origin of phrases

Hey, Mac. You're right. Sorry. Got caught up in searching for the Mizpah benediction as used between two old testament characters who really meant it as a sign that neither trusted each other.

In thinking about "improving upon perfection", however, that could be considered redundant. Oh, well. Don't want to split hairs. Laughing

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Good point about redundancy there, Letty! You're quite right.

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Roberta -- I was teasing. I'm at my local branch at least once a week, and I can request books over the Internet to pick up there. It's great to be able to request a title on the spur of the moment and get an email a couple days later saying, "Come pick me up!"

I agree about icing on the cake.

Back to the topic -- I know the answer, but a few of us had a grand time trying to figure out, "Bob's your uncle!"

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Okay, I'll buy- what is the derivation and meaning of "Bob's your uncle"?

I know "Gone for a Burton". Swop?

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Wy - turning the tables can be used in fun as well, it simply means turning an intent back on the perpetrator. it could be a practical joke, anything.

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Vivien wrote:

Wy - turning the tables can be used in fun as well, it simply means turning an intent back on the perpetrator. it could be a practical joke, anything.

Have we got a derivation for "turning the tables" yet? I've not been paying attention. (why do we "pay" attention?) Is it something to do with card games, or gambling, a run of luck, or what? Turning a table over to clean it seems less likely somehow. It has more to do with a reversal of fortune, so it seems to me.

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as in, you're playing chess and winning handily, but you look down to find that you suddenly must play the other set of pieces. the table has been turned.

surely this has been suggested, but i am full of sloth.

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Quote:

In 1887, British Prime Minister Robert Cecil (a.k.a. Lord Salisbury) decided to appoint a certain Arthur Balfour to the post of Chief Secretary for Ireland. Not lost on the British public was the fact that Lord Salisbury just happened to be better known to Arthur Balfour as "Uncle Bob."
In the resulting furor over what was seen as an act of blatant nepotism, "Bob's your uncle" became a popular sarcastic comment applied to any situation where the outcome was preordained by favoritism. As the scandal faded in public memory, the phrase lost its edge and became just a synonym for "no problem."

That came (slightly edited) from word-detective.com. I just popped over there to keep from having to type it all... But we still don't have an etymology (except our own opinions) for Turn the tables...

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sorry - can't give you written origins for turn the tables - I went on a tour of the Shakespeare properties in Stratford on Avon and that was one of the things we were told (about tables having a scrubbed side and a polished side ... as written earlier) - so just verbal evidence.

Another rather revolting one they told us was the origin of Frog in the throat - apparently a cure for sore throats was to squeeze a frog in a persons mouth - yeeeeuuugh!!! Shocked

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"To have a frog in the throat" is used in German as well, first mentioned in 1588. It's from medical language "ranula", 'a blastoma in the throat of humans, horses and cows' (Logau, 1654; Grimms Wörterbuch et. al.).

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I wish I could go to Stratford on Avon...

I quite believe there was a scrubbed side and a polished side, that sounds perfectly logical. What I don't think is that's where the phrase we're talking about comes from. Restauranteurs talk of "turning the tables" so many times a night, meaning so many parties were served at each table. I'd rather think the scrubbed/polished tables contributed to that usage...

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Another thing they told us on the Stratford tour was the reason for June being the common month for weddings.

The annual bath was taken in June - first father, then mother, then children, the servants - all in the same water!!!! It must have been mud by the time the boot boy got into it! Shocked

Summer clothes were then put on and so everyone was clean and in fresh clothes and looking their best. Very Happy

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Interesting! One more reason I'm glad to live now!

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Eating high off the hog. This is quite literal. The back or top of the pig is where the very tasty "baby spare ribs" are located. At least that is what a chef said on the Today Show.

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Thanks, Billy. So the baby back ribs are considered the high end of the hog. Hmmmm.

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origin of phrases

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