Have you ever said something and then wondered “where did I get that from?” Well it is no wonder with the number of idiomatic expressions that have been added to the English language over the years. For example, if you call someone a Fink because they didn’t agree with you, might you not wonder where the word “fink” comes from? According to Merriam-Webster, fink is derived from the German language and dates back to around 1894, generally referring to a contemptible person, or for those using German University slang, one who did not belong to the student association. However, there is some evidence it could have come from “mistfink” that referred to a dirty or untidy person, a word used as far back as the end of the 15th century. And then of course is the verb form when one someone “finks out on you!” and does not do as they promised.
Though it may be difficult to understand in this day and age, a time when dogs are looked upon as “man’s best friend,” that the phrase “sick as a dog” comes from a period in Europe, back as far as the early 1700s when dogs were looked upon as something to be avoided and if found to be sick, left outside to die with no attempt to save them. You have no doubt heard the expression “dirty dog” and that was also appropriate for the time. It was known that animals could easily spread the plague and that included dogs, so they were looked upon as not only expendable but also something to be feared like rats. And, don’t forget that after a long day you can be “dog-tired” or if things did not go well feel like “everything has gone to the dogs.”
And, how often have you heard someone described as being “as drunk as a skunk?” Why a skunk – is it because it rhymes with drunk? Understandably, a skunk is not the most appealing animal on the planet, and it does have some very nasty habits when it feels threatened, but what about the fact that skunks have no use for alcohol? Well, skunks can take heart since for more than 600 years those who consume too much alcohol have been described as drunk as … something, usually some animate (or inanimate) thing. This originated with “drunk as a mouse” referred to in the first of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales “ “The Knight’s Tale” in 1385 and then later in “The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” when translated to today’s English, “If I go for amusement to his house, / You come home as drunken as a mouse.”
Ever heard “let’s blow this pop stand” or its many variations like popsicle stand? In some parts of the U.S. “way back when” a soda shop was called a pop stand and the young folks would gather there like they do today at the malls. There is speculation that all like expressions may have started with “let’s blow this joint” and the variations, popcorn stand, firetrap, etc., followed. It all just amounts to let us leave this place that has now become dull or of no use or interest to us anymore and go in search of something better.
How about the phrase, “You better get on the stick?” All agree that this refers to get busy, quit waiting around and take control to get the job done, but where the ideas diverge is what it might have been about in the past. The expression dates from the early 1900s and comes from the idea of getting a car going by using the gearshift, or stick, according to The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Or it could refer to early 20th century aviation, airplane controls consisting of only a rudder and stick. To “get on the stick” was to take control of a given situation, problem or circumstance. However, “get on the stick” could also be a derivative of the much older phrase “to cut one’s stick,” meaning “to leave,” which appeared in print in the early 19th century and had probably been in colloquial use long before then.
The “stick” in the phrase is a walking stick, commonly used on long journeys by foot in those days, and finding, cutting and smoothing a suitable stick in preparation for such a trip was as sure a sign the person was truly leaving just as packing a carry-on bag would be today. Thus, to say, “get your stick and get on it,” or just “get on the stick,” would have been a way to say, “get going.” It also would have carried exactly the same “get up and get moving” sense in figurative use (“Get on the stick and get that job done”) that the phrase does today, which the “joystick” and “gearshift” explanations don’t really convey. By 1950, a definition has emerged from The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science: Volume 269 (1950) “To get on the stick: To work at the crap table, either as dealer or stick-man.”
Then there is “up the creek without a paddle” which means one is in deep trouble or at times that could be said as “up shit creek without a paddle.” I considered not including that last part until I learned that there is indeed a Shit Creek, (not Schitt Creek, the recent television series), but one located in Plymouth, England. During the 18th Century Shit Creek (later called Stonehouse Creek) got its name because of the foul-smelling mud that lined its banks. Today, on the maps the area is known as Stonehouse Lake but called “Tinkies” by the locals.
The creek led up to the Royal Naval Hospital, a medical facility for naval officers that was built between 1758 and 1765 and housed 1,200 patients in sixty wards, with its ten ward blocks arranged around a courtyard which had a central block that contained a chapel, dispensary and provided housing for the staff. During those times, a hospital stay was pretty dicey at best but a journey to that particular hospital was considered to be a one-way trip. To be “Up Shit Creek without a paddle,” therefore, meant the person was in a bad way and was slowly or rapidly getting worse with no evident way out. Even if your boat had a paddle, you still, typically, had a long, slow recovery.
By 1897, Queen Victoria had reigned over England for 60 years and in celebration much of the creek had been filled in to make playing fields, and the area was thus named Victoria Park. But, the area was also known as Deadlake, a name which can be found on early maps of the lake, and gradually, the lower reaches of the lake were also filled thus enlarging the area to afford a larger recreation center. Today Victoria Park is home to the Stonehouse Creek Social Club and Devonport High School Old Boys RFC. The club has been open since 2002, and also hosts the Stonehouse Sharks Junior Rugby Club. As for the hospital, it closed in 1995 and is now a gated residential community called, “Millfields.” One can assume that the folks there today are no longer “up the creek without a paddle.”
