Weird, wonderful and gruesome - history of day to day phrases

IT was truly gruesome.

Truly gruesome, in that it was both gruesome and true.

Earlier in the day, I’d jokingly referred to a boring chore as a “death by a thousand cuts”.

But in one of those sinister synchronicities that happen, and which one should, perhaps, not ignore, the phrase showed up shortly afterwards on my phone on a history facts site that I occasionally look at.

What I didn’t know was that Death by a Thousand Cuts was a real thing back in the day.

The phrase is believed to have originated in China as a torture method known as Ling chi.

I’m not going to go into fine details about this horrific thing, apart from saying that it was a desperately cruel and prolonged torture in which a sharp knife was used to slice the flesh and methodically remove parts of the body from a living person.

The process could take up to four days, involving more than 3,000 cuts, and was used to punish crimes such as treason, mass murder or patricide. (Though not matricide, I notice.) Ling chi was used for the best part of 1,000 years - from the 10th century onwards after some bright spark psychopath came up with the idea.

It was only banned in 1905 after an unfortunate man called Fou Tchou-Li suffered Death by a Thousand Cuts for the murder of a Mongolian prince.

The website went on to detail more ancient torture methods, revealing how, from as far back as the Persian Empire in 500 BC and earlier, people devised the most horrific, macabre and unbelievably imaginative ways of hurting and killing each other, usually as slowly as possible.

I’m not going there, but it gave me an idea and I started searching for the origins of other phrases that we use so casually, often without knowing the least thing about them.

Keeping the Wolf from the Door is believed to have been in use since the 1500s or earlier - in fact, it originated as ‘keep the wolf from the gate’ and refers to the arrival of ravenous wolves which would come and sniff around the doors of houses for food.

If parents could provide their family with enough food and leave some form of sustenance out for the wolves to eat, things would be OK, but if not, starving wolves could attack your home to try to get at the human beings inside.

So, you had to work hard and be as prosperous as possible in order to keep the wolf from the door and protect your family.

The saying Raining Cats and Dogs has attracted quite a bit of speculation. There are a few interesting theories.

It may be a version of the Old English word for waterfall, which is ‘catadupe’, so the phrase ‘raining cats and dogs’ could actually mean raining so hard it’s like a waterfall from the sky.

Another, less salubrious interpretation is that the phrase referred to dead animals in the streets which were picked up and flung about by storm waters.

Some sources link the phrase to Norse mythology, apparently because Odin, the Norse God of War and Death was often pictured with wolves. (Interesting as that last one may be, I don’t quite get the connection).

Showing Your True Colours originated in naval battles, where ships lowered their colours to conceal their nation’s flag - or hoisted them to reveal their true colours.

Bury the Hatchet comes from the Native American culture - when two tribes decided to stop fighting, each chief would bury a war hatchet in the ground to seal the agreement.

Describing somebody as so incompetent that they couldn’t Hold A Candle To You dates back to the 17th century, when irritated master tradesmen complained about apprentices who weren’t even able to hold a candle steady enough to enable their bosses to continue with the work at hand.

Believe it or not, the concept of Waking up on the Wrong Side of the Bed goes back to Roman times, when it was believed that positive forces were situated on the right side of the bed. If you got out of the bed on the left-hand side, you were immediately hit by negative energy.

Being Caught Red-handed is an echo from 15th century Scotland where it meant very simply being caught with blood on your hands after committing a crime.

When you Read the Riot Act to somebody, it means you’re giving them a serious warning. This phrase originates from a British law passed in 1714 to quite literally prevent riots. If too many people got together and started looking for trouble, they would be read the Riot Act as a warning that if they didn’t disperse ASAP they’d face severe punishment.

Another popular phrase, Bob’s Your Uncle, also reportedly originated in Britain when, in 1887, the then Prime Minister, one Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, in a demonstration of the most brass-necked nepotism imaginable, appointed his nephew, Arthur James Balfour as the ‘Minister for Ireland’. The phrase came about when the delighted Arthur referred to the Prime Minister as ‘Uncle Bob’.

Last, but not least, are the origins of two expressions, You’ve Got Your Work Cut Out for You and being advised to Bite the Bullet. The first comes from the traditional tailoring industry, when all the pieces of fabric have been cut out and are waiting to be sewn together to create a garment. Big, big job.

The second phrase is said to date from some time between the 18th and 19th centuries prior to the invention of anaesthetics. Doctors would advise wounded soldiers to bite down on a real bullet to distract themselves while they were being operated on, fully conscious...

Did you ever think etymology - the study of the origin and history of words - could be so absolutely fascinating? Or is it just me?