Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1898-09-11
SOME OLD SAYINGS.
FAMILIAR TO EVERY ONE, BUT FEW
KNOW THEIR SOURCE.
The Man Who Delights In Investigating
ALI Sorts of Odd Things Kobs Peter to
Pay Paul, Buys Pig In IL Poke and Let's
tho Cat Out of the bag.


Pay Paul, buys Pts: In Poke and Let's
tho Cat Out of the bag.
DO you know who Mother Carey isY''
asked the man who delights in Investigate
ing all sorts of odd things and who is new
er SO happy rs when following up some
unusual line of thought
She's Il chicken flncicr, imagine
replied tho man who takes things us tLcv
como without question. 'AU any rate
she's seldom mentioned except in conncc-
ton with her chickens
Mother Carey said the Investigator,
and he took another look at the book he
held i'll his hand rs if to guard against tho
possibility of mistake, sis the Virgin
Mary. Tho name comes from tho Latin
Mater cara, meaning Mother dear and
her chickens are the stormy Iatrrls which
the sailors formerly believed were sent to
warn them Of approaching storms tell
you, my boy, there S u great deal that's in
teresting IN these odd expressions and
words ii ono takes the trouble to look it
up Now, there is the saying DON'T care
rap. How would you interpret that?
What does rap mcans'f
AS nn otfhand guess, should say that
1t was II substitute for I, word that begins
with Il and which is not supposed to be
used in polite society,"" I..
You would be wrong" assorted the
man with the book. g Rap is derived
from X. A. Pr, which in turn comes
from India and stands for rupees, ann;s
and plcc, representing tho money OF that
country. The expression is almost an ex-
act equivalent to that other, equally com.
mon, l don't care Il cent Now. I sup
pose If some one should ask you about
jack and Jill, who went up :, hill. YOU
would say they Were simply nursery char
actcrs'
II certainly should" IL.
And you would be wrong again.
Jack was the name of !. pitcher made of
waxed leather, and Gill WAS and still is
measure of capacity. That is how they
happened to 20 after water Somebody
was doubtless carrying them and c;lrcl..ss-
ly dropped them" ...
when you say by .JingoH l suppose
you don t mean ANYTHING except that You
are excited or itngry.''
"Thnt's all
Nevertheless you are literally swearing
by the evil one, for the word is from '.Jcn-
co, which means devil III the Basque
language. suppose, also, that you re-
gard carpet knight Il term OF ~,
proach?s
Naturally
Yet Henry Irving is u carpet knight
t1u WAS 1ciIlN SDll, ana 50 alt' anu WtrD
many o.hers 9! When. en- ENGLAND Is lr91iItH1o
by his achievements in the world Of sci
ence or the arts or, in fact, anywhere OK
cept in battle. He may he really nols. dc,
serving OF the title than any Of those who
Won it 10y the sword. "
You must put III most of your time
with dictionaries and crc!urctlias, - su.,
gestcd the man who takes things US they
come
Not ut all am simply sufficiently
Interested To look up thes,. odd expressions
when ! run across them Ia see what they
really mean and whether we use them
properly Do you know why the patrons
of the top gallery of thcatcr are called
the gotls::'
''Ncvcr even gave the subject Il thought
''Well, they are su ,lcscrihcti nj the
Drury Lane thcutcr III l-"nt:nn, first be.
cause the ceiiin. MIS- painted in imitation
Of IL blue sky. with cup.ls and angels NY
ing about, l imagine tho term battle
royal conveys All idea Of grandeur To you
in the fighting lire"
II should ;hink it ought 10 DO rather
thrilling
'Nrvcrt hclcss it was originally nothing
but II cock!ighting t4,rln and was used In
describe !; fight in which three, tivc or
seven birds We're put into the li, and left
until all but one had been defeated How
do YOU SUPPOSE wu got the eA pression cock
and bull story I"
Give il up. ... f"
lyon ought to investigate these things
If you are going to make use of them. \
man ought to know something about
what he is saying. This comes To us from
the time Of tle reformation. The pa,;.l
bulls had II cock ON the seal and of course
there We're great many people OF that
day who We're inclined To ,liScredit any
thing in the cock ami bull line But tho
expression that doubtless viii interest you
most is, ! don t care y DAM -
lyon WHAT
- Il don l care ~ dam!'-thc dam with
out the II, Of course
''What difference Goes that lnake?'
"Ali the differences i'll The world Dam
Is q coin in India equivalent t,,nll English
twoprucc. Ii you arr, caugl LIT making that
remark in n loud tone some tilic, it may
be worth something to yuu IN know thnt
there is S,:ch !. c'in Ii ~!l! help you To
explain .ii;4tters Now, where do You sup
pose the words 'peeler' and bobby, mean
ing policeman, come fro!u?"
Again give it up. =" .
From tho nnlnc of Sir Robert Peel
the founder Of the London police force. +"
DO you do anything except look up
these thingS?' asked The man who takes
things us they come
oh, yes, . replied the man of an iivcs.
tigatng turn of mind. when you get
into tho habit of looking into tho origin of
the expressions You run across, YOU do it
as an amusement ut odd times Now,
yesterday it suddenly occurred to ms that
didn't know why it is that we rob Pete.
4 to pny Panl
did you find ont?
Certainly III 1850 several estates be
longing to Westminster abbey We're grant
ell to St, Paul's cathedral for repairs and
maintenance, and Westminster abbey hap
pens to DC dedicated to st. Peter There
is an interesting story connected With
buying II pig in y poke too
Lets have it,"
y countrym;ln once put a cat in n poke
or sack and sold it in the market place us
u sucking pig The customer didn' t in
vcstignte his purchase then. and when Ii,
did he very naturally let the cat out OF
the bag There, YOU have two explained
at once