“Dark Horse & Dead Ringer” and the Wonderful Origins of Everyday Expressions (Pt. 7)

Speaker 1: And we continue with our American stories. And now it’s time for our recurring series with Arthur Andrew Thompson. His book is Hair of the Dog, To Paint the Town Red: The Curious Origins of Everyday Scenes and Fun Phrases. He continues here to share another slaves from his ultimate guide to understanding these baffling mini mysteries of the English language.

Speaker 2: A dark horse is a competitor that is unknown or wins unexpectedly, and that expression originated with the writer Benjamin Disraeli, who was also a nineteenth-century British politician who became Prime Minister twice. In his 1831 novel The Young Duke, he describes a horse race where two favorites are beaten by a rank outsider, which was described as, “a dark horse which had never been thought of, rushed past the grandstand in sweeping triumph.” It was common in the racing industry at the time for owners to conceal their fastest horses until the day of the race, and because of Disraeli’s book, they became known as dark horses. A dead end is an expression which means an impasse or allowing no progress, and whilst many may think it relates to the dead end of an alley, it actually relates to the English game of lawn bowls, which has been played for centuries. In bowling, an end is one stage of a game where all players have bowled towards the jack, which is the small white target ball. If the jack is driven out of the playing area by one of the player’s balls, the end cannot be continued and must be replayed. It is considered a dead end. If someone calls you a dead ringer, it means that you very closely resemble another person. And while the origins of that expression are very disputed (some site hall raising), it actually has a perverse beginning in the combas of medieval Britain. Now Combs at the time were not fully understood by the medical profession, and anyone not showing signs of life was presumed to be dead. But on some occasions, when bodies were later exhumed, evidence was found suggesting that the person had been buried alive. The fingernails were worn down and there were scratches on the roof of the coffin. To combat this, people started putting a rod into the ground with a bell at the top and a string around the dead person’s wrist. That way, if a person came back to life, so to speak, they could ring the bell and attract attention to themselves. This actually did occur from time to time, and if the person was later seen in public and anyone suggested a likeness to the person they used to know, it was said that they were a dead ringer. “The die is cast” means that something is past the point of no return, and it’s an expression that originated in ancient Greece and Rome in around 300 BC. But the expression was actually made famous by Julius Caesar in 49 BC when he said, “Let the die be cast,” as he led his army across the Rubicon River into Rome, which committed them to a civil war. And in fact, that’s where the expression “passed the Rubicon” has come from, meaning you’ve passed the point of no return. A die-hard supporter is one who stubbornly resists change despite a hopeless cause or supports a team no matter what, and that phrase has military origins and comes from a battle during the Peninsular War in 1811. During that battle, the commanding officer of the 57th West Middlesex Regiment of Foot, William Inglis, was badly wounded and lay injured on the battlefield. The English were vastly outnumbered by the French at the time and were under attack. Despite this, Inglis refused all attempts to carry him to safety and instead shouted at his men, “Die hard, 57th, die hard!” The English ended up winning the battle, and from then on that regiment was, in arms, “the Die Hards.” The phrase “die-hard supporter” then crossed into politics in the early 1900s to describe anyone who stood staunchly by a cause or a colleague. A dog-day afternoon is a very hot afternoon that makes a person lazy, and it owes its origins to ancient Roman astronomy. The Romans called the days between July 3 and August 11 “the dog days,” and this is when Sirius, the Dog Star, rises and sets in line with the sun. In the Northern Hemisphere, these were usually the hottest days of the year, and the Romans believed that this was caused by the combined heat of the Dog Star and the sun. If someone says, “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth,” what their meaning is not to be critical or ungrateful for a gift, and that expression derives from racehorses and horses generally, when by a horse. There are very few ways of assessing a horse’s age, and it’s a risk to buy a racehorse that’s passed its prime or a workhorse that’s old. The most reliable way of determining a horse’s age is from its teeth; as a horse ages, its teeth wear down and they also protrude forward, and its gums recede. If a horse is given to you, it was thought to be rude to look that gift horse in the mouth, because this suggested you’re assessing its value. And in fact, this is where the expression “straight from the horse’s mouth” to describe firsthand information comes from, as well as does the saying “long in the tooth” to mean that someone is old. “Down to the wire” means until the last possible moment, and its expression has its origins with horse racing before camera technology existed. To determine the winner of a close-run race, a string was stretched across the finish line to assist the judges to see you crossed first. The string was called a wire, and whoever broke it first was the winner. An evenly run race was said to go “down to the wire.” This was also used in footraces, and the expression was used figuratively by the early 1900s. The expression “your ears are burning” means that someone is talking about you somewhere, and this idiom originated with ancient Rome. The Romans were very superstitious and believed that different feelings in the body were signs of current or future events. It was said that a tingling, ringing, or burning feeling in the ears meant that someone was talking about you. The philosopher Pliny the Elder wrote about this in his book Naturalis Historia in AD 77, when he said, “It is acknowledged that the absent feel a presentiment of remarks about themselves by the ringing of the ears.” The Romans also believed that everything on the left signified evil and everything on the right signified good. So it was thought that if the left here was burning, the speakers had malicious intent; but if the writer hear was burning, the person was being to eat. To eat “humble pie” means to act submissively in admitting an error, often in humiliation, and it’s got rather distasteful culinary origins. In medieval feasts, there was a hierarchy with the food. The Lord of the manor and his guests from the upper echelon of society would be served the finest cuts of meat, usually venison, while the reviled offals and entrails, known as “umbles,” would be baked in a pie. Lower-class people or people who were out of favor with the Lord of the manor would be served this “umble pie.” They were often humiliated when their plate arrived and they realized what they were eating. This expression eventually came to be known as “humble pie.” To “egg on” means to encourage or urge someone, usually to do something foolish, and it’s got linguistic origins. Originally, “to edge on.” It derives from the Old Norse word egger, meaning “to edge” or “to incite.” To “edgin” or “edge” someone was to encourage them. The expression then adapted to “egg on” by the 1500s and has been used in that sense since that time. “The eleventh hour” means the latest possible time, or the last minute, and that expression has biblical origins. In the Book of Matthew, there’s a reference that reads, “And about the eleventh hour, he went out and found others standing idle, and said unto them, ‘Why stand ye here all day idle?’” At that time, the working day for manual laborers was twelve hours. In a last-ditch attempt to finish the day’s scheduled work on time, workers were sometimes hired at the eleventh hour of the day, and because of the urgency, they were paid the same amount as if they’d worked the full day. So “the eleventh hour” came to mean the last possible minute. To enter “the lion’s den” means to enter a hostile or dangerous place or situation, and it has biblical origins as well. The story of Daniel in “the Lion’s Den” from the Old Testament. And in that story, Daniel was betrayed and sentenced to death for publicly praying to his own God. While he was a friend of Daniel’s, the King has no choice but to condemn Daniel to death, and he threw him into “the lion’s den.” The King said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve, continually rescue you.” At daybreak, the King hurried back to see if God had saved his friend. Daniel remained there unscathed, and said that God had sent an angel to close the jaws of the lions. The King then cast those who conspired against Daniel into “the lion’s den.”

Speaker 1: And great job, as always, to Greg Hangler for producing the Peace and for finding the book. And a special thanks to Andrew Thompson, author of Hair of the Dog, To Paint the Town Red: The Curious Origins of Everyday Scenes and Fun Phrases, here on our American Story.