The Rogue's Gallery |
Off The Cuff for PnP Gallery
-contributed by RoseBud
|
Make more or less impromptu remarks. A formal speech is usually written out in advance, but sometimes the speaker doesn't spend much time preparing or is told on short notice that he will be asked to speak. Then he may hastily assemble some thoughts, scribbling on his shirt cuff if nothing else is available. Not formal; impromptu. At one time credit was so limited that a fellow operating a livery stable could keep his records on his shirt cuff. Transactions were usually on a cash basis. Casual business transactions were common enough to cause anything impromptu to be termed "off the cuff". "Lets just keep this little transaction off the cuff." The situation couldn't be better. t's a space-age term, first employed by John A. Powers, who was a spokesman for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He first used it in connection with a manned space flight in 1961, to indicate the mission was going well. The term caught on and has since served to describe many things that seem to be functioning perfectly. No leniency or clemency shown. The word "quarter" has many meanings, one of which is the ancient battlefield practice of sparing defeated enemies from death. That meaning may in turn have derived from one of two others, either a person's relationship with another (i.e., "to keep good quarter with" someone), or a place of residence and safety. In James Howell's letters (1645) one reads: "He suffered Tilly to take that great Town with so much effusion of blood, because they wood receiue (sic) no quarter."
Back Take pains; be precise. The most obvious explanation for this saying is that a someone learning to read is apt to have trouble distinguishing "p" and "q" , and has to be reminded to be careful of them. But "b" and "d" present similar problems and one is never warned to "watch his b's and d's". In the early days of printing the type was set by hand in wooden frames. As the print was set by hand, and backwards, it was easy to mix the two up. Another explanation, and probably the most accurate, is that tabs in pubs once indicated p (pints) and q (quarts) and either the publican or the drinker could be admonished to keep them straight. In any event, the saying is credited to the 18th century. In 1779 Hannah Cowley wrote in Who's the Dupe?, "You must mind your P's and Q's with him. I can tell you." "You had better mind your p's and q's." Take a drink. One cannot whistle easily without at least licking one's lips. Since any liquid serves the purpose, it is a good excuse for having a drink. The term appears in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (The Reeve's Tale), "So was hir ioly (jolly) whistle well y-wet." "I need to wet my whistle." Severe reprimand. It was once the practice to tie a delinquent sailor to a yardarm, attach a weight to his feet and then, by means of a rope, "haul" him from one side of the ship to the other beneath the "keel." It was often fatal. "You could get keelhauled for that!" Rebuff; snub; intentional indifference. Someone who is ignoring you will turn away and expose you to their shoulder. Allusion to a shoulder of meat is a possible origination for this saying. A common wayfarer stopping at a farmhouse and asking for a meal would probably be given cold food. Since the wayfarer would not necessarily be welcome and since the common food would be mutton, he would be given a cut off the cold shoulder. "I tried to say hello to him and he just gave me the cold shoulder." No reference found, but it probably stems from the area required (or not!) for swinging of a cat o' nine tails. (SHE'S) THE CAT'S MEOW A nifty idea, thing or person. Something remarkable. In the 1920s the same idea was expressed in several "catly" ways ... including "the cat's whiskers" and "the cat's pajamas". Since the cat has the capability of looking enormously pleased, these expressions were most likely derived from that appearance of satisfaction. *giving
a cat call* A topic of dispute. It derives from the common scene of dogs fighting over a bone. It was in the language as a metaphor by the 16th century, as in William Lambarde's A Perambulation of Kent (1576), "This was such a bone of dissention (sic) between these deere(sic) friends." A closely related term and equally old, is "to cast a bone between", meaning to start an argument or create dissension. "Who will toss the next bone of contention to PNP Board?" To approach an objective indirectly. People hunting birds used to employ beaters to flail at bushes, rousing birds for the hunters to shoot at. In the figurative sense, the notion is that if one spends too much time in a roundabout approach, the prize may get away or go to someone else. An early example (1532 or 1572) by English author George Gascoigne suggests both meanings: "He beat about the bush, while others caught the birds." There's no need to beat around the bush with me. What's your point? DON'T THROW (EMPTY, POUR) THE BABY OUT WITH THE BATHWATER (ONE) Discard the essential with the waste; disregard the important thing. In Pen Portraits & Reviews (1909), George Bernard Shaw writes, "Like all reactionists, he usually empties the baby out with the bath." Shaw used the saying on several occasions and may have originated it. "Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater!" DON'T THROW THE BABY OUT WITH THE BATHWATER (TWO) Baths equaled a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water." Comment
from CCB: Now
- Back to my point - And how it ties in ... Ok
- It's Saturday Night - And time for the family to bath ... As Maw was bathing the baby - Paw would remind her, about when she is all finished - And had to disposed of the what is left of the water - With this warning ... Maw
- Don't Through The Baby Out, With The BathWater ... A cautionary statement which preaches the value of patience. When you are impatiently waiting on something to happen, it seems as though it takes forever. It's something a mother might tell her children ... go busy yourself with something else and the time will seem to go faster. It applies metaphorically to any activity where you waste energy doing nothing as you anxiously wait for something to happen, when you could spend that time doing something useful instead. Literally, the time a pot takes to reach the boiling point is the same, whether you watch it or not, but time does drag on interminably when you are over-anxious. The saying has been traced back to Elizabeth Gaskell's Mary Barton (1848): "What's the use of watching? A watched pot never boils." The expression is commonly used in reference to an older person showing romantic interest in a much younger person, i.e., "a baby". No origination for this expression could be found. A clear view, once a problem has been dealt with, or a situation is over, of what should or could have been done better. No specific reference could be found as to when the phrase originated, but it derives from perfect vision being rated as 20/20. "I can see now how we could have handled that a little better, but hind sight is 20/20". Never prepared; undependable. The phrase possibly originated when field laborers would line up for their pay at the end of the work day or designated work period. If a worker was too tired (or lazy) to get into the pay line on time, then he lost out on that day's wages. Always late, never has any money, just totally unorganized and lacks responsibility. "he always seems to be a day late and a dollar short." To cause trouble. Cain was the first murderer according to Biblical accounts. If you make trouble, you are said to be raising the spirit of Cain. Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin: "Instead of making the bed, she would amuse herself with pulling off the pillowcases, butting her woolly head among the pillows, till it would sometimes be grotesquely ornamented with feathers sticking out in various directions; she would climb the posts, and hang head downward from the tops; flourish the sheets and spreads all over the apartment; dress the bolster up in Miss Ophelia’s night-clothes, and enact various performances with that,—singing and whistling, and making grimaces at herself in the looking-glass; in short, as Miss Ophelia phrased it, “raising Cain” generally." O. Henry, The Handbook of Hymen: "I take a little claret with my meals, but I’m not in the habit of packing a jug of it into the brush and raising Cain in any such style as that." The phrase is also scattered throughout Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn. ALWAYS A BRIDESMAID, NEVER THE BRIDE No reference found. My opinion is this means someone feels they may end up being an old maid if they are asked to be bridesmaids for others, yet their time to ask others to be bridesmaids for them has not yet come. As
she stood there witnessing her best friend's vows, she thought to
herself, Overwork oneself mentally or physically. It is doubtful that anyone has ever literally burned a candle at both ends, at least not simultaneously. It would be hard to do. However, it is a vivid image for squandering one's resources. In the past, the meaning was resources in the sense of money or property, as in Nathan Bailey's dictionary of English (1730): "The candle burns at both Ends. Said when Husband and Wife are both Spendthrifts." The expression was known even earlier. Francis Bacon said in Promus of Formularies and Elegancies (1592): "To waste that realm as a candle which is lighted at both ends." The modern connotation had appeared by 1857, when Charles Kingsley wrote in Two Years Ago, "By sitting up till two in the morning, and rising again at six....Frank Headley burnt the candle of life at both ends." Considering school, job, and family, does Kim Mc ever feel she is burning the candle at both ends? Originated in the 15th century. Something that has or can have both favorable and unfavorable consequences. Freedom of expression can be a double-edged sword. The words to his debate response severed the integrity of his opponent, as if he were using a double-edged sword. AS
OLD AS DIRT Exceedingly old The origin of this phrase and it's variations are referenced to the Bible. "Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills?" (Job 15:7) YOU CAN'T HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT You can't have it both ways. Somehow this phrase has been stood on it's head, so that it's now illogical: if you have your cake, you can still eat it. The original version is "you cannot eat your cake and have it too," and there the logic lies, because if you have eaten it, you no longer have it! John Heywood's Proverbs contained that version in 1546, and if it was a proverb then, it was already known. As he put it, "Woulde you bothe eate your cake, and haue your cake?" He needs to grow up and realize he can't have his cake and eat it too! Delivered from defeat at the last moment. "Saved by the bell" began as a Boxing term. The rules are if the bell sounds to indicate the end of a round before a fighter can be counted out, then he is "saved by the bell" to fight another round. The term is also popular with students when ongoing lecture or unplanned testing is interrupted by the sound of a "bell", indicating it is time to move on to the next class. "Whew!! That was close! I was saved by the bell." SAVED BY THE BELL/DEAD RINGER (TWO) England was old and small and they started running out of places to bury people. So, they would dig up coffins and would take their bones to a house and reuse the grave. In reopening these coffins, one out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they thought they would tie a string on the wrist of the dead, lead it through the coffin, up through the ground, and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night to listen for the bell. Hence on the "graveyard shift" they would know someone was "saved by the bell" ... or he was a "dead ringer." Worthy of praise. The saying possibly originated as an alternate acceptable method of payment, but is commonly used in a complimentary way. Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (1843): "And how did little Tim behave?" asked Mrs. Cratchit. "As good as gold," said Bob. To severely annoy or upset someone. This is one of those widely familiar expressions the origin of which is lost. It began as American slang, apparently early in the 20th century. H. L. Mencken writes in American Language (1945) of being told that the saying originated with the practice of horse racers often placing a goat in the stall with a nervous horse. The horse soon becomes accustomed to having the goat there and finds it comforting. The horse becomes less nervous and is not so easily upset. If a rival owner can steal or "get" this goat, then the horse gets nervous and upset and is likely to loose the race. In any event, the first recorded appearance of the expression in print is in Christy Mathewson's Pitching in a Pinch (1912): "Then Lobert stopped at third with a mocking smile which would have gotten the late Job's goat." She really got my goat this time! Houses had thatched roofs. Thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the pets.....dogs, cats and other small animals, mice, rats, bugs, lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying, "It's raining cats and dogs." Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock them out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple days and the family would gather around and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a "wake." Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and were still smelling pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Watch a bee sometime, and you will notice it is usually always working. An interesting sidenote is the bee's work is considered a labor of love. This phrase seems to be quite ancient, as it appears in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales [The Merchant's Tale] (1386): "For ay as bisy as bees Ben they." Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the "upper crust." Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with a high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food. This happened most often with tomatoes, so they stopped eating tomatoes........ for 400 years. Most people didn't have pewter plates, but had trenchers - a piece of wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Trenchers were never washed and a lot of times worms got into the wood. After eating off wormy trenchers, they would get "trench mouth." Sometimes they could obtain pork and would feel really special when that happened. When company came over, they would bring out some bacon and hang it to show it off. It was a sign of wealth and that a man "could really bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests. Hence "chewing the fat." They cooked in the kitchen in a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They mostly ate vegetables and didn't get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it that had been in there for a month. Hence the rhyme: peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old. There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice clean bed. So they found if they made beds with big posts and hung a sheet over the top, it addressed the problem. Hence those big four poster beds with canopies. The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying "dirt poor". The wealthy had slate floors which would get slippery when wet. So they spread thresh on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they kept adding more thresh until when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed at the entry way. Hence a "thresh hold." HEAR NO EVIL, SEENO EVIL, SPEAK NO EVIL Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil is said of people who don't want to be involved. The origin of the proverb is unknown. The proverb is often represented by three monkeys covering their eyes, ears, and mouth respectively with their hands. The seventeenth century legend related to 'The Three Wise Monkeys ' is said to have read, 'Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.' The saying was carved over the door of Sacred Stable, Nikko, Japan..." From "Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings" by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996). The following information is from Hiroko Matsuda: Here's additional information from “How Did It Begin: A fascinating study of the superstitions, customs, and strange habits that influence our daily lives” by R. Brash (Pocket Book, New York, 1969) : “It is a fallacy that the Three Wise Monkeys, who hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil, are indigenously Japanese. It is true that they have had their domicile there for many centuries. But originally they came from China and were introduced into Japan by a Buddhist monk of the Tendai sect, probably in the 8th century A.D. The monkeys were at first always associated with the blue-faced deity Vadjra, a fearsome god with three eyes and numerous hands. Their characteristic gestures of covering their ears, eyes and mouths with their paws were a dramatic pictorial way of conveying the command of the god. This shows an early realization of the psychological fact that a striking picture is more impressive and lasting more than a spoken message. Nevertheless, the story has been told in various traditions in prose and poetry. It dates back to at least the 7th century and is part of the teaching of the Vadjra cult that if we do not hear, see or talk evil, we ourselves shall be spared all evil. In the folk etymology and by a play on words the very names of the three monkeys – Mizaru, Kikazaru and Iwazaru – express their three gestures and thus anyone by merely referring to them immediately proclaims their message." Additional comments: These three monkeys are part of Japanese tradition. They represent the three truths (Santai) of Tendai Buddhism. The Three Monkeys may also represent the Three Sacred Dieties of Sannõ (the Sannõ Sansei). There is a series of monkey carvings representing the "life of a man" at the Toshugu Shrine in Nikko, Japan. This shrine was build in the 17th century to honor Ieyasu Tokugawa, the first shogun and founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate. There is a sacred carving of the Three Monkeys on the Sacred Stable at the Toshogu Shine. Monkey carvings were thought to help keep horses healthy. Many people trace the "see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil" phrase to this carving. From Bahá'í Holy Writings, The Hidden Words, Part II (from the Persian): 44. O COMPANION OF MY THRONE! Hear no evil, and see no evil, abase not thyself, neither sigh and weep. Speak no evil, that thou mayest not hear it spoken unto thee, and magnify not the faults of others that thine own faults may not appear great; and wish not the abasement of anyone, that thine own abasement be not exposed. Live then the days of thy life, that are less than a fleeting moment, with thy mind stainless, thy heart unsullied, thy thoughts pure, and thy nature sanctified, so that, free and content, thou mayest put away this mortal frame, and repair unto the mystic paradise and abide in the eternal kingdom for evermore. MONKEY BUSINESS - AN ADDENDUM TO OFF THE CUFF - "HEAR NO EVIL, SEE NO EVIL, SPEAK NO EVIL" "Monkey Business," a new photo display at Mythmaker Gallery, colorfully contrasts spirituality in non-Christian cultures. Bill Claassen, former journalism graduate student, spent two and a half years snapping over 2,000 images of religious traditions. The exhibit displays 45 of the photographs from his journey through 11 countries in Western Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and India. The photo essay, entitled "Monkey Business: holy beings and sacred spaces," gives viewers a glimpse into the monastic traditions of people in other countries. Many think of monasteries as dark, almost lifeless places of prayer, Claassen said. He has managed to bring curiosity and color to life in this photo documentary. The journey begins with a photo of three mystic monkeys, "See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil," sitting above a gate at a Hindu temple. "I kept coming back to this photo of the three monkeys," says Claassen. "It represents human beings' struggle to respect silence, gain focus and become disciplined. Sometimes I have to struggle to quiet my own mind." Christianity is absent from the 14 groups of photos. "I wanted to introduce viewers to something new," he said. "Christianity is the most familiar to many people in our culture." The exhibit explores Jainism, Sufism, Hinduism and Buddhism from more than 50 religious communities. Claassen began his journey right here at the university he attended. Many International students helped him draft letters asking for permission to visit and photograph the different cultures. "Throughout my journey, people were the ones who made everything possible," he said. "Several times when I found myself at a dead end, someone would come along and show me a different path. I am very grateful to them." Claassen was allowed to partake in many rituals instead of merely observing. The photos range from a Jain leader who wears no clothing to the Whirling Dervishes who don several robes, some of which they discard as they spin. Many of the religious leaders in the photos are calm, quiet and focused. One man in a grouping of several photos of leaders, seems almost possessed by something less than spiritual. "I choose to include this photo to show the contrast between different leaders and their practices," Claassen said. "His people are accepting of his way." Claassen ended the pictorial with another view of the monkeys including the bottom portion which shows a dog relaxing under the mystic monkeys. The viewer does not need to be spiritual to enjoy "Monkey Business." Claassen's photos not only tell of traditions, they take the viewer into another world. A world woven together by spiritual stitches and colorful claims of salvation. Back |
|
Suggestions & Comments?
Page designed & maintained by Roopsfor
|
|