Old Sayings

When writing I am always having my characters come out with various sayings and colloquialisms and then realizing I need to check and see if they are period appropriate! Pitfalls abound, and I am sure I was caught out a few times in the early days!

The surprising thing is that often I will think 'there is no way this saying is old enough' and I will have to find an alternative, and then it turns out to come from the 1300s! It truly is amazing how often sayings we still use nowadays are truly ancient!

Another interesting aspect is that sometimes the meanings will have changed altogether from the original version and usually there will be two or three different theories of origin. Also, a lot of the British sayings turn out to be military or nautically derived. I just find it an endless source of fascination.

You may recognize some of the below which I included previously in my Victorian series :

Come up to scratch - "Well he'd better come up to scratch or he'll be out" This phrase comes from English bare-knuckle boxing in the late 1700s and early 1800s.  Back then there was a scratch line that fighters had to reach at the start of each round to keep the match going.  According to the London Prize Ring Rules set by the Pugilistic Club in 1814, if a boxer got knocked down, they had 30 seconds to get back to this line.  If they didn’t make it in time, they lost the fight!

Room to swing a cat - "It was so small there was no room swing a cat!" This saying goes all the way back to the 1500s, when sailors were whipped with a cat o'nine tails as punishment. Since it was cramped below deck, they would administer it on the top main deck, so there was enough room to 'swing the cat'.

Cut and Dried - "It was a cut and dried decision" This well known phrase is believed to have originated from the historical practice of cutting and drying herbs or medicinal plants.  Once dried, they were fully prepared for use so no further adjustments or modifications hence ‘cut and dried = complete.