I love the little "sayings" that identify American English. It's fun to figure out where they came from. We often say them without thinking of their original meaning.
Right now, theBergdorf Goodman Men's store (a high end emporium on Fifth Avenue dedicated to men who care about looking good), has a window display showcasing men's shirts. The windows are entitled "Keep Your Shirt On," from the American saying that is understood to mean "Cool it." "Don't get too excited." "Take a deep breath." Where did it come from?
My guess was that it comes from a time when young men were inclined to get involved in fistfights at the slightest provocation and would take off their shirts as an indication that they were ready to slug it out with whoever had angered them. Turns out I was pretty close. What I found on the web is that some feel in tough economic times and in tough neighborhoods were fighting was common (and a good shirt on one's back was not), you would take your shirt off before fighting. Others think it originated from prize fighting, where shirts were removed to avoid giving an opponent something to grab.
The mannequins in the Bergdorf windows are surrounded by plaques that have additional American English sayings, like "skating on thin ice," and "crying over spilt milk," and "tooting one's own horn."Lots of fun to read them and guess their origin. I remember being fascinated to learn that the word "hoodlum" was born when a journalist in San Francisco feared for his own life in his attempts to disguise the name of Muldoon, a notorious criminal on the Barbary Coast. So when he wrote his story, he turned the criminal's name name backwards, as in Noodlum. But the typesetter got it wrong, and "hoodlum" was born. Who knows if it's true, but it's a great story.
How about "three sheets to the wind" which means being really drunk? I've been told it was a term used by sailors in a sort of grading system from "one sheet to the wind" meaning slightly drunk to "three sheets to the wind" meaning blotto. (Now there's another one...where did "blotto" come from?)
Anyway, if you're eager to read more serious stuff here at Bird's Eye View, keep your shirt on. The year has just begun.
Author of I is for Intercourse: The ABC's of Conversation, Susan Bird is the visionary behind Wf360, and a sought-after speaker around the world for her views on leadership, the strategic importance of conversation, entrepreneurship, and the role of women business leaders.
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