Adrian Barich: the weird and wonderful origins of some of our most common sayings
![Adrian Barich for STM.](https://images.thewest.com.au/publication/C-15330863/3cfedde9f9998ce5948790c01290cb172f2eb328-16x9-x0y453w3337h1877.jpg?imwidth=810&impolicy=wan_v3)
I hosted an awards night last week at Crown, for the Baking Industry of WA (I have friends in the industry, some of whom are loyal Perth Football Club supporters).
During the evening to celebrate some of this State’s hardest working people, accustomed to early starts rather than late nights, the term “baker’s dozen” got a mention.
I knew what it meant (a baker’s dozen is 13), I didn’t know the saying came from the days when bakers were severely punished for baking underweight loaves. To be above suspicion, the would often add an extra loaf to a batch of a dozen.
This all lead to a discussion of other old sayings and their origins. “Big wig”, “doubting Thomas” and “bite the bullet” are easy to work out, but did you know a “hat trick” in cricket comes from the tradition of awarding anyone who took three wickets in a row a new hat?
One of my former footy coaches once described me as being “born with a silver spoon in my mouth” which wasn’t exactly true, but probably needs no explanation here.
Another teammate was even accused of having “Dutch courage” — this saying apparently goes back to the 17th century, when it was said (unfairly, I’m sure) that the Dutch needed to drink alcohol to build up the courage for battle.
Along those lines, I’ve always been wary of great men and women having “feet of clay” but until a young person asked me what the hell I was talking about, I didn’t fully understand the reference.
Supposedly, the saying to describe a person we admire who turns out to have a horrible weakness goes back to King Nebuchadnezzar in the Bible, who dreamed of a statue that was built of gold, silver, belly, bronze and iron but its feet were made of a clay. A rock hit the statue’s feet and the statue was destroyed.
The term “get the sack” comes from a time when workers carried their tools in a sack, so if they got fired, it was time to collect their belongings and disappear. “Let the cat out of the bag” is a classic too; it’s reportedly derived from the days when people sold piglets in bags but sometimes put a cat in there instead. If you let the cat out of the bag you exposed the trick. “Sold a pup” was the same thing.
Being “on tenterhooks” (not “tender hooks” as many of my mates would say) came from the practice of stretching wool on a frame called a tenter to dry. So if you were uptight, just like that stretched fleece, you were on tenterhooks. “Wear your heart on your sleeve” came from the Middle Ages, when knights fought at tournaments while wearing a token from their lady on their sleeves.
My friends who love horse racing tell me that “win hands down” refers to when a jockey is so far out in front, he could relax and put his hands down at his sides.
I always thought that the saying “it’s brass monkeys outside”or “it’s cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey” referred to some famous statue of a monkey. I was very surprised to learn it’s actually related to when a ship’s cannon balls used to be stacked on a brass structure called a monkey; the brass would contract in cold temperatures and the cannon balls would fall off.
I’ve often used “back to square one” without having a clue what I was talking about. Apparently when soccer was broadcast only on the radio, to help the listeners picture the scene, the pitch was divided up into an imaginary grid, square one being around the goalmouth. Thus, whenever the ball went back to the keeper, the commentator would say “back to square one” (usually with a slightly frustrated tone).
And remember we would label places like Perry Lakes Stadium or the Perth Convention Centre a “white elephant”? Well, having lived in Thailand as a kid I love this one: white elephants were once considered highly sacred creatures in Thailand and according to legend, if someone angered a Siamese king, the royal would present the unfortunate person with the gift of a white elephant. While it seemed a reward, caring for a sacred elephant was very expensive and often drove the new owner into financial ruin.
And finally, when we say goodbye to someone, it’s contraction of the words God be with ye.
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