All languages evolve over time, with slang, such as “groovy,” “rad” and “phat” becoming almost as much a generational identifier as an eras’ fashion and current events.
Idioms work much the same way. Some idioms, such as “mad as a hatter,” fall by the wayside as their cultural underpinnings become obsolete, i.e. hat makers no longer use mercury when producing felt headwear, so “hatters” no longer go “mad” from ingesting the poisonous element.
Other idioms hang on in the lexicon long after their origins are forgotten, sometimes leading people to assume the phrase’s origins incorrectly; they may still mean the same thing to us colloquially, only the true origins are forgotten and taken out of the true contextual meaning, sometimes even wrongly confusing people to think the origin is somehow risqué, sexually suggestive or (vapors!) worse.
Sometimes, the idiom does take on a different or even the opposite meaning or it becomes the name of a popular cocktail or lyrics to a hit rock song, but mainly still indicates the same thing, even if we don’t really know why.
Here are some of my favorites:
“She’s going balls to the wall!”
Operating steam engines can be a dangerous business as scalding hot water vapor under pressure is used to generate energy. If a steam engine operator is not careful, too much steam pressure can lead to a boiler explosion.
Early steam engines did not have dials and gauges to determine how much pressure was being generated, so inventors came up with a clever measuring device in the form of the cylinder pressure governor.
On the outside of the engine, two metal spheres would be attached to a rod that spun faster as pressure built up. As pressure mounted, the metal balls would rotate and swing outwards. Therefore, when the engine was at full power, the balls would swing out in a horizontal manner as they pushed against gravity sending their “balls to the wall.”
Some of the devices also triggered a governor mechanism to release steam as a further safety measure.
“It’s cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey”
No, the Beastie Boys didn’t invent the term “brass monkey,” and it has been around much longer than the once popular potent potable featuring orange juice, dark rum and vodka.
Like many, many outdated idioms still in use today, the brass monkey traces its origins to nautical, not naughty slang.
Everything on a ship must be tied down or heavy seas can cause cargo or other items to shift, affecting the balance and seaworthiness of a vessel. On warships, cannonballs had to be lashed into place, but still made easy to access in the heat of battle and a specialized “cage,” or metal tray, was invented to serve the purpose of keeping the balls in place.
Although some historians dispute this origin, it is widely accepted that English sailors began calling the cannonball stabilizer devices “brass monkeys.”
In extremely cold weather, the metal frame of the brass monkey could warp, causing the balls to fall off and roll around the gun deck. So, you can still use this phrase confident that you are not referring to simian anatomy.
“Losing my religion”
It is perhaps REM’s most famous song and it drove advocates for the censorship of music lyrics crazy in the 1980s for seeming to mean just what it suggested. However, the head of the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), Tipper Gore, did not grow up in the deep South and likely wasn’t aware that the phrase had nothing to do with conversion to atheism or satanism.
Whether one was a Baptist, Methodist or Pentecostal, it was believed that proper ladies did not use curse words; but, sometimes even the most prim and pious of Southern ladies could have enough of those young ‘uns actin’ the fool and forget for a moment that Jesus is always listening.
Southern kids grew up knowing that, “If mama losing her religion, her lips starts a twitchin’, an’ someone gone getta switchin’.”
“Long story short”
Generally, one should prepare for listening for the long haul if someone starts off with the explanation, “long story short.” Ironically, that is exactly what the idiom was phrased to mean; writers know that is near-to-impossible to make a long story short.
In 1857, Henry David Thoreau warned the recipient of one of his letters: “Not that the story need be long, but it will take a long time to make it short.”
A good word salad always needs to have that phrase as a summary warning, like the labels on bottles of sleeping pills.
If someone says this in conversation, a cheeky response might be, “then give me the Reader’s Digest version, i gotta pee like a racehorse.”
Pray they don’t follow you to the restroom.
“Drinking the Kool-Aid”
This expression is a modern invention that mostly denotes someone buying a political party’s entire platform without question, no matter how ridiculous some of the beliefs are or what consequences may follow its adoption.
Actually, the saying first emerged in the 1968 book, “The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test,” but became a common idiom as it referred to one of the worst tragedies in American history, when, in 1978, it was discovered that around 900 followers of Communist “prophet” Jim Jones willfully committed mass suicide in the jungles of Guyana by drinking a cyanide-laced fruit punch.
Only, that is not what really happened.
It is now understood that most of the parishioners of “The People’s Temple” did not “willingly” commit suicide. In the beginning, most thought the act was a purely ceremonial rite they had done before as an act of obedience and that the punch was not lethal. Others were forced to drink the concoction at gun-point; the event has been re-categorized as a “mass homicide.”
On a side note, the brand name of the powdered juice actually consumed was “Flavor-Aid,” meaning the idiom truly has been “twisted like taffy” to fit its preferred purpose.
“He showed his true colors”
Even though the rainbow flag was introduced in 1978, Cyndi Lauper’s poignant 1986 ballad about HIV/AIDS has been co-opted by the LGBTQ community to denote someone coming to terms with their sexuality and coming out of the closet wearing their “true colors.”
Like many idioms out there, in reality, it has evolved to mean the total opposite of its original interpretation. Discovering someone’s true colors once denoted learning of another’s treacherous intent too late to prevent pending perfidiousness.
In the age of sail, the only way for ships to communicate at sea was through the use of flags. The flags would indicate a ship’s country of origin, its type and purpose (merchant mariner, passenger vessel, warship etc.) as well as its intent on the high-seas.
Pirates would routinely go to measures to prevent identification. Long before “dazzle paint,” privateers and pirates would alter their superstructures, disguise their number of cannon and fly false flags to avoid detection until the last possible moment to gain the advantage.
For the record, in my research, I was not able to decode the meaning of the idiom, “do you think I just fell out of the coconut tree?” Only the former vice-president knows where that one came from…
If you have a favorite misunderstood idiom, or one that has become a particular pet-peeve, leave a comment!
Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter and Editorial Page Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
