Rarely sighted idioms
In the last couple of weeks we’ve considered rarely-sighted words (#1 & #2). Now it’s onto rarely-sighted idioms.
To throw a tub to a whale is to create a diversion. This idiom comes from whaling times. It seems when a whale got close enough to the whaling ship to threaten the safety of the whalers, they could sometimes divert its attention by slinging a barrel or tub into the sea. Amazingly, some whales were pleased to play with the tub instead of the ship.
In Britain & Australia, a supercilious, pretentious, or self-important individual can be referred to as toffee-nosed. This slang term is considered rude, but then, isn’t self-absorption a bit rude? It comes from the word toff, a British term for a flashy dresser.
Another British & Australian idiom is making whim-wham for a goose’s bridle. Its meaning rests somewhere between go away kid, you bother me, & none-of-your-business. It was/is typically used to deflect a nosy child’s questions. “What are you doing Grampa?” can be answered with, “I’m making a whim-wham for a goose’s bridle.”
The phrase to make a hames of something means to make a mess of something — to spoil something through ineptitude. It’s an idiom born in Ireland, & refers to a draft horse’s collar. The hames of the collar are the bits that connect to the traces, & apparently it’s easy to set them up backward, making a hames of it.
And then there’s don’t teach your grandmother to suck eggs, which means It’s seldom a good idea for the young to offer advice to their elders. This idiomatic advice was offered as early as the 1700s. Apparently egg-sucking in the 1700s was something everyone knew how to do, so why teach grandma how?
If you’ve got the screaming ab-dabs, you either are experiencing extreme anxiety, or suffering from delirium tremens. When this idiom appeared in the early 1930s, it referred only to the DTs, but within twenty years or so it generalized to mean extreme anxiety. Though most etymologists believe it is British in origin, some wonder whether it may have started in America, as evidenced by the 1914 Fields & Donovan tune “Abba-Dabba Honeymoon” — Hmmm.
I hope these have offered a chuckle or two & I haven’t made a hames of it. Any response? Please leave a comment.
My thanks go out to this week’s sources: Phrases.org, Collins Dictionary, WorldWideWords, English Forums, & Free Dictionary.
These are very fun and totally new to me. I would love to tell my grandsons not to teach me how to suck eggs and see how they react! And I do get the screaming ab-dabs from time to time. I wonder if calling them that could take some of their power away.
ReplyDeleteHa! I'm with you on the screaming ab-dabs. Perhaps calling them by their true name would give us all more power over them. Thanks for coming by.
DeleteNever heard of any of these. It's funny how idioms come and then go by the wayside. My mom would occasionally say some idiom or use some actor's name I had never heard of, and she'd be in disbelief. History is now repeating between my kids and me.
ReplyDeleteI was just looking for the etymology of the word "goofball." My daughter used it once - as in, someone was a goofball - and my mom was horrified, saying it was a nasty word. We were all perplexed by her reaction. Anyway, while looking for the word's history, I came across this: https://www.bustle.com/articles/133376-7-common-words-with-terrifying-origins-because-flaky-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-does. Not sure how authoritative the author's work is, but still, it's an interesting article.
ReplyDelete