Being "Mad as a Hatter" and Other Curious Sayings

Have you ever wondered how some popular sayings and doings got started? What do they really mean? After examining some of the more popular sayings and where they got there start I am amused and perplexed as I'm sure you will be too.

The history of giving the middle finger to somebody started way back in the 1400's. Before a battle known as The Battle Of Agincourt in 1415 the French who had already anticipated a winning victory decided to cut of the middle finger of any and all their captive English soldiers. The reason being is that the long bow could not be drawn and fired (plucking the yew) without the middle finger and the long bow was the English's weapon of choice at that time.

Well the English won and to upset the French they began mocking them by holding up their middle fingers saying "ha ha we can still pluck yew" eventually over time this became hard for some to say and changed into well, you now what it changed in to. It also because of the pheasant feathers that were on the arrows that the saying "giving the bird came into play.

S.H. I.&T came into saying after the shipping of manure in the 17^th century back then everything had to be transported by ship. The manure needed to be shipped dry because if it got wet it would weigh a lot more and the beginning of fermentation would occur this would result in the creation of methane gasses. So the methane would begin to build up below the decks and if anyone got near them afterward with a lighted lantern they would blow up. So they started shipping the manure with the words "Ship High In Transit" to make sure that it would get stored high enough not to get wet and then the creation of methane gases would not happen. Well the words changed into just the initials and therefore brought into term that four letter word that still gets used often to this day.

The term Mad As A Hatter started back in the late 18^th century. It seems that the makers of felt hats would use quite the large amount of mercury. After many years of making hats and coming into contact with the poisons of mercury the hat makers would often times become sick with a violent and uncontrollable twitching of their muscles. They would then be named by others to be "Mad As A Hatter"

The term "To Bite The Dust" came in around 1870 when an American Poet named William Cullen Bryant wrote down that "his fellow warriors, many a one fall around him to the earth and bite the dust. In America it was always dust that the hated villain or "Redskin" bites when he falls to his death in combat. Now it is commonly used for a fall or trip that someone takes that causes them undue embarrassment or to suffer a loss somehow; like a jockey that takes a fall of his horse when racing is said to "Bite The Dust".

To Knock On Wood came about most likely because of a game children played called "knocking on wood" a new form of the game is now known as tag. Basically the person who made it to safety would be the one who was touching wood (tree). Later on this became a sort of lucky charm to keep ill from happening and those who touched the wood or knocked on it would be safe from whatever they felt could harm them.

To Keep One's Shirt On came around in the 1800's when men were known to actually take their shirts off so they could fight. The reason they would take their shirts off to fight was because the shirts were stiff and they hampered their ability to fight properly with the full use of both of their arms. Now when it seems as if a argument is beginning to get real heated people say " just keep your shirt on" .

The term "You Are What You Eat" was coined by Victor Lindlahr in the 1920's. Lindlahr was a nutritionist who developed the catabolic diet; a diet that is based on the belief that there are some foods that make negative calories and therefore the more you eat of those certain foods the more calories you burn. He believed that 90% of the diseases known to man were cause by cheap foodstuffs, all the additives etc... He used the term in his the title of his book "You are what you eat" in 1942.

Making A Beeline For It means to go directly to. The term came into use because when watched the behavior of forager bees they would see them go straight to the nectar no swerving of any kind. One bee would go into the nest and let the others know exactly where the nectar was and the rest of the bees would fly straight to it. When one is said to "make a beeline for it" then it means that they are going straight to something without letting anything else get in their way or distract them from where they intend to go.

Maybe you learned something useful or entertaining enough that you could use to entertain others sometime, or perhaps not.

References

Funk, Earle, Charles. Heavens To Betsy & Other Curious Sayings. Harper Perennial 1993.

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/making-a-bee-line-for.html