What’s the Word: It hurts to pay through the nose
Co-workers have been tossing some unusual phrases at me lately and, like them, I have been wondering about their origins.
Layout artist Seth Wright ran into one such unusual phrase when having his weekly conversation with Smithville Review editor Dennis Stanley who, when asked how he is doing, reportedly replies, “Oh, same old six and seven.” Though phrased a bit differently, this must have originated from the phrase “at sixes and sevens” which is generally said to imply a feeling of confusion and uncertainty, at least in the context of English novels.
One proposed origin, which sounds pretty logical to me, is from a complicated dice game called “hazard.” The highest two numbers on the dice is five and six and anyone trying for these numbers was regarded as taking a great risk. Later, in Chaucer’s time there was a play on these words and the five and six became “six and seven,” an impossible roll of the dice. Obviously risking everything on such a throw made no sense and would surely lead to disaster, and only a confused person would make such a play. So over the years the phrase came to take on its more modern meaning.
Pretty obscure that one, but pretty interesting as well.
Southern Standard publisher Pat Zechman had a sad tale of trying to find weekend emergency treatment for a pet, reporting she did find it, but wound up “paying through the nose” for it. I’ve heard that one all my life, but never gave much thought to where it came from, but after a little research on the Internet, I found the phrase doesn’t have a very pleasant origin, and you’ll soon see why, at least in one version.
Apparently there was a 9th century tax imposed on Ireland by the Danes, who happened to be occupying the country at the time. It was called the “Nose Tax” because tax collectors would slice the noses off anyone who didn’t pay. Ouch! Seems the taxman always get his “pound of flesh.”
And speaking of a “pound of flesh,” has anyone wondered where that one came from? Most English literature professors, or any Shakespeare fan for that matter, will know where that one originates. It’s from “The Merchant of Venice.” To help his friend Bassanio, who has run up major debts, Antonio, the merchant of the title, offers to secure a loan from moneylender Shylock, but Shylock requires a rather gruesome pledge.
“… let the forfeit be nominated for an equal pound of your fair flesh, to be cut-off and taken in what part of your body pleaseth me.”
And the moral here is: stay away from moneylenders. Whew!
As long as we seem to be on the gruesome side of unusual phrases, and talking about noses, here’s another phrase that always fascinated me, “that’s like cutting off your nose to spite your face.”
Of course that one is kind of obvious. It basically means injuring oneself to try and hurt someone else, presumably someone who loves you and will regret that you got hurt. Now one might think this wouldn’t be all that common, but ask any frustrated parent who has suffered through a child’s tantrum and watched in horror as they banged their head against the floor, and you would find out differently. Personally, I never understood that one. It seems pretty dumb to me. After all, anyone who cut off their own nose couldn’t have any scents at all, now could they?
I had to do that. I mean, no true punster could pass that up could they? Well, could they?
Charlie Johnson is news editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].