How Words got their meaning

[Caribou]

A SHOT OF WHISKEY'

In the old west a .45 cartridge for a six-gun cost 12 cents, so did a
glass of whiskey. If a cowhand was low on cash he would often give the
bartender a cartridge in exchange for a drink. This became known as a
"shot" of whiskey.


THE WHOLE NINE YARD

American fighter planes in WW2 had machine guns that were fed by a
belt of cartridges. The average plane held belts that were 27 feet (9
yards) long. If the pilot used up all his ammo he was said to have
given it the whole nine yards.

BUYING THE FARM

This is synonymous with dying. During WW1 soldiers were given life
insurance policies worth $5,000. This was about the price of an
average farm so if you died you "bought the farm" for your survivors.


IRON CLAD CONTRACT

This came about from the ironclad ships of the Civil War. It meant
something so strong it could not be broken.


PASSING THE BUCK / THE BUCK STOPS HERE

Most men in the early west carried a jack knife made by the Buck knife
company. When playing poker it as common to place one of these Buck
knives in front of the dealer so that everyone knew who he was. When
it was time for a new dealer the deck of cards and the knife were
given to the new dealer. If this person didn't want to deal he would
"pass the buck" to the next player. If that player accepted then "the
buck stopped there".


RIFF RAFF

The Mississippi River was the main way of traveling from north to
south. Riverboats carried passengers and freight but they were
expensive so most people used rafts. Everything had the right of way
over rafts which were considered cheap. The steering oar on the rafts
was called a "riff" and this transposed into riff-raff, meaning low
class.


COBWEB

The Old English word for "spider" was "cob".



SHIP STATE ROOMS

Traveling by steamboat was considered the height of comfort. Passenger
cabins on the boats were not numbered. Instead they were named after
states. To this day cabins on ships are called staterooms.


SLEEP TIGHT

Early beds were made with a wooden frame. Ropes were tied across the
frame in a criss-cross pattern. A straw mattress was then put on top
of the ropes. Over time the ropes stretched, causing the bed to sag.
The owner would then tighten the ropes to get a better night's sleep.


SHOWBOAT

These were floating theaters built on a barge that was pushed by a
steamboat. These played small town along the Mississippi River. Unlike
the boat shown in the movie "Showboat" these did not have an engine.
They were gaudy and attention grabbing which is why we say someone who
is being the life of the party is "showboating"


OVER A BARREL

In the days before CPR a drowning victim would be placed face down
over a barrel and the barrel would be rolled back and forth in a
effort to empty the lungs of water. It was rarely effective. If you
are over a barrel you are in deep trouble.



BARGE IN

Heavy freight was moved along the Mississippi in large barges pushed
by steamboats. These were hard to control and would sometimes swing
into piers or other boats. People would say they "barged in".


HOGWASH

Steamboats carried both people and animals. Since pigs smelled so bad
they would be washed before being put on board. The mud and other
filth that was washed off was considered useless "hog wash".


CURFEW

The word "curfew" comes from the French phrase "couvre-feu", which
means "cover the fire". It was used to describe the time of blowing
out all lamps and candles. It was later adopted into Middle English as
"curfeu", which later became the modern "curfew". In the early
American colonies homes had no real fireplaces so a fire was built in
the center of the room. In order to make sure a fire did not get out
of control during the night it was required that, by an agreed upon
time, all fires would be covered with a clay pot called-a "curfew".


BARRELS OF OIL

When the first oil wells were drilled they had made no provision for
storing the liquid so they used water barrels. That is why, to this
day, we speak of barrels of oil rather than gallons.



HOT OFF THE PRESS

As the paper goes through the rotary printing press friction causes it
to heat up. Therefore, if you grab the paper right
off the press it’s hot. The expression means to get immediate
information.

SHIP HIGH IN TRANSIT

In the days of wooden ships coming to the new world there were no chemical

fertilizers for crops, so manure was transported in the holds of the ship

Seawater would combine with the manure and create methane gas. If someone

went down in the ship holds with a lantern, there would be an explosion.
It was determined that the manure could not be stored in the holds of the ship

and it was marked S.H.I.T. for "Ship High In Transit".

 

[Amish Heart]

Another sleep tight: bedrooms were cold in these old farmhouses. Stoves were in the basement or the first floor front room. A cousin of mine was talking about having the upstairs back bedroom as a little kid. Her mom would safety pin the blanket to the fitted sheet under her so the blanket didn't come off. She'd be all pinned in and would sleep tight.
Snug as a bug in a rug.

 

[joel]

Another sleep tight: bedrooms were cold in these old farmhouses. Stoves were in the basement or the first floor front room. A cousin of mine was talking about having the upstairs back bedroom as a little kid. Her mom would safety pin the blanket to the fitted sheet under her so the blanket didn't come off. She'd be all pinned in and would sleep tight.
Snug as a bug in a rug.

When you had a bedroom with NO heat, you did not move around, because your body heat would warm the bed & moving put you in the cold on the sheet. I remember that one, we had central heat, one wood stove in the center of the living room, all other rooms where cold, no insulation at all.
The house is still standing, still no insulation.

 

[Caribou]

Lock, stock, and barrel, meaning the whole thing. Flintlock guns had 3 parts the lock, the stock, and the barrel so all three parts together was a complete firearm, or everything.

 

[Amish Heart]

Our house is like that, Joel, except for the one bedroom that the stove pipe goes up through.

 

[SheepDog]

Sleeping tight was also part of having a rope strung bed. It got uncomfortable when sections of the rope loosened up or broke. Stringing a new rope or tightening the old one allowed you to sleep tight.

 

[Caribou]

Sabotage
Derived from the French word sabot or shoe. At the start of the industrial revolution people were worried about machines taking their jobs and would throw their wooden shoes into the machine to break them.

 

[Caribou]

I think this is called a Chicago Democrat trombone.

Tobacco Smoke Enema Kit
(1750s – 1810s).
The tobacco enema was used to infuse tobacco smoke into a patient's rectum for various medical purposes, but primarily the resuscitation of drowning victims.
A rectal tube inserted into the anus was connected to a fumigator and bellows that forced the smoke into the rectum. The warmth of the smoke was thought to promote respiration.
Doubts about the credibility of tobacco enemas led to the popular phrase "blowing smoke up your ass."
If you are in the USA, you are most likely aware that this odd tool is still heavily used by the Liberal government today. It is more commonly known as the Biden Trumpet.

 

[Magus]

I notice lots of Libroids seem to have a fetish for sticking things up there.... s

 

[Cascadian]

It must so hard for them to breathe.

 

[Curmudgeon]

Sleeping tight was also part of having a rope strung bed. It got uncomfortable when sections of the rope loosened up or broke. Stringing a new rope or tightening the old one allowed you to sleep tight.

Yes, my kid's learned this when we followed the Lexington/Concord trail. They actually gave a demonstration in one of the bedrooms of one of the tavern/inns, from that era, in Concord.

I found it interesting that all of the original old buildings had a plaque with the year built on the front of them.