The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-02-05
oRioINs OF PHRASES.
Wherc Sono OF tho Popular Expires sio nj
. OF tho Day Como From.

Whore Some OF tho Popular Expros sions
OF tho Day Come From.
Tho phrase II acknowledge the corn"
.originatod with a slave In tho South,
says tho Detroit Free Press no was
enlarged with stealing corn found in his
possession. Having sack with him. ho
was also charged with stealing that His
reply was: mo, sar, / knowledge dc
corn, but amt gwine to knowledge do
sack"
Tipping tho wink" generally re.
gardcd as vulgar phrase, is to DO found
Sin grave historical romance. 1t occurs
in "Valorius; Roman Story" by John
Gibson Lockhart, Sir Walter SCOTS SON.
.in-law, and for many years editor Of tho
Quarterly Review.
ANY color, SO it's rcd," originated
among the class Of characters called
lJakeys in the local drama. One Of them
being on committee appointed to pro-
cure now fire engine, wns asked what
lcolor tho company desired the apparatus
painted. lie replied: why, any color,
80 It's red"
The origin Of tho phrase 81 can't soc
it, is traced to Lord Nelson, who, ut the
battle of Copen hagen, was told that
signal was given to cease firing and the
direction pointed out to him. Seising
q telescope he applied 1t to his blind
eye, and exclaimed: II can't SEQ it
Hauling over tho Goals" dates six or
seven centuries back, when feudal bar
.ons often used. harsh methods Of exact
Ing gold from the -ioh Jews by suspend
ing their victims above slow fires until
they paid runsom or died. Thore Ia
:sceno Of this sort in "Ivanhoe,' in which
the Tcmplar endcavors to extoi money
from Isaac OF York, father OF Rebccca.
barking up tho wrong tree" Is very
common expression in tho West. It
originated from the fact that u dog will
bark ut tho foot of particular treo to
Indicate to his master whcro tho game
is located. While endcavoring to see
tho animal, he discovers it on another
tree, and 1t finally escapes him altogeth-
or. In it's application it denotes that Il
person has mistaken his object, O.. Is
looking for IT in tho wrong place.
Anxious mothers otton tell their
handsome daughters that "boauty is
but skin deep" Tho phrase probably
originated with these two lines:
beauty is buc skin deep, and so doth fail
Short OF those statues mado of wood or stone,
which occurred in Row. Robert Elem
ings poem, published III 1901.
Tho torn "bluo stocking" was orig
inally used in Venice about tho year
14oo, to designate literary classes by
colors. In Mills History Of Chivalry''
wc arc told that members of tho various
academies wcro distinguished by the
color Of thoir stockings, blue being the
prevailing color Tho application OF
tho torn to women originated with Miss
Hannah More's admirable description OF
"Dluo Stocking Club" in her ''Das
.Blcu."
Corporations have no souls" is n
much older expression than most people
Imagine. 1t originated with Sir Ed
ward Coke, who in tho sixteenth cen.
fury was considered ono OF the best
legal writer's of tho ago. lie says, in
one of his trcatiscs: "Corporations can
not commit trcspass, nor be outlawcd,
nor accommodated, 70: they havo no
souls"
Drowning tho miller" originated
from tho following fact: If tho mill
stream below tho mill is damned or
stopped, tho water is ponded back, and
tho mill becomes what tho millers call
tailed" There is too much wator, the
mill Will not work, and tho miller is
said to BIO drowned out" Hence, when
too much of any ono article Is put into a
mixture 1t is called drowning the
miller"
There arc few such common-scnsc
proverbs as 'overy man is the architect
Of his own fortune" Appius Claudius,
Roman censor, used 1t in speech de-
livered by him fifty years before the
Christian ora
Not few Of the phrases in use at this
day origina ted with Lyly, and arc found
in his "Euphues," a popular book pub
lished in 1880. Among them might be
mentioned caught mapping" "a
crooked stick or nono," brown study"
catching birds by putting salt on their
tails" etc.
When people do not particularly like
each othcr it Is sometimes said There
is no lovo lost between thcm." Tho
phrase occurs in tho old ballad of 1.-THE
Babcs of tho Wood" and in tale of the
days of Shakespeare, entitled Mont
chensey."