Still More Word and Phrase Origins to Make You Smarter
No, really, it is popular.
Okay, maybe some readers have turned a blind eye to my series, but it is still incredibly popular. Would you believe that the phrase turn a blind eye actually refers to a blind person? A historical personage? It sounds like one of those things that would be attributed to Shakespeare, doesn’t it. But to turn a blind eye actually refers the legendary British naval hero Lord Nelson. Nelson, it seems, was blind in one eye. During an 1801 attack on Copenhagen, Nelson was ordered by a commanding admiral to cease fire. Nelson instead put his telescope up to his blind eye and peered through it, then told an underling that he didn’t seen anything. The battle continued. The Danes surrendered. And a turn of phrase was invented.
You know, I’ve heard rumors that Nelson was gay. I don’t mean homosexual, I mean he was a guy committed to happiness. Okay, I kid, but I needed a segue. Have you ever wondered how gay entered into the lexicon to describe a person who feels desire toward a person of the same sex? Oh come on, you have to! Despite what the movie Victor/Victoria would have you believe, the word wasn’t popularly used in this manner until the 1950s. However, there was a word that was around since the 30s that was often used to describe, in particular, a young male homosexual. That word was gaycat and it’s believed that it was merely shortened in length and extended in its descriptive powers over time.
That particular phrase origin does not, unfortunately, come to you straight from the horse’s mouth. I tried and tried, but could not track down the highest, most direct source for the origin of the word gay to describe a homosexual. What does it mean to get information straight from the horse’s mouth? It means there is no better source to get accurate information. Do you know the only way to make absolutely certain, beyond the shadow of a doubt, what a horse’s age is? You have look it straight in the mouth and examine its lower jaw.
Speaking of mouth-related phrases, what about that perfect description of Melanie Wilkes that Scarlett O’Hara gives us, mealy-mouthed. Not only is it a mouthful to say, but it actually can be traced back to one of the least mealy-mouthed individuals in history, Martin Luther. Actually, Melanie wasn’t really mealy-mouthed at all. The actual meaning of mealy-mouthed-and by now I hope you’re wondering just how many times I’m going to actually write that hyphenated adjective-is in reference to someone who doesn’t speak simply or directly on an issue, a side-stepper. Kind of like a Presidential Press Secretary, especially that Scott McClellen dude, who probably couldn’t tell the truth if a gun were held to his head. (By Dick Cheney, at that!) Mealy-mouthed as a reference to indirect speaking has a Germanic origin, the phrase Mehl im maule behalten, which means to carry meal in one’s mouth and not speak directly. (As Homer Simpson has pointed out, those Germans have a word for everything!)
Even so, it appears that the Germans don’t get the prize for giving the world the word loggerheads or the phrase at loggerheads. This term dates back to the those wild and crazy times known as the dark ages, the middle ages, or the medieval period. Pick your poison. Loggerhead by itself apparently meant something along the terms of dunce. Someone not over endowed with intellectual capacity. (I’ll allow you to come up with your own private joke here). That would certainly explain the medieval sport in which sailors picked up things called loggerheads and proceeded to slam them onto each other’s heads. However, it wasn’t until the 17th century that the phrase came into the current use of describing people who are so stupidly attached to an idea that they refuse to compromise or give ground.
Which is what I shall do at this point. Give you grounds to quit this article and seek out other informative writing until next time.
