On another thread I saw the phrase "Dead as a doornail" questioned as to it's origin and meaning. It got me thinking about some others. I know some are regional in nature and others come from specific items or industries.
A couple my Mom always used:
"Rode hard and put up wet"
"Couldn't hit a bull in the butt with a bass fiddle"
Anybody have a personal favorite?
Posts: 1128 | Location: Valley of the Sun | Registered: 19 July 2003
One my dad coined for me after I had a few mishaps the same day with a piece of farm equipment (ok so I tore the same gate off the hinges twice with the same disc I was pulling behind the tractor)- Boy, you could tear up an anvil with a stick!
Posts: 1551 | Location: Midwest | Registered: 28 September 2004
My darling Silk, only for you would I have gone to all the trouble of researching this (well...it was a couple of mouse-clicks, but you know what I mean...) The origins of "dead as a doornail" aren't very interesting, alas.
Quote: Dear Word Detective: I have a dear friend who has recently been plagued by a burning curiosity as to the origins of the term "dead as a door nail." None of our collective dictionaries shed any light on the subject. -- Julie Warfield, via the Internet.
Well, if it makes you feel any better, my guess is that lots of people have been confused by this phrase since it first appeared, which was a very long time ago. "Dead as a doornail," meaning utterly, completely dead, first appeared in English (according to the Oxford English Dictionary) way back in 1350 A.D. Shakespeare was quite fond of the phrase and used it in several of his plays, probably for the same reason we still use it today: the alliteration of "dead" and "doornail." Of the alternatives listed by the Oxford English Dictionary ("dead as a herring" and "dead as mutton"), only "dead as the dodo" packs quite the same poetic punch.
As to why a "doornail," opinions vary a bit. One theory holds that the "doornail" in question was not a nail as we know nails today, but rather a broad, flat plate mounted on the outside of the door to serve as a striking plate for the door knocker. Such a "nail" would be "dead" because it would be fixed tightly to the wood of the door and thus would not ring when struck as metal normally does, but rather give a dull "thump." This theory is both labored and unlikely.
Probably the best theory about "doornail" was expounded by etymologist Robert Claiborne, who noted that until the nineteenth century metal nails were both expensive and rarely used, wooden pegs being the norm. Metal nails were used in the construction of doors, however, usually driven clear through the door and then bent over on the other side, rendering them immovable (and immune to theft). Such nails were "dead" in the lingo of carpentry because they could never be removed and reused. "Dead as a doornail" is thus not just a very old saying, but a very old pun as well.
Katie
Posts: 234 | Location: deep South | Registered: 05 October 2004
