PADDY WAGON...a vehicle used by police to transport a group of prisoners, was first used in NYC street slang in 1930 because so many of both police and miscreants were Irish.
Up to about 1946, Northern black people often used 'paddy' for any white person.
PADDY..."an Irishman", was first used in England in 1780, derived from the Gaelic proper name Padraig, English Patrick.
WAGON...In English, here is a case of a foreign word displacing the English word. "Wagon" came into English from the Dutch "wagen", meaning any wheeled vehicle. By 1600, it had replaced the Old English word with the same meaning, WAIN. However, you may still see wain in poetry, as it's easier to rhyme than wagon is.
The constellation we call the Great bear or the Big Dipper is sometimes called "The Wain" as it resembles an old wagon.
Word Origins
COP...for such a small word, it has a large and complicated history. It's a shortened form of the British infinitive 'copper', "to seize". It came from the Latin capere, "to take". "Copper", 'a policeman, one who seizes', was first used as a noun in Engand in 1846, first shortened to "cop" in literature, 1859. The words quickly gained acceptance in the USA shortly after. Contrary to popular belief, it did NOT come from the large copper badges worn by some police.
COP A PLEA...to "seize" the opportunity to plead guilty to a lesser charge, first entered American legal jargon in 1925. "Cop out" was derived from this in 1942. The original meaning of seize or take hasn't faded from slang just yet. Dopers still say "cop some stuff" or "cop a score" for obtaining a drug.
COPPER the metal, got its name from the island of Cyprus, called "Cupra" by the Romans, where copper was mined extensively during the "Bronze Age". It has nothing to do with the verb.
COP A PLEA...to "seize" the opportunity to plead guilty to a lesser charge, first entered American legal jargon in 1925. "Cop out" was derived from this in 1942. The original meaning of seize or take hasn't faded from slang just yet. Dopers still say "cop some stuff" or "cop a score" for obtaining a drug.
COPPER the metal, got its name from the island of Cyprus, called "Cupra" by the Romans, where copper was mined extensively during the "Bronze Age". It has nothing to do with the verb.
Most of us know the origins of many common racial or ethnic slurs, coined by various peoples for people who "aren't us". However, there's a common one whose origin remains a mystery...
HONKY...a derogatory term for a white person. I have asked many a black person about this, and the closest they could come was that it was first used in 1967, and POSSIBLY came from 'honky -tonk', a cheap bar, usually patronized by whites only in the past. Honky was used in the South as a term for a factory worker after 1945, but it included black workers also.
HONKY-TONK first recorded as 'honk-a-tonk' in 1894, was so-called after the player-piano music often used in them. The music later played live in these cheap dives was called 'honky-tonk' beginning 1924. Any more, it refers mostly to lower-class bars with a more-or-less country theme.
HONKY...a derogatory term for a white person. I have asked many a black person about this, and the closest they could come was that it was first used in 1967, and POSSIBLY came from 'honky -tonk', a cheap bar, usually patronized by whites only in the past. Honky was used in the South as a term for a factory worker after 1945, but it included black workers also.
HONKY-TONK first recorded as 'honk-a-tonk' in 1894, was so-called after the player-piano music often used in them. The music later played live in these cheap dives was called 'honky-tonk' beginning 1924. Any more, it refers mostly to lower-class bars with a more-or-less country theme.
DAVY JONES' LOCKER..."the bottom of the sea", comes from a 1751 novel, The Adventures of Peregrin Pickle, by Scottish author Tobias Smollett(1721-1771). He portrayed Davy Jones as a sea fiend who presided over many disasters at sea, and over storms & hurricanes. The term 'Davy Jones' locker' first appeared in British sailor jargon in 1803.
BTW, Smollett made and published the first English translation of Cervantes' Don Quixote in 1755.
BTW, Smollett made and published the first English translation of Cervantes' Don Quixote in 1755.
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Humble Pie
The term humble pie (or alternatively umble pie) dates from the 17th century. It comes from umbles or numbles, which mean the internal organs of an animal. An umble pie was therefore originally a pie made from the organ meat of an animal. From Kenelm Digby's The Closet of Sir K.D. Opened, written before 1648:
To season Humble-Pyes.
In the 19th century the term acquired the modern sense of submission or humility. This sense is certainly a play on the earlier sense of a meat dish coupled with the sense of humble meaning humility. From Robert Forby's 1830 The Vocabulary of East Anglia:
"To make one eat humble pie"—i.e. To make him lower his tone, and be submissive. It may possibly be derived from the umbles of the deer, which were the perquisite of the huntsman; and if so, it should be written umble-pie, the food of inferiors.
Humble, meaning dismissive of one's abilities, derives from the Old French umble and eventually traces back to the Latin humilem and humus (earth). From a Kentish sermon written c.1250:
Ure lord god almichti . . . thurch his grace maked of tho euele manne good man, of the orgeilus umble.
Umbles, the meat, derives from the Old French numbles which in turn comes from the Latin lumbus meaning loin. Its English usage dates to the 15th century. From Babees Book, c.1475:
Brawne with mustard, umblys of a dere or of a sepe.
The term humble pie (or alternatively umble pie) dates from the 17th century. It comes from umbles or numbles, which mean the internal organs of an animal. An umble pie was therefore originally a pie made from the organ meat of an animal. From Kenelm Digby's The Closet of Sir K.D. Opened, written before 1648:
To season Humble-Pyes.
In the 19th century the term acquired the modern sense of submission or humility. This sense is certainly a play on the earlier sense of a meat dish coupled with the sense of humble meaning humility. From Robert Forby's 1830 The Vocabulary of East Anglia:
"To make one eat humble pie"—i.e. To make him lower his tone, and be submissive. It may possibly be derived from the umbles of the deer, which were the perquisite of the huntsman; and if so, it should be written umble-pie, the food of inferiors.
Humble, meaning dismissive of one's abilities, derives from the Old French umble and eventually traces back to the Latin humilem and humus (earth). From a Kentish sermon written c.1250:
Ure lord god almichti . . . thurch his grace maked of tho euele manne good man, of the orgeilus umble.
Umbles, the meat, derives from the Old French numbles which in turn comes from the Latin lumbus meaning loin. Its English usage dates to the 15th century. From Babees Book, c.1475:
Brawne with mustard, umblys of a dere or of a sepe.
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French Kiss
A French kiss is an open-mouthed kiss with tongue. It's first recorded as verb. From Linder's Letters of 1918:
A sort of liaison between tongues (not to be confused with French kissing).
But why French? The French have been associated with sexual practices dating back to the 18th century. From Henry Fielding's 1749 Tom Jones:
I am so far from desiring to exhibit such Pictures to the Public, that I would wish to draw a Curtain over those . . . in certain French novels.
In this case, Fielding was writing about risque novels that were literally French. By the mid-19th century, the figurative sense was well established. From Robert Browning's 1842 Bells and Pomegranates:
My scrofulous French novel On grey paper with blunt type!
A French kiss is an open-mouthed kiss with tongue. It's first recorded as verb. From Linder's Letters of 1918:
A sort of liaison between tongues (not to be confused with French kissing).
But why French? The French have been associated with sexual practices dating back to the 18th century. From Henry Fielding's 1749 Tom Jones:
I am so far from desiring to exhibit such Pictures to the Public, that I would wish to draw a Curtain over those . . . in certain French novels.
In this case, Fielding was writing about risque novels that were literally French. By the mid-19th century, the figurative sense was well established. From Robert Browning's 1842 Bells and Pomegranates:
My scrofulous French novel On grey paper with blunt type!
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Jerry-Built/Jury Rig
These two terms have different origins and different meanings, although they are becoming conflated in common usage.
Jerry-built, meaning shoddy construction, dates to 1869. From the 1869 Lonsdale Glossary:
Jerry-built, slightly, or unsubstantially built.
The origin of jerry-built is unknown. One assumes that it is somehow related to the name Jerry, but exactly how is not known.
Jury rig, while similar sounding, has a slightly different meaning, emphasizing the temporary nature of the solution and can imply an ingenious solution done with materials at hand. Jerry-built, on the other hand, is often used for a permanent, but poorly built, construction and has no positive connotation.
The origin of jury rig is nautical and is taken from the term jury mast. A jury mast is a temporary mast erected to hold sail when the normal mast has been lost due to storm or battle. From Captain John Smith's The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England and the Summer Isles, penned in 1616:
We had reaccommodated her a Iury mast, and the rest, to returne for Plimouth.
It is commonly thought that jury mast is a clipped form of injury mast, but no evidence of this longer term has been found. This form of jury is etymologically unrelated to the jury that sits in judgment at a trial.
The term jury rig itself appears in 1788. From Thomas Newte's A Tour in England and Scotland published in that year:
The ships to be jury rigged: that is, to have smaller masts, yards, and rigging, than would be required for actual service.
These two terms have different origins and different meanings, although they are becoming conflated in common usage.
Jerry-built, meaning shoddy construction, dates to 1869. From the 1869 Lonsdale Glossary:
Jerry-built, slightly, or unsubstantially built.
The origin of jerry-built is unknown. One assumes that it is somehow related to the name Jerry, but exactly how is not known.
Jury rig, while similar sounding, has a slightly different meaning, emphasizing the temporary nature of the solution and can imply an ingenious solution done with materials at hand. Jerry-built, on the other hand, is often used for a permanent, but poorly built, construction and has no positive connotation.
The origin of jury rig is nautical and is taken from the term jury mast. A jury mast is a temporary mast erected to hold sail when the normal mast has been lost due to storm or battle. From Captain John Smith's The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England and the Summer Isles, penned in 1616:
We had reaccommodated her a Iury mast, and the rest, to returne for Plimouth.
It is commonly thought that jury mast is a clipped form of injury mast, but no evidence of this longer term has been found. This form of jury is etymologically unrelated to the jury that sits in judgment at a trial.
The term jury rig itself appears in 1788. From Thomas Newte's A Tour in England and Scotland published in that year:
The ships to be jury rigged: that is, to have smaller masts, yards, and rigging, than would be required for actual service.
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Knight
This word for a horsed warrior has an interesting history. It is Germanic in origin, but its cognates in Dutch and German, Knecht, mean farm hand, boy, slave, and servitude—a far cry from the English sense of nobility.
The earliest English sense of knight, or more accurately cniht, is also servant or boy. It is recorded in King Alfred's Orosius, circa 893:
Philippus, tha he cniht wæs, wæs Thebanum to thisle theseald.
This sense fell out of use in the 13th century, probably to avoid confusion with the second, more modern sense.
The sense meaning nobility (corresponding to Dutch and German Ridder and Ritter, respectively) stems from the idea that the knight was a servant of the king. From the Old English Chronicle, written sometime before 1100:
Thænne wæron mid him ealle tha rice men..abbodas & eorlas, thethnas & cnihtas.
Thus in English, the servant became ennobled, while he remained low in the other Germanic languages.
Cavalier which is the literal equivalent of the Dutch or German words, dates to the 15th century and was adopted from the Spanish—hence the Latin root. While the denotation is the same as knight, the connotation is different. Cavalier was never an official title and its association with the supporters of Charles I in the English Civil War gave rise to the idea that cavaliers were noble, but distracted and careless.
This word for a horsed warrior has an interesting history. It is Germanic in origin, but its cognates in Dutch and German, Knecht, mean farm hand, boy, slave, and servitude—a far cry from the English sense of nobility.
The earliest English sense of knight, or more accurately cniht, is also servant or boy. It is recorded in King Alfred's Orosius, circa 893:
Philippus, tha he cniht wæs, wæs Thebanum to thisle theseald.
This sense fell out of use in the 13th century, probably to avoid confusion with the second, more modern sense.
The sense meaning nobility (corresponding to Dutch and German Ridder and Ritter, respectively) stems from the idea that the knight was a servant of the king. From the Old English Chronicle, written sometime before 1100:
Thænne wæron mid him ealle tha rice men..abbodas & eorlas, thethnas & cnihtas.
Thus in English, the servant became ennobled, while he remained low in the other Germanic languages.
Cavalier which is the literal equivalent of the Dutch or German words, dates to the 15th century and was adopted from the Spanish—hence the Latin root. While the denotation is the same as knight, the connotation is different. Cavalier was never an official title and its association with the supporters of Charles I in the English Civil War gave rise to the idea that cavaliers were noble, but distracted and careless.
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Tip
The popular explanation of the origin of tip, meaning a gratuity, is that it is an acronym meaning "to insure promptness." This is incorrect.
Tip is underworld cant meaning to pass on, to hand to, especially to pass on a small sum of money. It dates to at least 1610. The verb meaning to give a gratuity dates to about a century later, and the noun dates to at least 1755. And as we've seen many times in these pages, there are no pre-20th century acronymic word origins.
The popular explanation of the origin of tip, meaning a gratuity, is that it is an acronym meaning "to insure promptness." This is incorrect.
Tip is underworld cant meaning to pass on, to hand to, especially to pass on a small sum of money. It dates to at least 1610. The verb meaning to give a gratuity dates to about a century later, and the noun dates to at least 1755. And as we've seen many times in these pages, there are no pre-20th century acronymic word origins.
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Sideburns
Sideburns are whiskers that are worn on the sides of a man's face, especially when the beard on the chin is shaved. The term is an alteration of the name of General A.E. Burnside (1824-81), a Union general in the US Civil War more famed for his whiskers than his abilities on the battlefield.
The term burnsides, referring to a style of whiskers worn by the general consisting of mutton-chop whiskers on the sides of the face, a moustache, and a clean-shaven chin, occurs
Sideburns are whiskers that are worn on the sides of a man's face, especially when the beard on the chin is shaved. The term is an alteration of the name of General A.E. Burnside (1824-81), a Union general in the US Civil War more famed for his whiskers than his abilities on the battlefield.
The term burnsides, referring to a style of whiskers worn by the general consisting of mutton-chop whiskers on the sides of the face, a moustache, and a clean-shaven chin, occurs
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The Whole Shebang
What is a shebang? And how did it come to mean an entirety of something? A shebang, or chebang, is a hut or dwelling. Its of unknown origin and dates to the early 1860s. Mark Twain, in an 1869 letter to his publisher, is the first to use the phrase the whole chebang in its modern sense of the entirety. The transition from building (and everything in it) to the whole thing is a pretty natural one.
What is a shebang? And how did it come to mean an entirety of something? A shebang, or chebang, is a hut or dwelling. Its of unknown origin and dates to the early 1860s. Mark Twain, in an 1869 letter to his publisher, is the first to use the phrase the whole chebang in its modern sense of the entirety. The transition from building (and everything in it) to the whole thing is a pretty natural one.
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Pagan
While the etymology is very different, this word developed in a similar semantic pattern as heathen.
The English word pagan is from the Latin paganus or someone who lives in a rural district, or pagus. In Latin, the word meant a villager or rustic, and was also used as an antonym for miles, or soldier.
The term appears in English in the 14th century. In English usage, it means a non-Christian, or someone who is not a soldier of Christ, a sense that had developed in the Latin by the 4th century AD.
While the etymology is very different, this word developed in a similar semantic pattern as heathen.
The English word pagan is from the Latin paganus or someone who lives in a rural district, or pagus. In Latin, the word meant a villager or rustic, and was also used as an antonym for miles, or soldier.
The term appears in English in the 14th century. In English usage, it means a non-Christian, or someone who is not a soldier of Christ, a sense that had developed in the Latin by the 4th century AD.
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Caucus
A caucus is a meeting in which leaders and insiders set the agenda and policy of a larger organization or select candidates for office. It also can be used as a verb meaning to meet in a caucus.
The etymology is uncertain and there are several competing hypotheses. It has been claimed to date to before 1736, but the first recorded use of the term is from 1763 in John Adams's diary:
This day learned that the caucus club meets, at certain times, in the garret of Tom Dawes.
It is likely that this Caucus Club formed the basis for use of the word, but where did the members of the club get the name?
Perhaps the most likely explanation is that it comes from the Algonquin caucasasu, meaning an advisor. The form and sense fit and the adoption of native names for such organizations was a common practice. We don't, however, know this to be true in this case.
Another possibility is that it comes from a medieval Latin word caucus, meaning a tankard or drinking cup, a reference to some of the activities of the club.
Other possible, but less likely, explanations include a derivation from the name of the Boston neighborhood of West Corcus or to meetings of Boston ship-builders, or caulkers. These are really just speculation with no evidence to support them.
An explanation that is sometimes offered but that is certainly false is that caucus is an acronym for a group of eighteenth century, American politicians: Cooper, Adams, Urann, Coulson, Urann, and Symmes. Besides the usual objection that acronymic derivations are almost invariably incorrect and that there are no examples of acronymic word origins prior to the late 19th century and these are vanishingly rare until the 20th, these men are simply not likely candidates to give birth to such a common word. With the exception of Adams, they are all very obscure and Thomas Urann had to be listed twice to make the acronym work.
A caucus is a meeting in which leaders and insiders set the agenda and policy of a larger organization or select candidates for office. It also can be used as a verb meaning to meet in a caucus.
The etymology is uncertain and there are several competing hypotheses. It has been claimed to date to before 1736, but the first recorded use of the term is from 1763 in John Adams's diary:
This day learned that the caucus club meets, at certain times, in the garret of Tom Dawes.
It is likely that this Caucus Club formed the basis for use of the word, but where did the members of the club get the name?
Perhaps the most likely explanation is that it comes from the Algonquin caucasasu, meaning an advisor. The form and sense fit and the adoption of native names for such organizations was a common practice. We don't, however, know this to be true in this case.
Another possibility is that it comes from a medieval Latin word caucus, meaning a tankard or drinking cup, a reference to some of the activities of the club.
Other possible, but less likely, explanations include a derivation from the name of the Boston neighborhood of West Corcus or to meetings of Boston ship-builders, or caulkers. These are really just speculation with no evidence to support them.
An explanation that is sometimes offered but that is certainly false is that caucus is an acronym for a group of eighteenth century, American politicians: Cooper, Adams, Urann, Coulson, Urann, and Symmes. Besides the usual objection that acronymic derivations are almost invariably incorrect and that there are no examples of acronymic word origins prior to the late 19th century and these are vanishingly rare until the 20th, these men are simply not likely candidates to give birth to such a common word. With the exception of Adams, they are all very obscure and Thomas Urann had to be listed twice to make the acronym work.
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Nightingale
The name for this songbird is from the Old English nehtægale, which appears in the Corpus Glossary manuscript from c.725. A modern spelling of the Old English would be nightgale. It's a compound of night + galan (to sing). So a nightingale is a bird that sings at night.
The modern form nightingale appears c. 1275 in The Owl and the Nightingale:
An hule and one nigtingale. [One manuscript has it as nyhtegale]
The name for this songbird is from the Old English nehtægale, which appears in the Corpus Glossary manuscript from c.725. A modern spelling of the Old English would be nightgale. It's a compound of night + galan (to sing). So a nightingale is a bird that sings at night.
The modern form nightingale appears c. 1275 in The Owl and the Nightingale:
An hule and one nigtingale. [One manuscript has it as nyhtegale]
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John Bull
John Bull is the English equivalent of Uncle Sam, a personification of England and the English people.
The term dates to 1712 and first appears as a character in John Arbuthnot's satire The Law Is a Bottomless Pit. By the end of the 18th century, John Bull was being used as a metaphor for England. From a 1778 letter from John Adams to his wife, Abigail:
France . . . assisted the American cause, for which John Bull abused and fought her. But John will come off wretchedly.
The familiar appearance dates to the nineteenth century and the cartoons by John Tenniel (perhaps most famous for his illustrations for Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland).
John Bull is the English equivalent of Uncle Sam, a personification of England and the English people.
The term dates to 1712 and first appears as a character in John Arbuthnot's satire The Law Is a Bottomless Pit. By the end of the 18th century, John Bull was being used as a metaphor for England. From a 1778 letter from John Adams to his wife, Abigail:
France . . . assisted the American cause, for which John Bull abused and fought her. But John will come off wretchedly.
The familiar appearance dates to the nineteenth century and the cartoons by John Tenniel (perhaps most famous for his illustrations for Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland).
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Lynch
This US slang term meaning to summarily execute someone by hanging comes from a Captain William Lynch (1742-1820) of Pittsylvania, Virginia. In 1780, Lynch led a group of vigilantes, combating crime in the Pittsylvania region. Lynch's preferred punishment was flogging, and the early uses of the term lynch law did not imply hanging. Lynch law first appears in the writings of an Andrew Ellicott from 1811:
Captain Lynch just mentioned was the author of the Lynch laws so well known and so frequently carried into effect some years ago in the southern States in violation of every principle of justice and jurisprudence.
The verb to lynch dates to at least 1835, when it appears in the St. Louis Bulletin of 21 October:
They were soundly flogged, or in other words, Lynched, and set on the opposite side of the river, with the positive assurance that, if they were again found with the limits of the state of Missouri, their fate would be, death by hanging.
There are many different tales of the origin, each promulgating a different Lynch as the genesis of the word. But it is clear from the evidence that William Lynch is the origin. Some of the others are worth mentioning though.
There was a Judge Charles Lynch (1736-96) who presided over a court in Pittsylvania, Virginia (again) that held trials of Tory sympathizers during the American Revolution. But his was a formally constituted court and not mob justice. It is not known whether he is related to William Lynch, although it seems likely that he was.
Some contend that the word is a reference to an incident in Galway, Ireland in 1493. According to local lore, the mayor of Galway, James Lynch FitzStephen, hanged his own son for murder in that year. Whether or not the incident actually took place is a matter of debate, but what is not in question is that this incident is not the origin of the word. There is no evidence linking the word lynch to this Galway incident.
This US slang term meaning to summarily execute someone by hanging comes from a Captain William Lynch (1742-1820) of Pittsylvania, Virginia. In 1780, Lynch led a group of vigilantes, combating crime in the Pittsylvania region. Lynch's preferred punishment was flogging, and the early uses of the term lynch law did not imply hanging. Lynch law first appears in the writings of an Andrew Ellicott from 1811:
Captain Lynch just mentioned was the author of the Lynch laws so well known and so frequently carried into effect some years ago in the southern States in violation of every principle of justice and jurisprudence.
The verb to lynch dates to at least 1835, when it appears in the St. Louis Bulletin of 21 October:
They were soundly flogged, or in other words, Lynched, and set on the opposite side of the river, with the positive assurance that, if they were again found with the limits of the state of Missouri, their fate would be, death by hanging.
There are many different tales of the origin, each promulgating a different Lynch as the genesis of the word. But it is clear from the evidence that William Lynch is the origin. Some of the others are worth mentioning though.
There was a Judge Charles Lynch (1736-96) who presided over a court in Pittsylvania, Virginia (again) that held trials of Tory sympathizers during the American Revolution. But his was a formally constituted court and not mob justice. It is not known whether he is related to William Lynch, although it seems likely that he was.
Some contend that the word is a reference to an incident in Galway, Ireland in 1493. According to local lore, the mayor of Galway, James Lynch FitzStephen, hanged his own son for murder in that year. Whether or not the incident actually took place is a matter of debate, but what is not in question is that this incident is not the origin of the word. There is no evidence linking the word lynch to this Galway incident.
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Two Bits
One of the more frequently asked questions on this site's discussion group is where the term two bits comes from. Most people know that two bits are worth 25 cents, but the origin is a mystery to them.
Bit, which ultimately comes from the Old English bita, originally meant a morsel of food. From there it went on to denote any small thing, particularly a fraction of a larger whole. By the beginning of the 17th century, bit had become a theives' cant term for money. In 1607, Thomas Dekker, a comic writer of the day, penned the following:
If they . . . once knew where the bung and the bit is . . . your purse and the money.
By 1683 in the English-speaking American colonies bit had come to specifically denote a Spanish/Mexican real, or one eighth of a peso (the famed pieces of eight). The Colonial Records of Pennsylvania of that year records the following:
Their Abuse to ye Governmt, in Quining of Spanish Bitts and Boston money.
The Spanish peso was a common form of currency in the colonies. And in the early days of the United States, pesos were commonly used as dollar coins and real coins represented twelve and half cents, hence two bits equaled 25 cents.
One of the more frequently asked questions on this site's discussion group is where the term two bits comes from. Most people know that two bits are worth 25 cents, but the origin is a mystery to them.
Bit, which ultimately comes from the Old English bita, originally meant a morsel of food. From there it went on to denote any small thing, particularly a fraction of a larger whole. By the beginning of the 17th century, bit had become a theives' cant term for money. In 1607, Thomas Dekker, a comic writer of the day, penned the following:
If they . . . once knew where the bung and the bit is . . . your purse and the money.
By 1683 in the English-speaking American colonies bit had come to specifically denote a Spanish/Mexican real, or one eighth of a peso (the famed pieces of eight). The Colonial Records of Pennsylvania of that year records the following:
Their Abuse to ye Governmt, in Quining of Spanish Bitts and Boston money.
The Spanish peso was a common form of currency in the colonies. And in the early days of the United States, pesos were commonly used as dollar coins and real coins represented twelve and half cents, hence two bits equaled 25 cents.
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Five-By-Five
Often in old war movies you'll hear a radio operator say, "I read you five-by-five." What does this mean?
The operator in question is ranking the voice transmission on a scale of one to five in two categories, strength and clarity. So, five-by-five is loud and clear and one-by-one would be weak and unintelligible. From Evan Hunter's 1954 Blackboard Jungle:
"All right, testing, one-two-three-four." . . . "Five by five, Mr. Halloran!"
By the 1980s, it had acquired a general slang sense of okay, fine. From Rick Eilert's 1983 For Self and Country:
"I hope everything's all right."
"Yeah, everything is five by five."
Often in old war movies you'll hear a radio operator say, "I read you five-by-five." What does this mean?
The operator in question is ranking the voice transmission on a scale of one to five in two categories, strength and clarity. So, five-by-five is loud and clear and one-by-one would be weak and unintelligible. From Evan Hunter's 1954 Blackboard Jungle:
"All right, testing, one-two-three-four." . . . "Five by five, Mr. Halloran!"
By the 1980s, it had acquired a general slang sense of okay, fine. From Rick Eilert's 1983 For Self and Country:
"I hope everything's all right."
"Yeah, everything is five by five."
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BubbleGumTiger
- SEOPS Hippo
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Grandfather Clause
A grandfather clause is an exception to a rule that allows someone who previously had the right to do something to continue doing it even though the law forbids it to others. For example, when I turned nineteen, the state of New Jersey allowed me to drink alcohol. Later than year, they raised the drinking age to twenty-one, but since I was already of legal drinking age, I was grandfathered at that young age and could continue to legally consume alcoholic beverages. But why grandfather?
The term comes from discriminatory practices of certain Southern states against blacks. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, some Southern states had laws requiring payment of a poll tax or taking of a literacy test before one could vote. The poor and illiterate were denied the right to vote. This would have been a race-neutral measure except for clauses in the state constitutions that exempted someone from poll taxes or literacy tests if their grandfather had had the right to vote. This meant that virtually all whites, whose grandfathers could vote before the imposition of these laws, were allowed to vote, while most blacks were denied the right to vote. Over the years, the term has lost the racial stigma and no longer connotes racial bias.
From the NY Times, 3 August 1899:
It provides, too, that the descendents of any one competent to vote in 1867 may vote now regardless of existing conditions. It is known as the "grandfather's clause."
The verb form, to grandfather, is more recent, dating to 1953. From the Kentucky Revised Statutes of that year:
All certificates or permits grandfathered shall be subject to the same limitations and restrictions.
A grandfather clause is an exception to a rule that allows someone who previously had the right to do something to continue doing it even though the law forbids it to others. For example, when I turned nineteen, the state of New Jersey allowed me to drink alcohol. Later than year, they raised the drinking age to twenty-one, but since I was already of legal drinking age, I was grandfathered at that young age and could continue to legally consume alcoholic beverages. But why grandfather?
The term comes from discriminatory practices of certain Southern states against blacks. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, some Southern states had laws requiring payment of a poll tax or taking of a literacy test before one could vote. The poor and illiterate were denied the right to vote. This would have been a race-neutral measure except for clauses in the state constitutions that exempted someone from poll taxes or literacy tests if their grandfather had had the right to vote. This meant that virtually all whites, whose grandfathers could vote before the imposition of these laws, were allowed to vote, while most blacks were denied the right to vote. Over the years, the term has lost the racial stigma and no longer connotes racial bias.
From the NY Times, 3 August 1899:
It provides, too, that the descendents of any one competent to vote in 1867 may vote now regardless of existing conditions. It is known as the "grandfather's clause."
The verb form, to grandfather, is more recent, dating to 1953. From the Kentucky Revised Statutes of that year:
All certificates or permits grandfathered shall be subject to the same limitations and restrictions.