Throwback Thursday. My column from several years ago.
Why Do We Say That?
If you are a regular reader of this column, you know I often mention my love for words and phrases. I don’t know if this predilection is part of my DNA or not, but I do know it began showing up by the time I was in junior high and I was inspired by a favorite teacher, Vada Esther Smith.
The phrase was used by Shakespeare in “Hamlet” and it means to be harmed by one’s own plan to harm someone else, or to fall into one’s own trap, implying that one could be blown upward by one’s own bomb.
Bible students will recognize that Haman in the Bible story of Esther was hung on the gallows he had built intending to hang Mordecai, thus Haman was hoisted on his own petard.
I began writing poetry and essays about that time and continued through high school. Then attorney John F. Low hired me to be his secretary after graduation. It was a perfect match for us as we shared a love for words and the origins of phrases and an obsession about correct spelling. He often gave speeches to Lebanon civic clubs and other organizations on the subject and I Iearned so much from preparing his material.
He was also adamant that I look up words or phrases I didn’t understand, believing that if I did it myself I would remember. He was right. I still like to use the word bailiwick in general conversation. It’s legal meaning defined the jurisdiction of a bailiff but a secondary meaning is as I use it - a particular area of interest.
I remember learning from him the etymology of the word “sabotage”. French peasants wore wooden shoes called sabots and when they became angry with working conditions they would throw their sabots into the machinery to disrupt production.
To boycott something or somebody originally came from a Capt. Charles C. Boycott who evicted the tenants on his farm even though it was during the potato famine in Ireland. Townspeople were upset and would not sell merchandise to him because of his greed to starving people. The word boycott came to mean refusing to do business with someone with whom you disagreed.
Lawyers are always looking for loopholes. During the middle ages, builders of castles had to plan for defending them
from the use of longbows or crossbows. A narrow window offered a difficult target from across a moat but the inside of the opening was big enough to enable defenders to fire at will. The loop hole was an advantage to one party that the other party did not have in a dispute.
Do you enjoy a good sirloin steak? You can thank King Henry VIII who once ate beef at a small inn and found it so tasty that he drew his sword and knighted it. Now you can order a Sir Loin steak from the finest eating establishments.
In rural America, torchlight parades were often held so followers of a political candidate could march through the streets carrying a torch to signify their preference for a particular candidate. Nowadays we say somebody is carrying a torch for the person they hope to marry.
Joan Rowden Hart Copyright 2013
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