Click on “Read More” for the full transcript.
We used Temi to auto
transcribe this, then Dan went through and checked it based on the show notes.
He tried really hard on it, but this kind of stuff isn't his specialty. So if
you notice anything confusing, please comment on this post so Dan can look at
it and clarify anything.
NOTE: There are some curse words used, running from 22:03 to 23:00 in the time stamp. The rest of the episode is safe for work.
Shauna: 00:00 Welcome
to bunny trails, a whimsical adventure of idioms and other turns of phrase, I'm
Shauna Harrison
Shauna: 00:12 Since
Dan and I usually select the idioms to research for the show. We wanted to hear
from you for our 50th episode. For the last six weeks we've been asking you to
send us your favorite idioms...
Dan: 00:23 And
you responded so well! So here are a few of your favorite idioms or other turns
of phrase told in your own words and before we get into it, I'll mention that
while I did mark this episode as explicit, it's actually only the very last
segment and we'll give you a warning beforehand, so feel free to keep listening
for awhile. First up from The Story Behind: The Extraordinary History of The
Ordinary, it's Emily Prokop.
Emily: 00:47 Hey
bunny trails. This is Emily Prokop from the story behind and my favorite idiom
is cost an arm and a leg. Now, I don't love when things cost that or even the
literal idea of that, but when I went to check out some origin stories of
idioms, I came across this one. Cost an arm and a leg came from way back when
people wanted portraits painted of them. Painters would obviously charge more
the bigger the portrait, but it's also said they charged more if you wanted your
legs or arms painted. I thought this was such a funny origin story I posted it
in the Facebook group for my show and then had second thoughts and decided to
look into it some more. Turns out there is really no truth in the painting
origin story of cost and arm and a leg. Some have guessed it originated
following World War II and may have been referencing the price paid by soldiers
who lost limbs in the war and another origin story comes from the phrases
coined in the 19th century, I would give my right arm for, or even if it takes
a leg. this phrase most likely originated in America, but in Bulgaria have
their own versions. In France. they say it costs the eyes from the head and in
Bulgaria they say it costs one's mother and father. Congratulations on getting
to 50 episodes. I hope the celebration doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
Shauna: 02:04 Thank
you Emily! You can catch more of The Story Behind www.thestorybehindpodcast.com
next up are our friends from the Lexitecture podcast. Ryan will give you an
overview and talk about his and Amy's favorite phrases.
Ryan: 02:18 Hey
there bunny trails listeners, this is Ryan Paulson from the Lexitecture,
another language word nerd podcast. We'd like to thank Dan and Shauna for the
invitation and send along our congratulations on them reaching the 50th episode
milestone. Sometimes these number things are a bit arbitrary, but 50 is a big
number and it's hard to get to in this podcasting thing. Actually does take a
lot of work and a lot of dedication to get that high. So congrats to Shauna and
Dan and thanks again for having us on. My cohost, Amy, we record our podcast
across the Atlantic. She lives in Dundee, Scotland and we weren't quite able to
make our schedules line up to do a transatlantic recording session for this
one. But she sent along her contribution. We were by Shauna and Dan, if we
could just give you a, our favorite idiom or phrase of the time turn phrase at
the time we're recording this.
Ryan: 03:07 And
so the one that Amy came up with is a Polish expression originally and it's
simply not my circus, not my monkeys. And it's sort of a fun way to wash your
hands of something, not my problem, I didn't do any of this. This doesn't
belong to me. You can talk to someone. I'll take it up with the actual ring
master and it involves circuses and monkeys. So it's automatically more fun
than it otherwise would be. Mine as is often the case with our podcast when we
come up with examples of things, Amy and I... Is a little more, let's go with
earthy, a little more low brow. But um, it knocked me off my chair almost
literally the first time I heard it. It was a friend of mine originally from
out in Nova Scotia who was describing a woman that he found particularly
attractive.
Ryan: 03:53 And
the way he described that when he put that into words was I'd chop two cords of
wood underwater just to have her spit on my toothbrush, which I thought was an
incredibly vivid way of really getting across what he he want it to get across?
And after all, isn't that what idioms or four. So not my circus, not my
monkeys. And I chop two cords of wood underwater just to have her spit on my
toothbrush. Those are our favorite idioms for the time being. And apologies
again that you weren't able to get the Scottish Brogue in here, but if you want
to hear a Canadian word nerd and a Scottish word nerd being friends and
chatting nerdily about words and language and etymology and stuff, you can join
us over at Lexitecture. You can find us wherever you're listening to this right
now on any podcasting App. Just search Lexitecture, L E X I T E C T U R E,
think architecture, but with Lex instead. And, uh, yeah, come along and join us
and we'll talk about some words, but congrats again to Shauna and Dan and Bunny
Trails and hope you guys have a great next 50 episodes. Talk to you soon.
Dan: 04:56 Bye.
Oh my God. That is literally one of my favorite phrases I use, not my circus,
not my monkey daily it seems. And uh, I'd never heard the other one, but I
really love the in depth multilayered approach to that. Like it's got so many
layers.
Dan: 05:13 well,
you can find more of Ryan and Amy at www.lexitecture.com. That's l e x i t e c
t u r e dot com. Next up is our friend Moxieh La Bouce from Your brain on facts
with a series of British phrases.
Moxie: 05:28 Hi,
I'm Moxie from your brain on facts here to talk about a few choice phrases from
across the pond. Britain and America are two nations divided by a common
language or to quote Dennis Farina's character from the movie snatch
"Speak English to me, Tony. I thought this country spawned the friggin'
language and so far nobody seems to speak it".
Moxie: 05:50 When
you leave the received pronunciation of the Queen's English, British English
can get tricky for American ears. How would you feel if someone said you were
the dog's bullocks or the dog's dinner or even the dog's breakfast? Two of
those are positive, one's negative, but probably not the ones you think. No one
knows for sure what's so special about dog food or why we should want to
compare things to a bowl of meat and meat byproducts. The dog's breakfast
refers to a mess, a muddle of foul up or things catawampus. You've made a real
dog's breakfast out of that. The dog's dinner or dressed up like the dog's
dinner refers to someone looking sharp. It's as likely to be used sarcastically
for someone who thinks they look good or sardonically for someone that's
overdressed as a straight compliment. And the origins for both sayings are a
bit fuzzy. The dog's breakfast probably originated in Glasgow, Scotland, at
least according to some dictionaries. The 1937 edition of a dictionary of slang
and unconventional English lists it as "a mess. Low Glasgow." There
are a lot of theories for the origin of dressed up like the dog's dinner. Some
people claim it referred to the stiff collars that were the height of male
fashion in the 1890s that looked like or were derided for looking like actual
dog collars. Others say that it might be a reference to a popular children's
book titled The Dog's Dinner Party.
Moxie: 07:23 There's
even a theory that the saying is related to the horrific death of Queen
Jezebel, whose body was feasted on by dogs in the street between her unix
throwing her out of a window and her husband deciding to have her buried. This
is a Bible story in case that needs to be said. The first example of the dog's
dinner that I could find in print came from the Miami News in October of 1933
and on the bus stop at the 57th street traffic halt, a youth from the sidewalk
called to a young smoking lady at the rail. "What are you doing sitting
there dressed up like a dog's dinner." So what's the meaning of the dog's
bullocks? The word Bullock can be used with a few meanings, though the core
meaning his testicle. If a thing is bollocks, it's rubbish. If you Bullock
someone you chastise or Hector them. If you drop a Bollock, you make a mistake.
Bullocks has had street cred as a mild swear word among English youth for a
long time. Though the sex pistols 1977 album, nevermind the bullocks here, the
sex pistols probably brought it back into greater prominence. The dog's
bollucks seems to have originated in the first half of the 20th century
appearing in the 1949 edition of the dictionary of slang and unconventional
English, but then it was defined as a typographical symbol of a colon and a
hyphen which I choose to interpret as a rude emoticon 40 years before the
Usenet. The reason why the dog's bullocks are considered to be top tier isn't
clear. It may be linked to an associated phrase "stand out like the dog's
bollocks". So stand out... Outstanding? Could it be tied to the universal
enjoyment dogs seem to have in looking their genitals, not provably the, then
again, you can't prove it wasn't.
Moxie: 09:17 It's
more likely that the origin lies in the late 20th century reviving of the Post
World War One period outbreak of exuberant coinage is of nonsense terms like the
cat's pajamas and the bee's knees. Since the phrase came into use, some
alternatives have emerged though never getting quite as popular like the
pooches privates and the mutts nuts. Thank you Shauna and Dan for inviting me
to be part of your hemi-centennial episode. If your listeners enjoyed this
little tidbit, they can check out my main show, your brain on facts, a half
hour podcast of things you never knew you never knew and my new show science
with Savannah, age seven. Here's to the next 50 episodes.
Shauna: 10:02 The
dog's bollocks always makes me get gonged cause they means the opposite of what
I think it would mean.
Shauna: 10:09 If
you want more facts for your brain, head over to www.yourbrainonfacts.com to
get all the latest facts for your listening pleasure
Dan: 10:22 We
want to give a special word of things for 50 great episodes to our patrons on
Patrion. Specifically we want to call out lagomorphology interns, Charlie
Moore, Pat Rowe and Mary Lopez. Charlie was our first patron and has been with
us since we launched, so...
Dan: 10:39 Charlie's
been with us since literal day one! Patreon.com is a subscription service that
allows you to support content creators you love. By supporting bunny trails on
Patreon you have allowed us to cover our hosting fees, website domain costs,
the costs of transcription services, and we're saving up the little bit that we
have left to upgrade our equipment to give you better sound quality. The
transcripts, by the way, are absolutely free and they're available at
www.bunnytrailspod.com.
Dan: 11:02 With
$1 a month you can get access to our show notes, which have all of the
information that didn't make it into the show, plus a couple of extra things.
At $3 a month, you'll get a special RSS feed to hear bunny trails before anyone
else and you'll get special behind the scenes content as well. Of course, at
every level you'll get all of the perks of the lower levels too. At $7 a month,
you'll get access to our monthly mini episode where we tackle a turn of phrase
that wouldn't necessarily be safe for work as, barring this one episode, the
rest of them are safe for work. And at $15 a month you'll join the ranks of
Charlie, Pat and Mary as our lagomorphology interns and be recognized by name
on every episode. There are also a few higher level perks. If you really love
the show and are able to provide a bit more support, you can join the community
at www.patreon.com/bunnytrailspod.
Shauna: 11:54 All
right. Next step is our friends Aven and Mark at The Endless Knot a podcast by
two incredibly talented and educated people.
Aven: 12:05 and
we're from the endless not podcast. So our favorite phrase is the Latin phrase,
carpe diem, usually translated as seize the day. Now this phrase has always
been my family's motto though over the years it's been played with and punned
on so much that we usually now say it as "don't let the fish die".
The other reason I love it is that it comes from one of my favorite writers,
the first century Roman poet, Horace. Uh, did I mention that I'm a classics
Prof? The phrase comes from one of his odes in which he advises a friend to
enjoy life while he can, because the pale specter of death is looming.
Mark: 12:40 and
as a historical linguist who studied Latin and the history of English and a
serial procrastinator who needs reminding, I like the phrase for it,
surprisingly interesting etymology. You see, the usual translation of the
phrase as seize the day is not exactly correct. The Latin word Carpere means to
pick, pluck, or gather crops. So it's a harvest metaphor. Harvest your crops
while they're ripe, before they all go bad. The prefixed form exCarpere
probably leads through medieval Latin scarsas, diminished or reduced and old
French escars to English scarce. So it develops the sense of being plucked out
and therefore rare from this, this shift. Ultimately it comes from the
proto-indo-european root kerp, which means to gather, pluck, or harvest. And
that same root also passes into English through the Germanic branch to produce
Proto Germanic, ?Herba? To pluck and herbst which means autumn.
Mark: 13:42 And
from those sources we get the English words harvest both as a noun and as a
verb. That proto indo european root kerp derives from another proto indo
european root escare, which means to cut or sheer, hence the idea of harvesting
and that more basic proto indo European root gives us the word share from the
idea of a division or portion. So cutting it up into shares and also the Latin
word, Caro, Caro-carnis which means flesh or meat from which we get the English
word carnivore one who eats meat.
Mark: 14:20 Yes,
but it comes from the cutting idea. Now, as I say, that's often rendered in
English as seize, the English word seize comes from old French seizir to take
possession of or take by force, put in possession of bestow upon which comes
from late Latin Sacire which probably comes from a Germanic source, so not
originally Latin.
Mark: 14:43 Perhaps
it comes from the Frankish word sakjan to lay claim to from the proto indo
Eugopean root sod to track or seek out, and we can compare this to the old
English word secan or secan to seek from which we get the word seek or perhaps
it comes from the Proto Germanic root, Satjan to place satjan also gives us the
word set and ultimately that would come from the proto indo European root sed
to sit. We also get the word sit from that. The second part of the phrase would
seem pretty easy. Carpe diem or seize the day. You would think dies meaning day
and the English word day are, you know, they look like they're related, but
they are not related at all, surprisingly. So Latin dies comes from the Proto
indo European root dhau which means to shine. So that route also gives us the
word diary, make sense related to day or journal as well as journey. And also the
word, the Latin word, deus meaning God and the specific God named Jupiter and
Zeus as well as Tuesday named after the Germanic god tiw or tyr. On the other
hand, the English word day either comes from the proto into European root ogg,
which is a great word, meaning day though that initial d is hard to explain. So
the other suggestion is that it might come from proto indo European deg which
means to burn. And that root also leads to Latin Febres, meaning fever and
English, the English word fever. So of course many people have quoted and
translated Horace over the years. This particular line included. But it was
really because of the English romantic poet Byron, that the actual Latin phrase
became common in English and the particular line which is found in a collection
called life letters and journals of Lord Byron, which is material that was
written in 1817 but not published until well after his death in 1830 the quote
runs, "I never anticipate, Carpe Diem. The past at least is one zone,
which is one reason for making sure of the present."
Aven: 17:04 And
Byron, his use of the phrase in this quotation shows that he really understood
Horace's poem, which like many of his odes puts forward the epicurean
philosophy that there's no point in worrying about the future because it's out
of our control. So we might as well just drink since we're all going to die
anyway. And on that cheery note, we'll end our discussion of our phrase carpe
diem. In case you're interested our podcast, the endless not is about
etymology, language history, especially classical and medieval, cocktails
<sound of two glasses clinking together as if doing a 'cheers' or a 'toast',
and the surprising connections in the world around us. So we'd love it if you'd
come to check out an episode or two. Thank you so much to the fine folks at the
bunny trails podcast for having us on. And congratulations on 50 episodes,
Dan: 17:54 Right?
I know. Well this is why we listen to all of these podcasts that, that are here.
And uh, so that's why we, that's why we were glad that they were able to, to
help us out here for this episode. But also...
Dan: 18:06 I'm,
I'm uh, I'm just always amazed at how much knowledge and intelligence there is
out in the world, especially when it comes to things for like word nerds like
myself.
Dan: 18:15 So
Aven, Mark, thank you very much. I want to make sure everybody knows that The
Endless Knot is also a youtube series about etymological explorations in
cultural connections using language, literature and history to explore the web
connections in the world all around us. So you find that youtube channel or the
podcast at www.alliterative.net or you could just go to youtube and search The
Endless Knot.
Dan: 18:38 To
wrap us up, we want to give you a special treat with our friends, Carrie and
Megan at the Vocal Fries podcast... a podcast which is about linguistic
discrimination. Now this clip towards the end is where we earn our very first
explicit tag for our podcast. So if that's not your thing, you can skip ahead
about four minutes and 20 seconds. I don't know if they did that on purpose or
not. I think you should stick around though cause it's well worth it.
Megan: 19:23 Yeah.
And we thought it would be fun to choose something, not just like what we might
use in everyday speech, but I decided to choose one in Spanish that my dad used
to say that his mom said. And um, so it means a lot to me. So I'll start with
that. So it goes "Dime con quién andas, y te diré quién eres" and
literally it's tell me who you walk with and I'll tell you who you are. Um, in
my, you know, if you're an English speaker from the US or Canada too I'm
assuming, um, you know, like birds of a feather flock together an idiom. So
it's basically that. And um, I love it because I don't know much about my
grandmother and for my dad to tell me that she used to say it. I really loved
that. And then also I think truer words, right? Like it's so true. So many
people are telling us these days who they are by who they associate with or who
they might quote or, or the vocabulary they share with other people. I've like
been like, oh, so I can tell that you support this group because you're using
that vocabulary item.
Carrie: 20:31 Yeah,
I really liked that idiom because yeah. Um, like birds of a feather is less,
um, evocative of like, yeah. Like you show who you are by having like, who you
hang out with, whereas birds of a feather is more like, oh, I don't know, just
feels more like they look, they look alike.
Carrie: 20:52 It's
not quite as, um, it doesn't feel as political and I'm, maybe that's only
because it's, you know, my language and so it's, yeah. You don't, you don't dig
as deeply into it.
Megan: 21:03 Yeah,
that's true. Yeah. But like, I dunno, it's like, would you be standing next to
someone, you know, like walking with someone who's like an absolute racist, you
know, jerk. Like I would walk with that person, you know, so it's like, okay.
Megan: 21:19 I
got ya. We're even just a jerk. Yeah, exactly. Just a jerk. It's just now it's
like really more important is that you're on with racist or it's true for other
types. Okay. What about you? You're going to tell me Canadian one.
Carrie: 21:34 Right.
So there were so many kings and things that came to mind. Most of them were
just words like, Skookum. Um, which means really good or strong
Carrie: 21:47 It
comes from Chinook jargon, so it's like really it's extra cool. Yeah. But, um,
the one I decided to choose is a "gong show". So if I call something
I got ever, it was probably a most Americans know gong show the TV show.
Megan: 22:15 Yeah.
So yeah. So, but I would never use gong show. I've never heard someone use it
ever.
Carrie: 22:22 No.
Right. Cause it's just not used to the United States at all as far as I can
tell. Like it's one of the few things that really does not go across the border
at all.
Carrie: 22:36 Uh,
they're, they're both fun. They're both, they're both fun. Yeah. Like shit show
is like, hm, how do I explain this? It's really terrible is what comes across
with shit show. Gong show is more like things were wild and out of control so
that it could be terrible, but it also could be more like wacky fun.
Megan: 23:08 I
could what you just described, cluster fuck could be encompassing both of them
for me. Cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love it.
Carrie: 23:16 So
those are idioms or turns of phrases we hope you enjoy and check us out at
www.vocalfriespod.com.
Shauna: 23:23 I
love this show because it really tackles some of this sexism, racism and other
isms that are inherent in words we use.
Shauna: 23:32 They
do. Oftentimes, uh, some people don't even realize how bad it is until someone
calls it out. Uh, which Carrie and Megan definitely do. So as they said, check
them out at www.vocalfriespod.com.
Dan: 23:45 Well
that about wraps us up for today. Thank you for joining us. If you have a
suggestion for an idiom or another turn of phrase or you just want to chat, you
can catch us on Twitter and Instagram and occasionally even Facebook all @bunnytrailspod,
or you can get episodes, transcripts, and links to everything we do
www.bunnytrailspod.com
Shauna: 24:03 this
week we had several great word nerds on the show, so go check out their stuff,
give them a listen, be sure and rate them on your podcasting app and subscribe
so you can catch all of their great content. Thank you listeners and fellow
word nerds for joining us over the last 50 episodes. Here's to 50 more. We'll
talk to you again next week. And until then, remember,
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