One column that doesn’t blow smoke
Today I thought it might be fun to delve into the origin phrases that only make sense if you are aware of some little-known fact. Many phrases and sayings make sense the first time you hear them. Like the phrase ‘Don’t keep all your eggs in one basket.’
That makes perfect sense because obviously if you do so, and you lose or drop that basket, all your eggs will be gone, so it pays to keep at least some in another basket.
But now, on to some phrases that don’t seem to make much sense until you know where they come from.
One of my favorites is ‘backhanded compliment.’ The first time I heard that one I was able to figure out that it means a compliment that contains a insult as well. Like when a woman tells another, ‘You know, that dress makes you look much thinner.’ But I wasn’t sure why it was called a ‘backhanded’ compliment.
Well, it turns out that backhanded is synonymous with left-handed. Like in tennis, where a backhand is a shot from a right-handed player from the left side of the body, and it seems the left side of the body has traditionally been considered sinister. In fact, the Latin word for left is sinestra. Oddly enough, in America left-handed people used to be considered untrustworthy or suspect, and up until the 1960s children who were naturally left-handed were often encouraged, or even forced in some cases, to use their right hand to perform tasks.
Another phrase that seemed a bit odd to me is ‘blowing smoke,’ which means to boast about something without being able to back it up, or announcing an action with no intent to follow through on it. As usual, the first time I heard the phrase I figured out what it meant from the context of the conversation, but I wondered what blowing smoke had to do with it. The image that naturally came into my mind was that of someone smoking a cigarette, but that didn’t really seem to make much sense.
But when I looked into it, I found out it had to do with magicians, who often use smoke during their performances to hide things from view and conceal their trickery. Another phrase that means the same thing, and also comes from the craft of stage magic, is ‘It’s all done with smoke and mirrors.’
Now, here’s a really obscure one. The first time I heard someone described as being in the ‘cat bird seat,’ I was totally confused. It was when I was in elementary school and the only male teacher in my school got promoted to principal, and I heard one of the female teachers say, ‘Well, I guess he thinks he’s in the cat bird seat now.’
I soon realized this meant that someone was in an advantageous position, but I wondered what in the world this had to do with cat birds. It was later on when I began to explore the origin of phrases that I found out where this one comes from. It seems mocking birds are sometimes referred to as cat birds, and that mocking birds also tend to sit at the top of a tree. So a cat bird seat is a seat at the top.
Now, being a music lover, one phrase I found quite interesting when I heard it is ‘face the music.’ I heard this when one of my fellow students procrastinated on a school project and I heard a teacher tell him, ‘Well, you didn’t get your science project done on time, so now you’ll have to face the music.’ At first I couldn’t understand how music could be a punishment. But I eventually understood the music, in this case, was a bad grade.
Turns out this comes from the British military, where, when a soldier was court marshaled, a military drum squad would play, hence, face the music. The term ‘drummed out of the military’ also comes from this practice.
Charlie Johnson is news editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191.