The Cat's Pyjamas

The English language has flourished over the centuries.  Some turns of phrase are 'as old as Methuselah' - our ever flexible language often revives phrases that we thought had 'bitten the dust' - and new words and expressions creep into the lexicon all the time.  There's a different 'flavour of the month' for each generation.

So 'strike while the iron's hot; if you want 'to bone up' on the origins of some of the curiosities of the English language, 'take a dekko' through these pages and you'll be 'in seventh heaven'.

This book is 'the bee's knees', 'the cat's whiskers' and 'the cat's pyjamas', all rolled into one, as it 'spills the beans' on the origins of all these expressions and many more.

I will 'make no bones' about it and I won't 'beat about the bush' (after all, don't forget I'm 'talking turkey' here):  this book contains some fascinating and remarkable stories about our best-loved and most colourful phrases.

The staples of our language - those familiar, well-worn expressions and clichés - originate from the most diverse sources.  From the high street to Homer, from advertising to America, from army to air force, from stage to screen ... it's an 'all-singing', all-dancing', round-the-world-trip through our language's history.

......... >>>

There are many synonymous phrases for this enthusiastic statement that everything is 'fine and dandy'.

'Tickety-boo' may come from the word 'ticket', as in 'that's the ticket'.  In the nineteenth century, charities issued tickets to the poor that could be exchange for soup, clothing and coal.

Other sources suggest that the phrase has its origins with the British Army in India, and that it may be an Anglicized version of the Hindi phrase tikai babu, which means 'it's all right, sir'.

A more fanciful explanation is that the saying came from the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln (1809-65) in his private box at Ford's Theatre, Washington, DC, on 14 April 1865.

The murderer, John Wilkes Booth (1838-65), a reputable Shakespearean actor, escaped after firing the shot by leaping down on to the stage, breaking his leg in the process.

Kitkat wrote:

NO ROOM TO SWING A CAT

Equally, suspending live cats in leather sacks and then swinging the sacks as moving targets for archers  was once a popular, if barbaric, amusement, and this too has been suggested as a source for the phrase.

The phrase was made famous by us President Harry S. Truman (1884-1972); president 1945-53), who had it handwritten on a sign on his desk at the White House to remind himself and those around him that he alone had the ultimate responsibility for every decision of his administration.

Some twenty-five years later, President Jimmy Carter (1924-) had the legend reinstated with the same idea in mind.

The expression's meaning is similar to 'Back to the drawing board', which means to go back and rethink a complete project or scheme.  Aircraft designers during the Second World War used this phrase when a concept or even a whole design for a new machine proved unworkaable and had to be started all over again.

A more colourful derivation may be that 'to blow the gaff' refers to the exposure of a concealed device, known as a gaff, used to cheat at cards.  This was a small hook set in a ring worn on the finger, which was used by the crooked player to grip the cards.

This was the sentence passed on the Scottish patriot Sir William Wallace (c.1272-1305) in August 1305:  That he should be drawn from the Palace of Westminster to the Tower of London, then hanged until nearly dead, then disembowelled, then beheaded and finally quartered.

His quarters were gibbeted at Newcastle, Berwick, Stirling and Perth.

The story behind the Blarney Stone's legacy is that in 1602, McCarthy, Lord of Blarney, was defending the castle against the English, who were fighting to force him to surrender the fortress and transfer his allegiance to the English crown.

However, McCarthy smooth-talked the British emissary, Sir George Carew (1565-1612), with flattery and sweet promises and stood his ground, much to the fury of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603).

It is said that the Queen herself coined the term 'blarney' to describe the worthlessness of McCarthy's promises.

Blarney Stone 'most unhygienic tourist attraction in the world'

The Blarney Stone in Ireland has been named as the most  'unhygienic' tourist  attraction in the world.

It beat off opposition from a wall plastered with thousands of  pieces of discarded chewing gum in the US to take first place in the bizarre awards ceremony.

Organisers said the Blarney Stone, kissed by up to 400,000 people a year, rates as the most germ-filled of attractions  -  although it admitted it had no scientific evidence to back its case.


A tourist kissing the Blarney stone at Blarney Castle in Ireland

Local legend has it that visitors who bend over backwards to kiss the stone built into Blarney Castle, near Cork, Ireland, are rewarded with the 'gift of the gab'.

But internet travel website TripAdvisor.com believes those who kiss the stone are likely to end up with something else other than fluent speech as it is so germ ridden.

A wall outside a theatre in Seattle, Washington, was placed runner-up in the competition.

Since 1990, tens of thousands of people have stuck their unwanted chewing gum to the wall turning it into a tourist attraction.

The disgusting act began with people waiting in line to visit the theatre. The wall has been scrapped clean twice since 1990 but is still covered with gum.

Some visitors have even moulded shapes and faces out of their gum.


A woman kisses the tomb of British 19th century author Oscar Wilde iin Paris

Oscar Wilde's tomb in Paris is the third dirtiest attraction having been covered with lipstick prints.

St Marks Square in Venice, Italy, is fourth due to the thousands of hungry pigeons who descend on the place leaving behind their waste.

The handprints and footprints of stars outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood makes the top five.

According to Tripadvisor the historical Hollywood landmark is covered with grime from the hands of countless visitors who see if their hands and feet match those of the stars.

The practice was obviously widespread because other languages have similar expressions - such as the French 'chat en poche' - which also refers to the folly of buying something without seeing it first.  The Latin proverb 'caveat emptor' - 'let the buyer beware' - warns against such underhand techniques.

'To bring home the bacon', meaning to earn the money to maintain the household, describes the custom at country fares of greasing a live pig and letting it loose among a group of blindfolded contestants.  Whoever successfully caught the greased pig could keep it and so 'bring home the bacon'.

To take this a step further, to refuse to have any dealing with a person or group of people as a means of protest or coercion is to 'boycott' them, a term which dates from 1880, when such methods were used by the Irish Land League against one Captain C.C. Boycott (1832-97), a land agent in County Mayo, to try to persuade him to reduce rents.

A Scottish satire or lampooning story is known as a 'cockalane', which is taken directly from the French phrase of the same meaning as 'cock and bull': coq et l'ane (cock and ass, donkey or fool).