Word and Phrase Origins

HS · July 2003

Apparently a number of us are questioning where certain words and phrases come from.

I.E. "bootie", "stick to your guns" (I know there have been others)

Does anyone know what they mean? Know a good source of information? Inquiring minds want to know. x:-/

Also, what phrases do you want to know their origin, maybe someone here can help you.

Leslie · July 2003

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 07-15-03 AT 02:18PM (CST)[/font][p]I tried

[url]http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/[/url]

I found:

Stick to your guns: Fighting Words: From War, Rebellion, and Other Combative Capers” by Christine Ammer (NTC Publishing Group, Chicago, 1989) has the most detailed explanation, “…Less in doubt than managing to hit a target was a gunner’s obligation to stay at his post, whence the British term ‘stand to one’s guns’ (in America, ‘stick to one’s guns’), meaning to persist and not give way. James Boswell, Samuel Johnson’s biographer, writes in 1769, ‘Mrs. Thrale stood to her gun with great courage in defense of amorous ditties.’ A more perplexing use of this phrase occurred in a 1909 account about the staunchly pacifist Society of Friends: ‘The Quakers stood to their guns, and without any resort to brute force, finally won.

Booty: They had bet your booty, and it said, "Booty means 'butt' or 'body.' Current slang (last 6 or 7 years) has 'bet your booty' = 'bet your ass.' Originally African-American slang, it has spread into the general (youth) culture.

p.s. don't put booty in your search engine if you get monitored at work! The sites that come up are unreal.

ray a · July 2003

And Leslie, how many of those booty sites did you check out?

Don D · July 2003

For the ultimate in bootie/booty definition, see steatopygia. These are the women upon whose rump you can actually set a full wine glass. Look, I didn't start this!

HS · July 2003

>For the ultimate in bootie/booty definition, see steatopygia. These
>are the women upon whose rump you can actually set a full wine glass.
>Look, I didn't start this!

See what???

HS · July 2003

Thanks for finding that site...I didn't dare trying to put that word into my search engine myself, I could just imagine what would come up! Like Ray, I want to know how many you looked at..(just kidding)

As a side note, you may also want to avoid putting "BJ" into a search engine. Made that mistake once when I was trying to find BJ's Wholesale company website.

Leslie · July 2003

Ray and HS: I'm x:o! Never would I visit one of those sites...at work.

In any event, Don D, it took a bit to find -

Steatopygia: An excessive development of fat on the buttocks, especially of females.

ray a · July 2003

Leslie, I'm shocked you would think I implied you checked those sites at work. Of course, I meant when you got home, assuming you rushed home for a quick lunch. x0:)

AprilShowers · July 2003

check this website out [url]www.slanguage.com[/url]

ray a · July 2003

Does anybody else know the origin of the term "Rule of Thumb"?

No fair looking it up.

Sally · July 2003

>Does anybody else know the origin of the term "Rule of Thumb"?
>
Doesn't it have something to do with setting a standard for a measurement that was based upon the lenght of the king's thumb?

ray a · July 2003

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 07-18-03 AT 09:29AM (CST)[/font][p]I have heard that version. I read another version a few years ago that in Medieval English law a man could beat his wife with a stick no bigger in diameter than his thumb. If he used a larger stick, he was subject disciplinary action himself.

So, you don't get the wrong idea, I would never beat my wife with a stick or anything else.

Word and Phrase Origins

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