Close the door

 

Sayings we once all took for granted are going the way of the dinosaurs. Increasingly few people use or understand the origin of ‘nail your colours to the mast,' and 78% admitted they never used the biblical phrase ‘pearls before swine.’ 

‘A stitch in time’ is another casualty, and half the population have never said that they were going to ‘see a man about a dog’ or mouthed the simple poetry of ‘snug as a bug in a rug.’ 

I’d be ‘Mad as a Hatter’ if I told someone it was ‘raining cats and dogs’ or I was ‘going to spend a penny.’ If they even knew they phrase, they’d likely tell me to ‘put a sock in it,’ perhaps hint it was about time I went  to ' the knackers yard.’ Then again, others might say all this is a  ‘storm in a teacup?’ 

Language changes. 

I’m particularly fond of American slang of the 1930’s, some of which I’ve used for Clay Cross. 

In that world you drank not whiskey but ‘giggle juice,’ you’d urge a dame not to ‘blow her wig’ and run from the cops on your ‘get away sticks’, perhaps shouting out ‘Abyssinia.’  If making tracks didn’t work and you were cornered, you wouldn’t waste time ‘bumping gums’ but take our your ‘convincer’ and ‘let them have it.’

I’m also quite fond of the subtle contempt underlying some modern contractions, such as ‘obvs’ or ‘whatevs’. For those who take offence at the Australian ‘No worries’ as an implied criticism of those who  can't help but worry, the only real response is a shrug and a 'whatevs' Of course you could go for ‘Don’t get your knickers in a twist,’ but would that be casting ‘pearl before swine" ?

 

And now, because ‘I know my onions’ I’m about to share with you ‘a load of old codswallop’ that puzzled me mightily as a child. I mean, what’s the point of closing the door when they’re coming through the windows? And how quickly will you get this piece of malarky out of your head?

You're welcome 😇

PS the C17th word for a song you couldn't get out of your head was a 'Maggot' because we all know what maggots turn into. Or do we?