' that the origin of top dog was mediaeval saw pits (which is at best an uncertain derivation), so I had my doubts. A little research though has shown the knuckle down derivation to be correct.

In 1723, Thomas Dyche and William Pardon published 'A dictionary of all the words commonly us'd in the English tongue'. In that they define the verb knuckle or knuckle down as:

"A particular phrase used by lads at a play called taw, wherein they frequently say, Knuckle down to your taw, or fit your hand exactly in the place where your marble lies."

As befits a work with such an ambitious title, they didn't stop at one definition and also included:

"Knuckle or knuckle down: to stoop, bend, yield, comply with, or submit to."

Neither of these meanings is now generally used. The former is still used in the game of marbles, where players still knuckle down. The latter has migrated to the more commonplace knuckle under. By 1864, Webster's Dictionary defined the knuckle down with the meaning we now use, i.e.:

"To apply oneself earnestly or vigorously."

The game of marbles can also claim the origin of another widely used term - for keeps.



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Chock-a-block





Meaning

Crammed so tightly together as to prevent movement.

Origin

This term is old and has a nautical origin.

Chock:

The derivation of chock isn't entirely clear but the word is thought to have come from chock-full (or choke-full), meaning 'full to choking'. This dates back to the 15th century and is cited in Morte Arthur, circa 1400:

"Charottez chokkefulle charegyde with golde."

Block:

This is where seafaring enters into the story. A block and tackle is a pulley system used on sailing ships to hoist the rigging. When raised to their fullest extent the blocks become jammed together and are 'chock-a-block'. Frederick Chamier's novel The Life of a Sailor, 1832 includes this figurative use of the term:

"Here my lads is another messmate..." - What, another!" roared a ruddy-faced midshipman of about eighteen. "He must stow himself away, for we are chock-a-block here."

We might expect to find a reference to it in relation to ship's equipment before any figurative use, but the earliest I've found is in Richard H. Dana Jr's Two years before the mast, 1840:

"Hauling the reef-tackles chock-a-block."

Chock-a-block also spawned an abbreviated version in the 20th century - chocka (or chocker). This is WWII UK military slang meaning 'fed-up or disgruntled' - as defined in Hunt and Pringles' Service Slang, 1943:

"Chocker, this is the sailor's way of saying he is fed up or browned off."


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Trick or treat?






Meaning

The ultimatum given by children who call on houses to solicit gifts at Hallowe'en.


Origin

There could hardly be a better example of the way that language and traditions migrate over time and across different cultures than trick or treating. This is well-known to be an American tradition, but its origins lie in medieval Europe.

There are myriad Christian and pagan rituals and celebrations that have taken place on or about the 1st of November each year. These occurred in virtually every English-speaking and/or Christian country. They have evolved and merged over the centuries and continue to do so. Common features of these traditions are - asking for food, dressing in disguise and a connection to the spirits of the deceased.

The language of these traditions is heavily influenced by the naming of days in the Christian calendar. The central date of the rituals that herald the beginning of winter is the 1st of November, called All Saints Day or All Hallows Day. The following day is All Souls Day and the 31st of October is All Hallows Eve - shortened to Hallowe'en (i.e. the evening before All Hallows Day).

The practice of souling - going from door to door on or about All Souls Day to solicit gifts of food in return for prayers for the dead - evolved from a pagan ritual that was practised all over Europe, possibly as early as the 10th century. As a Christian tradition it goes back to at least the 14th century, when it is mentioned by Chaucer. It is still commonplace in many Catholic countries, notably Ireland, where soul-cakes are left out for the departed. The first reference to the practice under that name in England is John Brand's Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, 1779:

"On All Saints Day, the poor people go from parish to parish a Souling, as they call it."

The tradition has altered so that it is now children, usually dressed in disguise, who go about asking for gifts around the beginning of November. Some examples of this are from:

England, where we have requests for 'a penny for the guy'. This derives from the bonfire celebrations that began to celebrate the thwarting of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605. Guy Fawkes was the explosives specialist of the plot. He escaped being hanged, drawn and quartered at the time, but is now symbolically executed each year when effigies of him, called guys, are burned on bonfires all over England on 5th November (Bonfire Night). The 'pennies' that children collect are traditionally spent on fireworks. This had a secular and political rather than religious or supernatural motivation, but it clearly inherited much from souling.

The USA, where the tradition is trick or treating. This 20th century tradition has many of the features of the earlier rituals, a knowledge of which were of course brought to the USA by immigrants from Europe.

Scotland, where it is called guising. This is a clear predecessor of trick or treat. The main difference between the two was that the children performed small entertainments before being given gifts - poems, jokes etc. This is now merging into trick or treating, with sweets being expected without the party piece.

The earliest known citation of trick or treat in print is from an item in the Oregon newspaper The Oregon Journal, 1st November 1934, headed 'Halloween Pranks Keep Police on Hop':

"Other young goblins and ghosts, employing modern shakedown methods, successfully worked the 'trick or treat' system in all parts of the city."

It seems that the practice wasn't universally popular amongst adults when it appeared in the 1930s. Many of the early references to trick or treating feature 'what's the world coming too' type comments by outraged residents and police. The Reno Evening Gazette, 1st November 1938, alludes to Nevada children using methods similar to the protection rackets of the Mafia. Its piece was headed 'Youngsters Shake Down Residents':

"Trick or treat was the slogan employed by Halloween pranksters who successfully extracted candy fruit from Reno residents. In return the youngsters offered protection against window soaping and other forms of annoyance."

Trick or treating was well-enough established in Montana by the end of the 1930s for The Helena Independent newspaper to be advertising a 23 cent "Trick or Treat Mix" of candies. It isn't clear how many they sold though. On 2nd November 1938, the same paper reported that some of their readers had not taken kindly to being given 'an offer they can't refuse' by small mask-wearing ghosts and ghoulies and, although they were threatened with little more than some impromptu window soaping, they expressed their annoyance in no uncertain terms - by shooting at the little devils.

"Hallowe'en pranksters in several sections of the nation carried home loads of buckshot last night. Most persons are not in favor of shotgun treatment, but they are in favor of some chastisement."

A ring on the doorbell, followed by "trick or treat?", is heard in households in many countries around the world each 31st October. There are several reasons for the international spread. Partly it is due to the migration of US families and partly to the cultural dominance of the USA (what child with a television set can have failed to have seen Spielberg's ET or at least one of The Simpsons' seventeen Treehouse of Horror Halloween Specials?). Probably more significant though are the commercial interests of the media and manufacturers. If you can get away with spending just 23 cents this Hallowe'en or Bonfire Night you'll have done well.


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On your tod




Meaning

On your own.

Origin

This is one of the best-known examples of Cockney rhyming slang (on your tod -> on your Tod Sloan -> on your own). It's a common device of rhyming slang to use the name of a popular celebrity. Other contenders for 'on your own' are 'on your Jack' (Jones - UK) and 'on your Pat' (Malone - Australia). Fame can be fleeting though and none of these are exactly household names any longer.

James Forman (Tod) Sloan was born in Indiana in 1874 and overcame neglect and poverty in his early life to become a highly successful jockey. Initially rejected by his parents, his life changed when he discovered his talent as a jockey and began to win prestigious and lucrative races. His success was based on the short-stirrup style of riding, sitting high on the horse's neck, which he developed himself - called the 'monkey crouch'.

 
Despite his start in life as an uneducated and malnourished street urchin, Sloan lived the American dream by becoming one of the world's best-known sportsmen. He adopted the name Todhunter and embarked on a flamboyant lifestyle, complete with fast cars, adoring women and a personal valet. George M. Cohan's song The Yankee Doodle Boy, from the show Little Johnny Jones, was based on Sloan's life:

I'm a Yankee Doodle dandy,
A Yankee Doodle, do or die;
A real live nephew of my Uncle Sam's,
Born on the Fourth of July.
I've got a Yankee Doodle sweetheart,
She's my Yankee Doodle joy.
Yankee Doodle came to London,
Just to ride the ponies,
I am a Yankee Doodle boy.

Having won all there was to win in America, Sloan turned his attention to England - then the epicentre of the racing establishment. In 1897 he was engaged by the Prince of Wales as his principal rider. Sloan was initially the subject of ridicule for his riding style and was called 'monkey jockey' by the English press. He continued his winning ways though and a considerable tide of resentment grew against his success, but also against his brashness and allegations of his illegal betting on his own races. He was personally disliked by many of his acquaintances as his lack of social graces often lead to him being considered rude and disdainful.

Sloan's fall from grace was as spectacular as his previous success. Following pressure from Lord Durham, the steward of The Jockey Club, the sport's controlling body, The Prince of Wales dismissed him. In December 1900, The New York Times reported that:
"Now the Prince of Wales has thrown him over no English owner is likely to employ him."
He was later informed by The Jockey Club that he "need not apply for a licence" for the 1901 season due to unspecified "conduct prejudicial to the best interests of the sport". There were allegations of jealousy and anti-Americanism in the US press. These were no doubt justified but it seems that the primary motivation was that they just didn't like him. Whatever the cause, the racing ban was upheld in America too and his career was effectively over. After some ill-fated attempts to open businesses and break into film acting, Sloan faded from public view. He was married and divorced twice but died alone, of cirrhosis, in 1933.

It is rather poignant that Sloan's name should have become synonymous with solitude. Both his early and late life seem lonely and depressing. In his autobiography, called with some feeling 'Tod Sloan by Himself', he wrote of his sadness at being abandoned by his long-dead parents - "I was left alone by those I have never ceased to grieve for




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Kick the bucket



Meaning

To die.

Origin

We all know what a bucket is - and so this phrase appears rather odd. Why should kicking one be associated with dying?

The link between buckets and death was made by at least 1785, when the phrase was defined in Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue:

"To kick the bucket, to die."

One theory as to why, albeit with little evidence to support it, is that the phrase originates from the notion that people hanged themselves by standing on a bucket with a noose around their neck and then kicking the bucket away. There are no citations that relate the phrase to suicide and, in any case, why a bucket? Whenever I've needed something to stand on I can't recall ever opting for a bucket. This theory doesn't stand up any better than the supposed buckets did.

The mist begins to clear with the fact that in 16th century England bucket had an additional meaning (and in some parts it still has), i.e. a beam or yoke used to hang or carry items. The term may have been introduced into English from the French trébuchet - meaning a balance, or buque - meaning a yoke. That meaning of bucket was referred to in Peter Levins' Manipulus vocabulorum. A dictionarie of English and Latine wordes, 1570:

"A Bucket, beame, tollo."

and was used by Shakespeare in Henry IV Part II, 1597:

"Swifter then he that gibbets on the Brewers Bucket." [to gibbet meant to hang]

The wooden frame that was used to hang animals up by their feet for slaughter was called a bucket. Not unnaturally they were likely to struggle or to spasm after death and hence 'kick the bucket'.



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