Reviews for Hog on Ice, A
Review - Hog on Ice, A
Usually interesting, sometimes fascinating and humorous. Here are some examples:
That’s the ticket!: It may sound a little far-fetched, but nevertheless it's true that this expression of approval had its origin in a mispronunciation of the French word "etiquette." Try it yourself. Put the accent on the second syllable. You will get "uh-tick'ut." Someone, perhaps a schoolboy, may have jocularly made a persistent point of such mispronunciation round the year 1800 or later in saying, "that's etiquette," that's the correct thing. From "that's uh-tick'ut," it was an easy and natural corruption to "that's the ticket," and the latter phrase acquired general use, making its bow into literature about 1838.
That's just stupid enough to be true.
On the Bum: "One may be feeling "on the bum" when he's not OK physically. It is an American expression, dating back fifty years or so. George Ade was the first to use it in print, but it comes from a dialectal English use of "bum," which for four hundred years has been a childish word for drink. The American phrase thus first signified the condition one is in or the way one feels after overindulgence in drink."
But "on the bum" also means itinerant, living the life of a hobo. This second American use derives from a slang term which was current in San Francisco about a hundred years ago, or duing the gold rush. A "bummer" was a worthless loafer; later, during the Civil War, a deserter who lived by raiding the countryside. Maybe the word was derived from the German Bummler, an idler, a loafer."
That would account for the title of the Carp 500 book Three Men on the Bummel, by Jerome K. Jerome.
Here’s one I’ve never heard but want to start using.
The goose hangs high: “Things are propitious; all is well. This is sometimes regarded as a corruption of “the goose honks high,” on the supposition that, in fair weather, the geese fly high and honk as they fly. The Deskbook of Idioms and Idiomatic Phrases considers that the expression alludes to the one-time cruel American sport of gander pulling. This diversion consists in tying a live gander to a tree or pole, greasing its neck, riding past it at full gallop, and he who succeeds in pulling off the head of the victim, receives the laurel crown.” Presumably … if the goose was tied to the tree high enough, the contestants were assured of good sport.”
That’s the ticket!: It may sound a little far-fetched, but nevertheless it's true that this expression of approval had its origin in a mispronunciation of the French word "etiquette." Try it yourself. Put the accent on the second syllable. You will get "uh-tick'ut." Someone, perhaps a schoolboy, may have jocularly made a persistent point of such mispronunciation round the year 1800 or later in saying, "that's etiquette," that's the correct thing. From "that's uh-tick'ut," it was an easy and natural corruption to "that's the ticket," and the latter phrase acquired general use, making its bow into literature about 1838.
That's just stupid enough to be true.
On the Bum: "One may be feeling "on the bum" when he's not OK physically. It is an American expression, dating back fifty years or so. George Ade was the first to use it in print, but it comes from a dialectal English use of "bum," which for four hundred years has been a childish word for drink. The American phrase thus first signified the condition one is in or the way one feels after overindulgence in drink."
But "on the bum" also means itinerant, living the life of a hobo. This second American use derives from a slang term which was current in San Francisco about a hundred years ago, or duing the gold rush. A "bummer" was a worthless loafer; later, during the Civil War, a deserter who lived by raiding the countryside. Maybe the word was derived from the German Bummler, an idler, a loafer."
That would account for the title of the Carp 500 book Three Men on the Bummel, by Jerome K. Jerome.
Here’s one I’ve never heard but want to start using.
The goose hangs high: “Things are propitious; all is well. This is sometimes regarded as a corruption of “the goose honks high,” on the supposition that, in fair weather, the geese fly high and honk as they fly. The Deskbook of Idioms and Idiomatic Phrases considers that the expression alludes to the one-time cruel American sport of gander pulling. This diversion consists in tying a live gander to a tree or pole, greasing its neck, riding past it at full gallop, and he who succeeds in pulling off the head of the victim, receives the laurel crown.” Presumably … if the goose was tied to the tree high enough, the contestants were assured of good sport.”
Reviewed by Roger on 2005-08-12 16:19:53