Written by Clay Riley – Many of the old sayings came from the “Good Book,” the bible. It was something they were familiar with and used for daily guidance. Other sayings were home spun, in that they were a product of early Scot-Irish words. The West had its own unique collection, such as “Pull in your horns ~ back off, quit looking for trouble and city slicker.”
Then there were the “spur-of-the-moment” inventions. My grandmother had one she used on me when I was frustrating her she would say; “Boy, you are enough to make a preacher cuss.” I knew I was in trouble, so I skedaddled, before we took a trip to the woodshed.
This is a collection, of but a few old sayings, and I am sure you can add to the list from your own memory:
AT THE GLOAMING – The time after sunset and before dark, also known as twilight.
APPLE OF MY EYE – This phrase also comes from the Bible. In Psalm 17:8 the writer asks God ‘keep me as the apple of your eye’.
BEE LINE – In the past people believed that bees flew in a straight line to their hive. So if you made a bee line for something you went straight for it.
BEST BIB AND TUCKER – Your best clothes. “There’s a dance Saturday, so put on your best bib and tucker.”
BONE ORCHARD – A black humor term used for a cemetery.
CALIFORNIA WIDOW – A woman separated from her husband, but not divorced. Many men were away from home for an extended time, such as those caught up in the gold rush.
CUT AND RUN – In an emergency rather than haul up an anchor the sailors would cut the anchor cable then run with the wind.
DON’T LOOK A GIFT HORSE IN THE MOUTH – This old saying means don’t examine a gift too closely! You can tell a horse’s age by looking at its teeth, which is why people ‘looked a horse in the mouth.’
ESCAPED BY THE SKIN OF YOUR TEETH – This phrase comes from the Bible, from Job 19:20. ‘My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.’
FEEBLE-MINDED – Term used from the late nineteenth century for disorders later referred to as illnesses or deficiencies of the mind.
FLANNEL-MOUTH – An overly smooth or fancy talker, especially politicians or salesmen. “I swear that man is a flannel-mouthed liar.”
GO TO POT – Any farm animal that had outlived its usefulness such as a hen that no longer laid eggs would literally go to pot. It was cooked and eaten.
BY HOOK OR BY CROOK – This old saying probably comes from a medieval law which stated that peasants could use branches of trees for fire wood if they could reach them with their shepherds crook or their billhook.
LET THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG – This old saying is probably derived from the days when people who sold piglets in bags sometimes put a cat in the bag instead. If you let the cat out of the bag you exposed the trick.
LILY LIVERED – Means cowardly. People once believed that your passions came from you liver. If you were lily livered your liver was white (because it did not contain any blood). So you were a coward.
LOCK, STOCK AND BARREL – This phrase comes because guns used to have 3 parts, the lock (the firing mechanism), the stock (the wooden butt of the gun) and the barrel. The whole thing was included.
MAD AS A HATTER – This phrase comes from the fact that in the 18th and 19th century’s hat makers treated hats with mercury. Inhaling mercury vapor could cause mental illness.
NAMBY-PAMBY – Person or thing lacking energy, strength, or courage; feeble or effeminate in behavior or expression.
PIN MONEY – In the 16th and 17th century it was common to give your wife or daughter a small amount of money for pins, thread and other necessary things.
PULL IN YOUR HORNS – Back off, quit looking for trouble
PUT A SPOKE IN THE WHEEL – To foul up or sabotage something.
PRIDE GOES BEFORE A FALL – This old saying comes from the Bible, from Proverbs 16:18 ‘Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall’.
RED LETTER DAYS – In the Middle Ages, saints days were marked in red in calendars. People did not work on some saint’s days or holy days. Our word holiday is derived from holy day.
SCOT FREE – Scot is an old word for payment, so if you went scot free, you went without paying.
SKUDDLEBUTT – Meant rumor or gossip, deriving from the nautical term for the cask used to serve water where people gathered. In today’s world, this might be the water fountain.
SPINNING A YARN – Rope was made in ports everywhere. The rope makers chatted while they worked. They told each other stories while they were spinning a yarn.
STUMPED – The part of a tree trunk left protruding from the ground after the tree has fallen or has been felled. Made plowing difficult or had to figure out.
TAKEN ABACK – If the wind suddenly changed direction a sailing ship stopped moving forward. It was ‘taken aback’, which was a bit of a shock for the sailors.
THROUGH THICK AND THIN – This old saying was once ‘through thicket and thin wood’. It meant making your way through a dense wood and through one where trees grew more thinly.
HAVE NO TRUCK WITH – Truck originally meant barter and is derived from a French word ‘troquer’. Originally if you had no truck with somebody, you refused to trade with him or her. It came to mean you refused to have anything to do with them.
WEASEL WORDS – This phrase is said to come from an old belief that weasels could suck out the inside of an egg leaving its shell intact.
WHIPPING BOY – Prince Edward, later Edward VI, had a boy who was whipped in his place every time he was naughty.
WISHY-WASHY – Not having or showing strong ideas or beliefs about something: weak and not able or not willing to act.
WOLF IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING – In Matthew 7:15 Jesus warned his followers of false prophets saying they were like ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing’ outwardly disarming.
This and many other stories of our ancestors, are available at the Brownwood Public Library – Genealogy & Local History Branch at 213 S. Broadway. It is open 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Tuesday thru Friday. Volunteers from the Pecan Valley Genealogical Society are there to assist you in your family history research.
Clay Riley is a local historian and retired Aerospace Engineer that has been involved in the Historical and Genealogical Community of Brown County for over 20 years. Should you have a comment, or a question that he may be able to answer in future columns, he can be reached at; pvgsbwd@gmail.com.
