South Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘ship’ and now look at ‘south’.

South Sea has had several meanings over the years and obviously so as some parts of the world hadn’t been discovered. From the late 14th century the South Sea was the Mediterranean, and in the early 15th century used for what is now known as the English Channel. Today it is normally used to refer to the Pacific Ocean in the southern hemisphere, as it has since the 1520s.

Go south, as in ‘vanish’ or ‘abscond’, has been in use since the 1920s.

South Africa has been used generally for the southern part of the continent since 1815, and for the nation since 1910.

Southern Cross is a constellation not visible in much of the northern hemisphere. It was named such by the English in 1756.

Nothing was described as Southern Fried, as a cooking style, until 1972.

Southwester when referring to a wind, gale, or storm is seen from 1833, and three years later pronounced as sou’wester to refer to the nautical coat protecting the wearer from any inclement weather.

Southeaster is first found rather earlier, first seen from 1797. This is not to say one was in use for more than three decades before the other, likely they were used concurrently and only seen as being from slightly different ages as there are no surviving records from earlier.

Southbound originally referred solely to the railways, although not seen until 1872.

Several familiar place names from around the globe have origins speaking of them as being seen as in the south. Australia, Yemen, Yugoslavia, Vietnam, Hunan (a province of China), Soweto (a community outside Johannesburg), Suffolk, Nanking (city in China),

Ship Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘car’ and now look at ‘ship’.

Ships that pass in the night is first seen in Longfellow’s poem Tales of a Wayside Inn published in 1863.

Running a tight ship is not seen in anything but a nautical sense until as recently as 1965.

Hoping for a change of fortunes when one’s ship comes in is first seen in print in 1851.

Shipshape is first seen in 1762, earlier the phrase appeared as shipshapen and is seen since 1640.

Ship of fools, a reference to a less than perfect governing body, originates in the title of a 1509 translation of Brant’s Narrenschiff of 1494.

Ship-building is first seen from 1717, ship-builder from 1700, ship-craft from the late 14th century. Of course ship-building began thousands of years ago, but the earliest English reference to such comes from the Old English shipwright, and from at least the 6th century.

Ship-load is first mentioned in 1630.

The first reference to the mothership is from 1890.

Shipwreck in the modern sense is seen from the middle of the 15th century, but earlier, and from the end of the 12th century, it referred to that cast up from a shipwreck – ie the contents and not the vessel itself.

Battle-ship is first described in 1794, while the colour battleship-grey is first described in 1916.

Flagship, that the vessel bearing the flag of the admiral or vice-admiral, is first seen in 1670.

‘Ship’ as used in ‘apprenticeship’ is first seen in 1590 – prior to that the term used was ‘apprenticehood’.

Ownership is first used in 1580. Ownership society – a reference to the concept of combining the values of personal responsibility and economic freedom – was coined under the presidency of George W Bush in 2013.

Trusteeship is first recorded in 1730.

Nobody was involved in a courtship before 1570.

The side of the ship was first described as shipboard in the late 13th century.

Scholarship is first seen in 1580.

Steamship is first seen in 1819.

Airship is first recorded in 1819.

Fellowship in its modern sense is first seen in the late 13th century, prior to that the term was used to mean ‘companionship’.

Township dates from the middle of the 12th century.

Salesmanship dates from 1853.

Editorship comes from 1769.

Guardianship is seen from the middle of the 16th century.

Judgeship dates from the 1670s.

Worship is an Old English word which began as ‘worthy-ship’.

Internship dates from 1899.

Warship is first seen in 1530.

Starship is first recorded in 1934.

And despite the length of time horses have been the sole method of transport, horsemanship is unrecorded before the 1560s.

Car Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘bag’ and now look at ‘car’.

Streetcar is seen from 1862 in the US, the same year as tramcar in the UK.

Car bomb is seen from 1972.

Car parks were unheard of before 1926.

Nobody used a car wash until 1924.

Carpool is seen from 1942, but only used as a verb from 1962.

Car sickness is first recorded in 1908.

Stock-car racing is first noted in 1914 as a race, prior to that it was a rail vehicle used to transport livestock.

Autocar, as opposed to automobile, first appears in 1895.

The first carports are recorded as early as 1939.

Motorcar appears, as above, in 1895.

Bag Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘storm’ and now look at ‘bag’.

In the bag has been seen since 1922, it is used to describe something assured.

Left holding the bag, meaning ‘cheated, swindled’, is seen as early as 1793.

Let the cat out of the bag is seen from 1760, and likely comes from the French Acheter chat en poche or ‘buy a cat in a bag’.

Moneybags, to describe a rich person, is seen from 1818.

Grab-bag, used to describe a miscellaneous mixture, is first recorded in 1854.

Beanbag is first seen in 1871, but this was something used in children’s games and nobody had the larger version to sit on until 1969.

Airbags, the vehicle safety feature, is seen from 1970 and as a device for raising sunken vessels from 1836.

Bodybags have been around for the deceased since 1967, prior to that the same term described a kind of sleeping bag.

Mailbags have only ever been used to carry the mail, first described as such in 1794.

Bagpipes have been known as such since the 14th century, although a better description came in 1912 when a English Army officers referred to them as ‘agony bags’.

Nosebag, the way to feed a horse, is seen from 1796.

Nobody carried a handbag before 1854.

Storm Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘rain’ and now look at ‘storm’.

Taking something by storm comes from military terminology, first seen around 1680.

Doing something up a storm dates from 1946.

Storm doors are not recorded before 1872.

Storm-tossed, a term normally only used by writers, is seen in print for the first time in 1610.

Storm-bird is seen from 1752, today we refer to it as a petrel.

Storm clouds are unrecorded before 1822.

Dust storms are not described as such until 1838.

Storm troopers are first recorded in 1933, however this had nothing to do with a galaxy far, far away, these were members of the Nazi Sturmabteiling or earlier the German military sturmtruppen during the First World War.

Barnstorming began in 1815, and referred specifically to short theatrical performances of a smutty or vulgar kind. So-called because they were performed in barns in upstate New York. By 1896 the term had started to be used to refer to electioneering tours; and in 1928 to pilots who performed stunts at fairs and during air races. Thunderstorms were not known until 1560.

Snowstorms have been known as such since 1771.

Hailstorms come between the above two, seen since 1690.

Rainstorms are, considering the previous three examples, quite recent in only appearing in writing since 1804.

Brainstorm is a term used since 1861, when it referred to a fit of delirious malaria or sudden loss of the ability to reason. Prior to that, and also as a noun, it was a symptom of a disease seen to be increasing in strength or repetitiveness. The modern use of ‘a concerted attack on a problem’ comes from 1947; while another sense of ‘a brilliant idea’ was around from 1934.

Firestorms have been around since the 1580.

Windstorms have been known since the late 14th century.

Rain Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘sun’ and now look at ‘rain’.

Rain dance is seen from 1867, although surely such rituals were performed for centuries or even millennia.

Rain date is first found in 1948, probably more commonly used in the USA, it refers to an alternative date for outdoor events interrupted by rain.

Amazingly the quite complex phrase, always used as an insult, “doesn’t know enough to come in out of the rain’ is recorded as early as 1590.

Rain gauge, that instrument which measures rainfall at a specific point and which you probably haven’t heard of since your school days, is found from 1769.

Nobody ‘rained on another’s parade’ until 1941.

It has been raining cats and dogs since 1738 – and earlier still, from around 1650, it rained dogs and polecats. (Well it would, of course!)

Nobody spoke of a rain cloud until around the end of the 18th century – which begs the question as to where they thought the rain came from?

Nothing was described as rainproof until 1788.

The rain forest is unrecorded before 1899, when it is deemed to have been a translation from the German Regenwald mentioned in A.F.Schimper’s work Pflanzengeographic.

Rainbows have been known since before the beginning of Old English, hence at least two millennia. The Saxons, who spoke Old English, also had the term scurboga or ‘showerbow’.

Rainbow trout are first recorded as such in 1876.

Raincoats are first seen in 1821…..

…. which is 37 years before anyone wrote down ‘rainfall’….

…. and 17 years after ‘rainstorm’ is first recorded.

Rain check was first seen in 1884 and described a ticket given to a spectator who could claim a refund or admission to a replayed game postponed through rain.

Sun Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘cloud’ and now look at ‘sun’.

Under the sun – as in anywhere in the world – is first seen as early as the late 12th century.

The sun never sets is a Spanish phrase quickly translated to English and both dating from around the 1630s.

Having one’s ‘place in the sun’ first appears in English in the translation of Pascal’s Pensees.

The ‘sun is over the foreyard’ (note not the yard arm) is first seen in the 17th century, it marking the time it is traditionally acceptable to have the first alcoholic drink of the day – roughly corresponds to noon.

While ‘basking in the sun’ is found from the middle of the 15th century ….

….. it took until 1821 for suntan to become a verb, and until 1888 as a noun.

Sun tan oil is not seen until 1934.

Sun dress is first recorded in 1937 in an advertisement, prior to that (since 1929) the term had been ‘sun back dress’.

Sundials are first seen in the 1590s – at least the term is – for the technology had been known for centuries. Prior to this they were simply referred to as ‘dials’.

Sun-drying of fruit and vegetables is not a new thing by any means, the term has been in use since the 1630s and the process for millennia.

Sun dance, the movement not the film character, has only been recorded since 1849 – undoubtedly dances to herald and praise the sun must have been around since before recorded history, but not referred to as sun dances.

Sun tanning may be a fairly modern phrase, but sun bathing has been around since 1866 in a cosmetic sense and since 1600 for therapeutic purposes.

Sun wake is the rays of the setting sun glinting on the water. Sailors would claim a narrow wake signaled good weather, with bad weather forecast by a broad wake.

Nobody wore a sun bonnet, that with a projection in front to protect the face and another to protect the neck, until 1837.

Think the sun lamp is a new invention? Nope, first named in 1885.

Sun worship, in the religious sense, is first used to describe such in 1670; but the phrase to refer to one who habitually sun bathes is not seen until 1941.

Sunburn has been described since 1520, at least in the modern sense, prior to that it referred to drying out (usually bricks) under the suns rays.

Sunset is seen from the late 14th century; for the Saxons the word was sunnansetlgong while sunset for them simply meant ‘the west’.

Sunrise is seen from the middle of the 15th century, prior to that it was used to mean ‘the east’.

Ride off into the sunset, the stereotypical ending for a Hollywood Western production, is unheard of before 1963.