Playing Fast and Loose:: Match Wits with the Author and Guess the Origin of Common Idioms

By Michael K. Smith

What is the origin of the idiom playing fast and loose?
a juggling trick using ropes performed in Roman times
a Medieval cheating game involving sticks and belts
the sordid sale of indulgences in the Catholic Church

Playing Fast and Loose invites the reader to guess the correct origin of common idioms. For each of the fifty idioms, three scenarios have been constructed. One scenario contains a short description of the likely origin of the phrase with some selected historical context that illustrates its usage. The other two scenarios also present short vignettes with factually correct historical citations; however, these two descriptions are not considered the likely origin of the phrase.

Dr. Smith has researched all the idioms in this book with the Google Books search engine. He read dozens of entries for each idiom, looking for evidence to support the origin of the idiom and for interesting and credible uses of the phrase to help create the two alternative scenarios. The three scenarios contain references to famous Greek and Latin authors from Homer and Aristotle to Seneca, Vergil, and Ovid; excerpts from English sources such as Shakespeare, Milton, Defoe, Scott, and Conan Doyle; and quotations from American authors as varied as Thoreau, Emerson, Twain, and P. T. Barnum. In addition, the reader will encounter many unusual and perhaps long forgotten historical sources: James Parton, Life of Andrew Jackson (1859); Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (1747); Elbert Smith, Practical Notes on Photography (1905); Bolton Hall, The Psychology of Sleep (1917); and Friedrich Christian Accum, Chemical Amusement, a Series of Curious and Instructive Experiments in Chemistry Which Are Easily Performed and Unattended by Danger (1817).

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: May 3, 2013
• ISBN: 9781481737630

Michael K. Smith

Michael K. Smith received his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville in 1984. Dr. Smith has authored numerous articles and books. His book, Humble Pi: The Role Mathematics Should Play in American Education (1992), was featured on CNN. He is also the author of Playing Fast and Loose: Match Wits with the Author and Guess the Origin of Common Idioms (2013). Kathryn R. Smith received her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville in 1998. She is a licensed Psychologist and Certified Forensic Examiner in Tennessee. She is also President of the Knoxville Area Psychological Association (2015-2016).

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© 2013 by Michael K. Smith. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 05/01/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4817-3764-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4817-3763-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013906553

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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CONTENTS

Introduction

Add insult to injury

Albatross around one’s neck

A-1

Avoid like the plague

Ax to grind

Babe in the woods

Call a spade a spade

Curry favor

Dark horse

Die with one’s boots on

Egg on

Flash in the pan

Get the sack

Great Scott

Greek to me, It’s

Hitch one’s wagon to a star

Hold the fort

In a nutshell

Ivory tower

Keeping up with the Joneses

Kick the bucket

Little knowledge is a dangerous thing

Look a gift horse in the mouth

Low man on the totem pole

Mad as a hatter

Mend one’s fences

Mind your own business

Mind one’s p’s and q’s

Misery loves company

Name is mud, One’s

Not born yesterday

On the side of the angels

On thin ice

One fell swoop

Open secret

Picture is worth a thousand words

Place in the sun

Playing fast and loose

Pride and joy

Put the cart before the horse

Rain cats and dogs

Run the gamut

Ships that pass in the night

Silver lining

Third degree

Truth is stranger than fiction

Vicious circle

Walls have ears

When in Rome

You are what you eat

About The Author

INTRODUCTION

What is the origin of the idiom playing fast and loose?

• a juggling trick using ropes performed in Roman times

• a Medieval cheating game involving sticks and belts

• the sordid sale of indulgences in the Catholic Church

This book invites you to guess the correct origin of common idioms. For each of the fifty idioms, I have constructed three scenarios. One scenario contains a short description of the likely origin of the phrase with some selected historical context that illustrates its usage. The other two scenarios also present short vignettes with factually correct historical citations; however, these two descriptions are not considered the likely origin of the phrase.

How do I know what is correct? I have relied on the research by Christine Ammer in her splendid book, The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Ammer gives a brief description of the likely origin of hundreds of idiomatic expressions. For Ammer, "an idiom is a set phrase of two or more words that means something different from the literal meaning of the individual words. For instance, the phrase to change one’s tune has nothing to do with music but means ‘to alter one’s attitude. Of course, the origin of this phrase could have been related to music: it has been theorized that it alludes to itinerant minstrels who changed the words of their songs to please their current audience." Ammer dates the origin of this phrase to the early 1300s.

Even though these idioms no longer have their literal meaning, their origin may appear obvious. For instance, to hit the nail on the head now means to be absolutely right but probably had its origin in carpentry; bound head and foot now means wholly obligated but assuredly was related to head and feet being tied up; and smooth sailing now means easy progress but derived from sailing across calm waters. The origin of these idioms cannot be traced to any one person, since their usage dates back centuries. However, consider the phrase don’t change horses in midstream, which means it’s unwise to choose new leaders during a crisis. Abraham Lincoln popularized this idiom in a speech in 1864. Although Lincoln may not have originated the phrase, its popularity can certainly be traced to his influence.

The idioms that I have selected for this book have a specific origin in most cases. Their first usage can be traced to a famous author, a specific historical event, or a literary, philosophical, or religious context. These idioms have also been regularly used since their first appearance.

Where did I find more detailed information on the historical usage of these idioms? I have relied on the remarkable digital collection of historical manuscripts compiled by Google (Michel et al, 2011). For instance, set your web browser to the following address: http://books.google.com/. In the box labeled Researching a topic? type in any word or phrase. When I entered my first idiom, playing fast and loose, hundreds of citations appeared listed in chronological order. The reader can search this list by specific time periods.

By 2011, Google had digitized over 15,000,000 books, representing about 12% of all books ever published. University libraries throughout the world cooperated in this massive effort. Various publishers also contributed books. Each page of text was scanned and then digitized using optical character recognition. The resulting English corpus alone comprised over 361 billion words from works published from the 1500s to the early 2000s. Google Books is a treasure trove of information for any word enthusiastic.

I have researched all the idioms in this book with the Google Books search engine. I read dozens of entries for each idiom, looking for evidence to support the origin of the idiom and for interesting and credible uses of the phrase to help me create my two alternative scenarios. I have used references to famous Greek and Latin authors from Homer and Aristotle to Seneca, Vergil, and Ovid; excerpts from English sources such as Shakespeare, Milton, Defoe, Scott, and Conan Doyle; and quotations from American authors as varied as Thoreau, Emerson, Twain, and P. T. Barnum. In addition, the reader will encounter many unusual and perhaps long forgotten historical sources: James Parton, Life of Andrew Jackson (1859); Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (1747); Elbert Smith, Practical Notes on Photography (1905); Bolton Hall, The Psychology of Sleep (1917); and Friedrich Christian Accum, Chemical Amusement, a Series of Curious and Instructive Experiments in Chemistry Which Are Easily Performed and Unattended by Danger (1817).

I have retained the original wording and spelling in most of these short extracts. No attempt has been made to modernize spelling, punctuation, or grammar in these historical citations. In this way, the reader can learn what I have learned: that searches through Google Books reveal the thought and language of the past in ways only accessible in our new digital age.

I have been interested in language most of my life. Along with my friend Guy Bailey, I wrote a high school textbook on American English while still in graduate school (Bailey and Smith 1978). I pursued graduate work in psycholinguistics particularly on metaphor and symbolic activity under the guidance of Howard Pollio at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. I was Assistant Editor of the Metaphor and Symbolic Activity for many years when Dr. Pollio was the Editor. An article with another friend, Michael Montgomery, examined the metaphoric use of verbs in sports headlines (The Semantics of Winning and Losing) such as Air Force Torpedoes Navy, Cougars Drown Beavers, and Rice Cooks Arkansas. In recent years, I have become an expert in standardized test preparation, founding Testprep Experts-Videos. I have written numerous test preparation guides including my favorite: da Vinci’s Guide to SAT Vocabulary, a compilation of 500 high level SAT words that actually appear in Dan Brown’s novel.

I hope you enjoy this book. I credit most of the idioms with a single origin. On some idioms, I give partial credit to one of the alternatives. Only one of the fifty idioms has three possible origins. Please email me any comments or suggestions: [e-mail].

Ammer, Christine. (2013) The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms (second edition). Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2013.

Bailey, G. and Smith, M. (1978) American English: Its Varieties, History and Uses. A Textbook and Workbook for High School Students. NEH Final Report No. Y-27409-77-389.

Michel, Jean-Baptiste, Shen, Yuan Kui, Aiden, Aviva Presser, Veres, Adrian, Gray, Matthew K., Brockman, William, The Google Books Team, Pickett, Joseph P., Hoiberg, Dale, Clancy, Dan, Norvig, Peter, Orwant, Jon, Pinker, Steven, Nowak, Martin, and Aiden, Erez Lieberman. (2011) Quantitative Analysis of Culture Using Millions of Digitized Books. Science, 331, 176-182.

Smith, M., Kovalchik, J., and Cope. E. (2006) da Vinci’s Guide to SAT Vocabulary. Knoxville, TN: Testprep Videos.

Smith, M. and Montgomery, M. (1989) The Semantics of Winning and Losing. Language in Society, 18, 31-57.

Add insult to injury

Add insult to injury

Definition: to make a bad situation worse

Origin 1:

The Roman writer Phaedrus (ca. 15 B.C.-A. D. 50) translated Aesop’s fables into Latin. In the fable, The Bald Man and the Fly, lies the origin of our phrase:

The fly bit the exposed head of the bald man. Trying to crush it, he hit himself with a grave blow. Laughing, the fly said, You wanted to avenge the prick of a tiny little insect with death. What will you do to yourself, who have added insult to injury? The man responded: I easily return into grace with myself, because I know that it was not my intention to harm. But you, shameful animal of a scorned race, who delighted to drink human blood, I would choose to be rid of you even with a greater inconvenience to myself.

Phaedrus’ actual Latin phrase is quid facies tibi, iniuriae qui addideris contumeliam? Seventeenth and eighteenth century English translators of Phaedrus rendered this phrase into English in various ways. For instance, C. Smart translated the phrase as "What punishment will you inflict upon yourself, who was so blunt to do yourself this gross affront? Other translators, however, used added insult to injury." Curiously, in the original fable, the fly is injured and the man insults himself. The modern use of the phrase has someone both injuring and then insulting another person. Phaedrus, unfortunately, suffered the final injury. Sejanus, one of the emperor Tiberius’ ministers, found insulting political allusions in the fables and arranged to have Phaedrus punished.

Origin 2:

The English dramatist Edward Moore (1712-1757) penned the first recorded usage of adding insult to injuries. After Moore failed in the fabric business, he turned to writing literature. In 1744, he published Fables for the Female Sex and, in 1747, his first stage play, The Foundling, from which our phrase originates. The play expressed sentimental views of the role of women: Now, in my opinion, a woman has no business with Power. Power admits no equal, and dismisses friendship for flattery. Besides, it keeps the men at a distance, and that is not always what we wish. Our phrase occurs in the following exchange from the play:

Villiard: My Doors were broke open at Midnight by this Gentleman; [pointing to Belmont.] my self wounded, and Fidelia ravish’d from me—He ran off with her in his Arms—Nor, ’till this Morning, in a Coach, which brought her hither, have my Eyes ever beheld her.

Sir Roger Belmont: A very fine Business, truly, young Man!

Fidelia: He has abus’d you, Sir—Mr. Belmont is noble—

Young Belmont: No Matter, Fidelia—Well, Sir!—You have been robb’d you say?

Villiard: And will have Justice, Sir.

Young Belmont: Take it from this Hand then. [Drawing]

Sir Charles Raymond: Hold, Sir!—This is adding Insult to Injuries—Fidelia must be restor’d, Sir.

Sir Roger Belmont: Ay, Sir—Fidelia must be restor’d.

Fidelia: But not to Him!—Hear but my Story—and if I deceive you, let your Friendship forsake me—He bought me, Gentlemen—For the worst of Purposes, he bought me of the worst of Women—A thousand