Money for Old Rope

By Albert Jack

From the Author of the Internationally Bestselling Red Herrings & White Elephants, Pop Goes the Weasel, What Caesar did for My Salad, Shaggy Dogs, They Laughed at Galileo:
 

Money for Old Rope is essentially a 'best of' collection of best-selling books that reveal the origins and history of just about everything we can think of.

In fact, as one wise man suggested, it is the history of everything you didn't realise you wanted to know about, until you found out about it. A must have for dinner conversations and pub chat the world over, this book of history will help to make you feel clever.
 

To begin with we reveal the history of some of our favourite phrases and learn why we turn a blind eye, a cat has nine lives, who Jack Robinson was, why we toast each other with good health when we are about to poison ourselves with alcohol and how a square meal appeared on the menu. There are hundreds more tales from history that explain how the English language became so rich and expressive.
 

Then famous urban legends also get an airing including the creepy hooked hand on the car door story, the legendary phantom hitchhiker and what exactly were the Rolling Stones doing with that Mars Bar and poor old Marianne Faithful. All stories are hilariously explained along with many others.

Then the world's great mysteries are covered in ten minutes flat and the truth about D.B Cooper, the death of Marilyn Monroe and the real Loch Ness Monster, among others, are revealed.
 

As are the true stories behind Humpty Dumpty, the Grand Old Duke of York and the Three Blind Mice. Many more of our childhood favourite rhymes are also exposed in all of their gory glory. 
 

Then, of course, the fabulous stories of The Red Lion, Marquis of Granby, Garibaldi and the Blind Beggar are revealed and why they are remembered in that typically English fashion of naming a high street pub after them. Loads more of our favourite local boozers also have a tale to tell involving a historic person, or event.
 

Then we move into the food section and we find out who Margarita was, and why the world's most famous pizza is named after her, what Benedict had to do with our breakfast eggs and how the Thousand Island's holiday resort invented the world's preferred seafood sauce. The great stars from the past have also influenced our favourite foods and we find out what Dame Nellie Melba had to do with peaches (or thin toast for that matter) and how bimbos take their place alongside the great diva between the pages of the dictionary.
 

Finally we turn to words and discover who Tom the Fool was and how the word tomfoolery became part of our culture. Same too for Blotto Freres and why a drink too many can make you act like his French invention.

Who were the original pipsqueeks, those we think are doolally and why there might be something of a kerfuffle about using that particular word. In fact, Money for Old Rope reveals the delightful history of just about everything, from the Anoraks to the Zombies

• Language: English
• Publisher: Albert Jack Publishing
• Release date: Jan 24, 2021
• ISBN: 9781386684848

Book preview

Albert Jack

Albert Jack Publishing

Copyright Page

Money for Old Rope

The Big Book of History & Origins

(2021 eBook)

Copyright © August 2015 Albert Jack

Editorial: Kate Parker & Silvia Crompton

Cover Design: Albert Jack

ebook Production: Geodey Weisner

All rights are reserved to the author. no part of this ebook may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

This is largely a work of nonfiction although the author could not resist the temptation to be creative with historical detail wherever possible.

Money For Old Rope is a compilation of the author’s previous work with some additions and revisions.

Albert Jack Publishing

PO Box 661

Seapoint

Cape Town

South Africa

––––––––

Dedication Page

This book is dedicated to everyone who bought one of the books listed below and who therefore sent a shilling in my direction. Thank you very much.

About the Author

Albert Jack is a writer and historian. His first book, Red Herrings and White Elephants explored the origins of well-known idioms and phrases and became an international bestseller in 2004.

It was serialised by the Sunday Times and remained in their bestseller list for sixteen straight months. He followed this up with a series of bestsellers including Shaggy Dogs and Black Sheep, Pop Goes the Weasel and What Caesar did for My Salad.

Fascinated by discovering the truth behind the world’s great stories, Albert has become an expert in explaining the unexplained, enriching millions of dinner table conversations and ending bar-room disputes the world over.

He is now a veteran of hundreds of live television shows and thousands of radio programmes worldwide. Albert lives somewhere between Guildford in England and Cape Town in South Africa.

Other Books By  Albert Jack

Red Herrings and White Elephants

Shaggy Dogs and Black Sheep

Phantom Hitchhikers

Loch Ness Monsters and other Mysteries Solved

Pop Goes the Weasel

The Old Dog and Duck

What Caesar did for My Salad

It's a Wonderful Word

American History

The Jam: Sounds from the Street

Want To Be a Writer? Then Do it Properly

Last Man in London

The Rose and Thistle

They Laughed at Galileo

The Greatest Generation

9/11 Conspiracy

Word-of-mouth is crucial for any author to succeed. If you enjoyed these stories, please leave a review. Even if it is only a sentence or two. It would make all the difference and is very much appreciated.

Join the mailing list for new releases here

Introduction

Money for Old Rope is essentially a ‘best of’ collection of best-selling books that reveal the origins and history of just about everything we can think of. In fact, as one wise man suggested, it is the history of everything you didn’t realise you wanted to know about, until you found out about it. A must have for dinner conversations and pub chat the world over, this book of history will help to make you feel clever.

To begin with we reveal the history of some of our favourite phrases and learn why we turn a blind eye, a cat has nine lives, who Jack Robinson was, why we toast each other with good health when we are about to poison ourselves with alcohol and how a square meal appeared on the menu. There are hundreds more tales from history that explain how the English language became so rich and expressive.

Then famous urban legends also get an airing including the creepy hooked hand on the car door story, the legendary phantom hitchhiker and what exactly were the Rolling Stones doing with that Mars Bar and poor old Marianne Faithfull.  All stories are hilariously explained along with many others. Then the world’s great mysteries are covered in ten minutes flat and the truth about D.B Cooper, the death of Marilyn Monroe and the real Loch Ness Monster, among others, are revealed. As are the true stories behind Humpty Dumpty, the Grand Old Duke of York and the Three Blind Mice. Many more of our childhood favourite rhymes are also exposed in all of their gory glory.

Then, of course, the fabulous stories of The Red Lion, Marquis of Granby, Garibaldi and the Blind Beggar are revealed and why they are remembered in that typically English fashion of naming a high street pub after them. Loads more of our favourite local boozers also have a tale to tell involving a historic person, or event.

Then we move into the food section and we find out who Margarita was, and why the world’s most famous pizza is named after her, what Benedict had to do with our breakfast eggs and how the Thousand Island’s holiday resort invented the world’s preferred seafood sauce. The great stars from the past have also influenced our favourite foods and we find out what Dame Nellie Melba had to do with peaches (or thin toast for that matter) and how bimbos take their place alongside the great diva between the pages of the dictionary.

Finally we turn to words and discover who Tom the Fool was and how the word tomfoolery became part of our culture. Same too for Blotto Freres and why a drink too many can make you act like his French invention. Who were the original pipsqueeks, those we think are doolally and why there might be something of a kerfuffle about using that particular word. In fact, Money for Old Rope reveals the delightful history of just about everything, from the Anoraks to the Zombies.

Albert Jack

Bangkok - January 2021

Including

The Origins of the Phrases we use Every Day

Urban Legends

The World’s Great Mysteries Explained, in Ten Minutes Flat

The Hidden Meaning of Nursery Rhymes

The Secret Meaning of Pub Names

Our Fabulous Food History

Wonderful Words

1. The Origins of the Phrases we use Every Day

An Acid Test is the accepted process of finding out if something is genuine or not, beyond any doubt. The expression is first associated with the test used to establish whether a mined mineral was actually gold, and therefore of value. Gold is one of the few precious metals not affected by the majority of acids but it does react, and dissolve, in a mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acid. The phrase was popularized during the celebrated California Gold Rush of 1849 although the actual acid test had been a standard practice for at least a century by then.

To Add Insult to Injury is an unusual phrase suggesting a second remark or action makes an already bad situation worse by adding a new problem. It is suggested the origin of the saying dates back to 25BC and a book of fables by the Roman writer Phaedrus. In his story ‘The Bald Man and the Fly,' Phaedrus describes a fly stinging a bald man on the top of his head. Angry at being bitten the man attempts to kill the fly with a hard slap, but the insect sees this coming and jumps off, leaving the man to slap only his head, adding embarrassment to the original sting. The fly then insults the man for trying to kill it over a simple insect bite. The bald man had not only received an injury, in the shape of a bite on the top of his head, but also suffered the indignity of making it worse and being insulted by the fly.

The Apple of One’s Eye is somebody (usually a child) who is regarded as precious and irreplaceable. Dating back over a thousand years the pupil of the eye was actually known as the ‘apple.' The modern word, pupil, is Latin and did not form part of the English language until the 1500’s. Sight was clearly regarded as the most precious of all the senses and therefore the ‘apple’ was precious and irreplaceable. King Alfred, in the late 9th century, actually linked the two and applied it to somebody he was affectionate towards, but it is not known who. The first recorded reference is in the bible: Deuteronomy 32:10 ‘He kept him as the apple of his eye’ suggesting he watched over him to ensure his safety.

As Drunk as a Lord is a popular and well known saying used to describe anyone in an advanced state of intoxication. During the 18th and 19th centuries heavy drinking was the preferred occupation of the nobility and men of fashion prided themselves on their talent to consume vast amounts of wine and whiskey. As the Lords and noblemen rarely made any meaningful contribution to the management of their vast, inherited estates they had the time to be indulging themselves throughout the day. Consequently, when a hunting party retired to nearby hostelries in the evening the Lords would often be rolling drunk. Villagers and farm workers could rarely afford such behaviour, but when one of them did they were described as ‘drunk like a lord.' And the expression has survived to this day.

Once The Balloon Has Gone Up you know there is trouble ahead. During the 1st World War observation balloons would be sent high into the sky, at the first suspicion of an enemy attack, in order to monitor distant enemy troop movements. To most this was a sign of impending action. Twenty years later, during World War Two, strong barrage balloons connected to the ground with thick steel cable, were raised around English cities. The idea of these was to impede enemy aircraft that might crash into them in the darkness, or clip their wings on the steel cable. Often they also protected cities from enemy missiles, which would hit a balloon and explode before reaching its target. Their success was immeasurable but to city folk the sign of ‘the balloons going up’ meant an impending air raid. Trouble was indeed ahead.

To Jump on The Bandwagon means to join in, often uninvited, with an already successful venture and gain some sort of self-benefit. Back in the Deep South of America travelling bands would perform on their wagons in front of political or other rallies. Usually the bands would be a highlight of an event, attracting the largest crowds, so it was common for political or religious leaders to climb up onto the wagon, interrupting the music (not always with prior agreement) and find himself an immediate captive audience. Crowds would often tolerate this knowing the musicians would be back in due course. Despite the practice continuing for hundreds of years it was first recorded during William Jennings Bryan’s Presidential campaign in the early 1900’s. These days politicians will climb onto anything to get themselves noticed.

To Bank on Someone means to rely upon or completely trust a person. Prior to the modern day bank many people kept whatever wealth they had either about their person or hidden away in as safe a place as possible. In medieval Venice, once the centre of world trade, men set up benches or counters in the main squares and would trade the various world currencies that passed around the city. These men were universally trusted and relied upon and traders could borrow, exchange and even leave money with them whilst they returned to their native countries.

The bench men would then trade that currency with other travellers and traders would often collect even larger sums than they left behind on their next trip to Venice. The system that developed was very much an early form of world banking and because the Venetians were known to be trustworthy and reliable they were regarded as people who could be banked upon (or with). But why the word ‘bank’? That’s easy. The Italian word for bench or counter is banco, which is translated into English as ‘bank,' and still used all over the English speaking world, and in many parts of Europe, to this day.

On Bank Holidays most employees, apart from those in the service industry, are given the day off. Today these are officially known as ‘public holidays,' but the original expression is still in general use across the world. It all started at the Bank of England during the 19th century. Until 1830, the world’s premier bank was officially closed for more than 40 days in every 12 months. But during that year the number was dropped to 18 and only four years later reduced again to just four. Since then there have been some slight adjustments but for many years now we appear to have settled upon eight. The Bank Holiday’s in Great Britain are: New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, May Day, the Spring Bank Holiday, the August Bank Holiday, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

For students of finer detail, I have looked into the origin of the name we give Boxing Day. The day following Christmas Day was formerly known as St Stephen’s Day. For centuries it was customary for religious folk to leave a box in church, during the Christmas Mass, which was packed full of gifts, food and money.

The contents, known as ‘the dole of the Christmas box’ or ‘the box money,' would then be distributed by priests to the needy on the following day (St Stephen’s Day), which subsequently became known as ‘the box day.' It was also customary for young apprentices and boys to carry a box around on St Stephens’s Day to their masters’ clients in order to receive small gratuities. These ‘Christmas tips’ would be placed in the box and shared among all the apprentices. Prior to this, the custom was known as ‘Handsel Day’ (from the Old English word handselen, meaning quite literally ‘to deliver into the hand’). Handsel Day was the first Monday of each year when small Christmas gifts were placed in boxes for the apprentices. This is also the origin of the Christmas Boxes which employers the world over still distribute to staff and customers every year.

If we are Barking Up The Wrong Tree we have misunderstood something and are now pursuing the wrong course of action. This is a phrase of North American origin and comes from the old practice of raccoon hunting dating back to the 1800’s. Raccoons are nocturnal animals and hunting is usually carried out at night. Using dogs, to pick up a scent, hunters would roam around the forests in darkness. Frightened racoons would scurry to safety among branches of the trees but hunting dogs, who were onto them, would stand with their paws on the base of a trunk barking. A hunter would them climb the tree for the catch, but often found the racoon nowhere to be seen and when that happened it was generally agreed that the dog had been ‘barking up the wrong tree.’

To call someone a Barrack Room Lawyer is a derogatory term meaning they are unqualified or inexperienced at what they are attempting to achieve (usually in professional circles). Since the 19th Century The Queen’s (or King’s) Regulations have enabled soldiers without any formal legal training to conduct their own defence, make a formal complaint to superiors or generally promote their own interests. But those who did were held in contempt by their commanding officers who bestowed the uncomplimentary tag. The phrase had passed into common English language by the beginning of the 20th century.

Got you over a Barrel: It’s a phrase meaning somebody is totally reliant on third parties and unable to have any influence over the circumstances surrounding them. In medieval Britain it was standard practice to drape a drowning, or drowned, person face down over a large barrel to try and clear their lungs. As the victim was usually unconscious it was obvious they were totally reliant upon third parties and whatever action they took would determined their fate. Not really an ideal situation to be in for many reasons – especially in the Navy.

Basket Case is a light-hearted, although not entirely affectionate, way of describing somebody who cannot communicate properly, is mentally unstable or unable to cope emotionally. At the end of the First World War the Surgeon General of the US Army was quoted in the US Official Bulletin (28th March 1919) denying there is any foundation for the stories being circulated of the existence of ‘basket cases’ in our hospitals.' It is a clear reference to trench soldiers suffering shell shock and related mental illness. At the time basket weaving was a regular activity in both British and American mental hospitals, such as the one at Deolali. (See Doolally). The phrase was known to be English Army slang during the Great War.

A Battle Royal is a zealously fought contest, sporting or otherwise. It can be waged on the football pitch, in the terraces or between warring factions of all kinds, and on battlefields in either a literal or metaphorical sense. They are always free-for-alls and result in general mayhem. The original term became part of the English language during the 1670s via the obsession at that time with cock fighting. It was such a popular pastime that people of every class, even the aristocracy and members of the royal families across Europe, would send their prized cocks into the fray. The royal cocks were usually the most magnificent of all and consequently often the best of the fighting birds.

Cock fighting would take place in stages. In the first instance, sixteen birds would be dropped into a pit to then fight each other randomly – usually they would scrap with the nearest bird – until eight of them had been pecked to pieces and were no longer able to continue. The surviving eight would then be sent into battle again for round two, until only four remained, and so on until the two most resilient cocks fought in the final. By that time, even the champion cocks were beginning to wilt but, spurred on by the crowd, would fight to the death. The royal cocks would usually wage the fiercest, and subsequently most talked about, battles. They truly were battle royals.

If we have A Beef it usually means we have something to moan or to rant and rave about. Some suggest the origin of this phrase is Australian and relates to well built men (beefy) involved in a fight or argument. But I am not convinced. The earliest record of the phrase is found in the 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, which suggests to ‘cry beef’ means to give the alarm. Prior to that, in criminal London, it was known that the traditional cry of ‘stop thief’ was mocked and drowned out by passing fellow criminals who loudly called ‘hot beef’ instead, in a  bid to confuse law abiding passers by and allow their thieving colleague to make his getaway. This would inevitably lead to questions such as ‘what’s your beef then’ and seems to support the entry in the Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.

To Bell the Cat is a wonderful expression used to describe any dangerous task carried out at great personal risk. The origin of this phrase, and why we use it, can be found in William Langland’s Piers Plowman (1377). This contains the tale of a family of mice who were constantly being terrorized by the fat, grumpy cat of the neighbourhood. One day the mouse household held a family meeting to discuss how they could best deal with the surprise attacks and the youngest mouse came up with the notion of tying a bell around the cat’s neck, so that all the mice would be able to hear him coming. This idea delighted all the others and they danced around in celebration until the wisest old mouse said, ‘That’s all very well, but who will actually bell the cat?’ (In the end, none of them did.)

There is a delightful example of this phrase in action in Scottish history.  During the late 1480s, the nobility became deeply suspicious of King James III’s apparently homosexual relationship with his favourite new architect, a man called Cochran. (no, I am not going to make a joke about his name) Members of the King’s court met in secret and discussed ways of eliminating Cochran, who had been affecting their own relationships with the king. As the meeting came to a close, the unanimous decision was that he should be killed, whereupon Lord Gray asked, ‘Well, who will bell the cat then?’ Archibald Douglas, the feisty Earl of Angus, immediately replied, ‘I will bell this cat.’ The earl went out at once and seized the unfortunate Cochran and hanged him under the bridge at Lauder. It was an act that earned him the nickname ’Bell-the-cat Douglas.'

There have been periods throughout history when the phrase was more in use than at other times. In 1880, James Payn wrote:

‘Mrs and Miss Jennynge must bell the cat’ [said Mrs Armytage.]

‘What have I to do with cats?’ inquired Mrs Jennynge wildly. ‘I hate cats.’

‘My dear madam, it is a well-known proverb,’ explained Mrs Armytage.

‘What I mean is, that it is you who should ask Mr Josceline to say grace this evening.’

Ten years later, Walter Scott wrote in his Journal (1890): ‘A fine manly fellow, who has belled the cat with fortune.’

To Blow the Gaff is to reveal a secret of some sort or to inform on a person. At carnivals and fairgrounds during the 18th century, unscrupulous operators would use a concealed device in games in order to reduce a customer’s chance of winning. In carnival slang this was known as a ‘gaff.' It is also recorded that around that time the word ‘blow’ was slang for ‘reveal’ or ‘expose’ and therefore to expose the hidden deception at the carnival became known as ‘blowing the gaff,' which was in regular use in England by 1812.

There are many interesting uses of the word ‘blow’ that mean little in translation. Take, for example, ‘to blow a raspberry.' This is mid-20th-century slang describing a show of contempt by making a rude noise and it was popular with audiences in the Victorian comedy theatres. The phrase is easily explained by the colourful cockney rhyming slang, which tells us that ‘blowing a raspberry tart’ can be used in place of the word ‘fart.' Also, there are many that are more easily explained, such as ‘blowing a kiss,' ‘blow away the cobwebs,' ‘blowing your brains out,' ‘blowing your mind,' ‘blowing over,' ‘blowing your socks off,' ‘blow your top,' ‘blow me tight’ and ‘blowing my horn.' Perhaps it is time to move on.

To be Blackballed is to be excluded from a club or society by other members who vote against an application for membership. That can also be extended to being left out of any social event or gathering. The phrase became known in 1770 when the practice of ‘balling’ was adopted by the London gentlemen’s clubs. The idea was that if a new member was proposed, then every existing member of the club would be asked if he had any objection to the new addition to their apparently elite and sought-after group. After all, it wouldn’t do at all for a gentleman to find himself sitting at the table next to a sworn enemy, as that could quite spoil a chap’s luncheon. Instead, members were asked to place a white or black ball anonymously into a symbolic urn or bag. One single black ball was enough to refuse a membership and nobody at the club would ever know who had opposed the application.

Although the phrase had been in use throughout London society for centuries, it became better known to the rest of us when the BBC journalist and Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman was turned down by the Garrick Club in 1993 after being blackballed by unknown members who were enraged by his anti-establishment book Friends in High Places (1991). But it works both ways. Groucho Marx famously responded, when invited to join an exclusive club: ‘Thank you but no thank you. I would never join a club that would have somebody like me as a member.’ It was quite a relief, I can assure you; to discover that ‘balling’ in gentlemen’s clubs was only a membership issue.

This process of balling provides us with another, apparently unconnected, expression, which is to be Pipped at the Post, meaning to be beaten at the last moment. The allusion is that during a race another competitor could overtake the leader right at the winning post, which is certainly how the phrase became so regularly used, especially within the racing fraternity. But this word ‘pipped’ didn’t make sense until I started looking a little further into what it means. The ‘black ball’ used in the voting procedure was originally called a ‘pip,' named after the black olive stones that were used centuries earlier when the Greeks and later the Romans voted on social issues. Apparently if only a single black pip (black ball) was found to have been cast, then the proposed issue had been ‘pipped’ (narrowly defeated). That phrasing was then taken by latter generations to the race track and the winning ‘post.’

Big Brother is a phrase we have come to use to describe being watched over by the authorities at all times. It is one of the most frequently employed idioms today, thanks to a certain popular reality television show which is made up of bored, numb minded and talentless people sitting around in a room watching the same sort of people doing exactly the same thing on television.

In 1948, George Orwell wrote his classic dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-four  in which the government exercises  dictatorial control by watching the every move of its citizens. Orwell called this cynical, oppressive head of a totalitarian state Big Brother: ‘On each landing, opposite the lift-shaft, the poster gazed from the wall. It depicted simply an enormous face, more than a metre wide: the face of a man of about forty-five, with a heavy black moustache and ruggedly handsome features. It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it ran. Nobody has ever seen BIG BROTHER. He is a face on the hoardings, a voice on the telescreen. We may be reasonably sure he will never die, and there is already considerable uncertainty as to when he was born. BIG BROTHER is infallible and all-powerful.’

Also featured in the book is the dreaded Room 101, where you would be tortured by whatever thing it is you feared the most, and from where it was thought nobody would ever return. Incidentally, Room 101 was the office Orwell had assigned to him at the BBC when he worked for the corporation during the Second World War.

To Butter Someone Up is to flatter them with smooth talk. Some suggest this is linked with the smooth way butter spreads onto bread, to make it more palatable. We might continue to believe this unless we visited the Hindu temple in Madurai, Tamil Nadu (supposedly the largest temple in the world), where guides speak of the ancient custom of throwing butterballs of ghee (the clarified butter used as the basis of all Indian cooking) at the statues of gods, a method of seeking favour by ‘buttering up the gods.' We also know that during celebrations for the Tibetan New Year, the lamas at all the monasteries (as in Tibetan teacher and not camel like pack animal) create ‘butter flowers’ or sculptures out of coloured butter. These are then traditionally displayed on the 15th day of the Tibetan lunar year following a religious ceremony the previous evening. The tradition of creating butter sculptures, to worship statues of Buddha, can be traced to the Tang Dynasty (AD 618–907) and the belief that such offerings would bring peace and happiness for the full lunar year. This tradition was known as ‘buttering up the Buddha’

The phrase Has the Cat Got Your Tongue? is used when a normally talkative person suddenly has little or nothing to say about a subject, perhaps out of guilt. There are two possible origins for this expression and we know that it was originally recorded in print in 1911. The first suggestion is that the cat in question is the cat o’ nine tails (see You Scratch My Back and I’ll Scratch Yours) and that the hapless victim would be rendered speechless by the punishment imposed. (In fact he would be drunk and unconscious by the time his flogging was over) A slight extension to this is the idea that if the captain or his officers discussed any official secrets then the punishment for revealing them to others would be flogging with the ‘cat.' Others would consider them too afraid to speak and suggested the ‘cat had hold of their tongue.'

The version I favour, however, can be traced back to many years before England ruled the waves. In the Middle East, it was a traditional punishment during medieval times – a custom that dated back to 500 BC – for liars and blasphemers to have their tongues cut out and then fed to the cats. The ancient Egyptians were the first to keep domestic cats and used them to control vermin and other pests that infested their food stores. These voracious felines were known to eat anything, including human tongues, which even the dogs would turn their noses up at. In ancient Egypt, the cat was also revered as a hunter and, in some areas, even worshipped as a deity. Therefore feeding them the tongues of liars was seen as a human offering to the gods.

You may find yourself In the Doghouse if you are not careful, and that is no place to be, believe you me. The expression is traditionally applied to a husband, or male partner, who is unable to behave himself and is held in disgrace. The source of this expression is found in J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan (1904) and the character Mr Darling, who is made to live in the dog kennel by his wife as a result of his behaviour towards ‘Nana.' He is only allowed to return to the house when his children return from Neverland.

A Goody Two Shoes is a person who behaves in an impeccable manner but is perhaps sometimes a little smug about this. The expression is another of those lifted directly from literature and the imagination of a creative writer, in this case Irishman Oliver Goldsmith. In 1765, Goldsmith released his latest children’s tale, entitled, in the characteristically long-winded style of the time, ‘The History of Little Goody Two Shoes, otherwise called Mrs Margery Two Shoes, with the Means by Which She Acquired Her Learning and Wisdom, and in Consequence Thereof her Estate; Set Forth at Large for the Benefit of Those Who From a State of Rags and Care and Having Shoes but Half a Pair; Their Fortune and their Fame Would Fix, and Gallop in a Coach and Six.' (Despite this, it still sold in large numbers, apparently.) John Newbery then published Goldsmith’s tale, in which the central character owned only one shoe, although when she was finally given a pair for being a good girl, and she proudly showed them off to everybody, exclaiming ‘look, two shoes’ – and hence the expression was created.

A Hooray Henry is a disparaging term used in Britain to describe a loud-mouthed, upper-class, public school idiot. Jim Godbolt coined the phrase in 1951 when he used it to describe the fans of Old Etonian jazz trumpeter Humphrey Littleton who would turn up in droves to the 100 Club in Oxford Street, London, to hear him play. Between songs, Littleton’s supporters could be identified by the loud, upper-class voices shouting ‘Hooray, Hooray.' The full expression derives from a character in Damon Runyon’s story ‘Tight Shoes’ (1936) who is described as ‘strictly a Hoorah Henry.' Littleton himself seemed to confirm this association, while distancing himself from the term, when he said, during an interview: ‘In jazz circles, aggressively upper-class characters are known as Hoorays, an adaptation, I believe, of Damon Runyon’s Hooray Henries.’

To suggest somebody has Gone Round The Bend is to unkindly infer they have gone mad. In the 1900’s, the Victorians built mental hospitals in which to confine the mentally unsound. At the time the tradition was to build stately homes with long straight driveways in order that the building, in all its splendour, could be seen from the main road, albeit from a distance. But the dour mental homes, so that they could remain unseen, were always placed at the end of long curved driveways and therefore if a person had ‘gone round the bend’ it meant they had been confined.

To go Berserk means to be in an uncontrollable state, wild and violent. 19th century Norse mythology tells the tale of a warrior who would work himself into a frenzy before going into battle and legend has it he would cast his weapons aside and fight bare handed. Dressed only in a bearskin coat, the warrior was universally feared, as were his twelve sons who each had a fearsome reputation of his own. Their battle dress earned them a nickname. Bear is a ‘bern’ and coat is translated as ‘serkr’ and from this combination they revelled in their reputation as ‘berserkers.' Many Viking warriors emulated their example and the word crossed the North Sea to England with them during the Viking invasion of 865.

Beyond The Pale – is a phrase usually applied to someone who has committed an unspeakable act or behaves immorally. A Pale, historically, is an area around a town or a city, which was subject to a particular jurisdiction and was governed by the King or one of his Lords. Areas outside the Pale were generally regarded as lawless and uncouth so unaccountable peasants of medieval England were regarded by relatively civilised town-folk as being from ‘Beyond the Pale.'

A Bigwig is a slang term for somebody in authority, one of society’s movers and shakers. In 17th century England the fashion was for gentlemen to wear wigs, which began a tradition that lasts to this day in some areas such as the law courts and the House of Lords. Back in the 17th century gentlemen’s wigs were not only fashionable but also indicated status as the aristocracy, Bishops and High Court Judges were all afforded full length wigs which represented their position at the top of society. This level or class became known as