What’s the Word: Corner not place to get dander up
Since my column is about words, phrases and old sayings, every now and then a reader will call me with some obscure term, phrase or saying they have heard over the years. It’s always fun when they do that. Sometimes I can find out something about where it comes from or how it originated, and that’s even more fun.
Last week I got a charming call from a local southern lady, who wished to remain anonymous, who told me about a phrase she got from her daughter.
“This has always meant a lot to me,” she said. “Whenever I’m feeling down or things aren’t going well I think about this saying and I always feel better.”
The first time this lady heard it was when her daughter was giving her advice during a bad time. What she told her mother was this, “Mom, just keep bouncing and stay out of the corners.”
What a great phrase, and good advice as well, as you shall see. Now, I have no idea if this lady realizes this, but the minute I hung up the phone and gave it a bit of thought, it became immediately obvious where this particular saying originated.
Can you figure it out? It’s really pretty obvious when you think about it. I’ll give you a hint. It has to do with a certain sport. Here’s another hint. It used to be pretty much an all male sport, but now girls are participating in a major way.
That’s right. You got it. It’s boxing. How many times have you heard some breathless corner man in a boxing movie tell his fighter to, “bob and weave, bob and weave, stay off the ropes, stay out of the corners, keep bouncing.”
Your daughter was right on the money mom. If you’re bouncing around out there you’re a harder target. Don’t let your problems get you cornered and you’ll always come out ahead.
Keep bouncing and stay out of the corners. Good advice for all of us in this boxing match we call life.
Now here’s a phrase that always made me wonder. When I was a kid I had a teacher who was a regular repository of pithy sayings. Whenever someone started to get angry he would always say, “Hang on here. Don’t get your dander up.”
The first time I heard it I asked him what it meant. He just basically said it means calm down.
“Well, what the heck is dander,” I asked.
At which point he gave what I always figured was the typical teacher answer when they weren’t too sure themselves.
“Look it up,” he said.
Well, of course I did just that. Webster’s says one definition of “dander” is: n. Informal Temper.
So the old saying actually made perfect sense when you checked it out, but where did it come from? A little further research brought forth some other interesting facts. Seems the phrase has Dutch origins where “op donderen” means to burst into a sudden rage, and this, in turn, comes from the word “donder” which means thunder.
Another phrase I found intriguing as a kid was, “Man, that was so weird it gave me goose bumps.” Or, alternatively, “goose pimples.” Now this one is pretty simple to figure out on the face of it. Most of us know what a plucked fowl looks like. Chicken, duck or goose, they all look pretty much the same. Pale skin with little bumps all over it, where the feathers came out I suppose. And indeed, one’s skin looks a bit like that when we are spooked or undergo some strange experience.
But imagine what some poor person just learning English must think about that phrase after learning what “pimples” or “bumps” are and what a goose is.
“Oh no,” they must be thinking. “He’s got bird acne.”
Don’t you just love the English language? I sure do.
(Charlie Johnson is news editor for the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].)