WEBVTT - Interesting Origins of Everyday Phrases 0:00:01.480 --> 0:00:04.280 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know, a production of I 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:13.319 Heart Radio. Hey you, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, 0:00:13.360 --> 0:00:15.880 and there's Chuck and Jerry's here too, and this is 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:18.880 a good old fashioned episode of Stuff you Should Know. 0:00:19.800 --> 0:00:22.600 That's right. But before you get going, we want to 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:26.920 make a plea to cough up just a little bit 0:00:26.960 --> 0:00:28.960 of dough for our friends at co ED. If you 0:00:28.960 --> 0:00:32.040 don't know our friends at Cooperative for Education who break 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:35.240 the cycle of poverty in Guatemala through education. We're trying 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:38.280 to get to a million bucks donated by the Stuff 0:00:38.280 --> 0:00:42.120 you Should Know family notary. This is the family sure, 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:45.120 and we're getting close. So where can they go to 0:00:45.159 --> 0:00:49.840 do that? They can go to Cooperative for Education dot 0:00:49.960 --> 0:00:53.920 org slash s y s K and every little bit helps. 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:57.440 Large donation, small donation doesn't matter because they're all going 0:00:57.480 --> 0:00:59.960 to be pulled together and get us to one million 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:02.760 dollars donated from Stuff you Should Know listeners, which would 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:06.120 be great. And you got a little piece of housekeeping, right. Yes, 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:09.720 I wanted to thank a guy named Daniel Murgatroyd who 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:13.679 is a rather talented painter who a while back noticed 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:19.080 a picture of um Momo that I posted on Instagram, 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:22.000 and he offered to paint it, and he sent me 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:26.400 a straight up amazing oil painting that looks just like 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:29.440 the photograph. So we have a wonderful oil painting of MO. 0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:31.600 And I just wanted to thank him for that and 0:01:31.640 --> 0:01:35.040 tell everybody to go check him out on Instagram. Daniel 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:39.039 Murgatroyd art m u r g a t r o 0:01:39.440 --> 0:01:43.200 y d art. Uh. He's really really good. So and 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:45.360 I think he might be accepting commissions by the one. 0:01:45.760 --> 0:01:48.440 I'm gonna check that out. No Marvin Martian jokes, I 0:01:48.480 --> 0:01:51.760 promise no. I always think of jam on it um. 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:55.920 I think that's one of the little Gremlin's sisters. His 0:01:56.000 --> 0:01:59.080 named Murgatroyd. I always think of Marvin Martian. Have inster 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:02.360 margat Troyd. Oh, yeah, that's right. I forgot about him. 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:04.680 I was never a big fan of his. He was creepy. 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:08.919 I liked him. Okay, we also need to shout out 0:02:08.960 --> 0:02:13.240 Worldwide Words. If you've never been on Worldwide Words website, 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:16.320 it's amazing. The guy Michael Quinlan who ran the site 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:20.359 is he just really did some amazing work of digging 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:23.600 up word origins and etymology and all that and then 0:02:23.639 --> 0:02:25.640 Graham Arst. There is another really good site that we 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:28.520 drew from, among many others, but those two were the 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:30.959 ones who deserve the biggest shout outs. Yeah, we've done 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:33.600 something like this before, and I think every couple of 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:36.880 years will probably throw out another word in phrase origin 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:40.240 episode because it's always fun to look at this stuff. 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:44.360 I'm an enthusiast of phrase origins. We're gonna kick it 0:02:44.400 --> 0:02:48.680 off with the old on the wagon phrase. You were 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:52.360 on the wagon that means you're not drinking, you are sober. 0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:54.840 I can't have that drink, man, I'm on the wagon 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:58.680 right right. And this one's awesome because we actually know 0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:02.919 pretty much with a of percent certainty where it came from. UM. 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:05.080 But first, before we get to that, let's talk about 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:07.919 a couple of competing theories. One of them is from 0:03:07.919 --> 0:03:12.359 our friends across the pond in the UK who apparently, UM, 0:03:12.400 --> 0:03:14.959 back in the day, if you were being taken to jail, 0:03:15.400 --> 0:03:18.200 or you were being taken to the gallows, you would 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:22.000 be taken by wagon or cart and the very gracious 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:26.280 constable or jailer would stop at a pub and let 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:28.359 you have one last drink. And then after you had 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:31.640 that drink, you would get back on the wagon never 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:35.080 to drink again. That's right, because you're about to go 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:39.080 get your head chopped off, right, So I don't even 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:42.360 know if that happened, but whether it did or not, 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:45.760 it it's not the origin of on the wagon, Sorry, 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:48.560 britt friends. It's a good one though, and it's funny. 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:53.160 Anytime you do research on phrase origins, there are always 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:57.160 a lot of competing theories and a lot of them 0:03:57.200 --> 0:04:00.000 sound really fun and you will probably repeat some of them, 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:02.800 but a lot of them aren't true. No, but these 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:05.200 are vetted. Man. We we really worked hard to make 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:09.320 sure that this one really really is accurate. Alright, So 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:13.120 moving on a little closer, but not quite there. This 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:16.600 sort of dances around the true origin. But this one 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:19.000 takes us to America. We don't have to go across 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:23.480 any pond because we're here already. And the Temperance Movement 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:26.600 is what we're speaking of. Where uh, if you listen 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:29.800 to our episode on What's it call it? When they 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:33.400 get rid of all the booze prohibition prohibition it was 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:35.520 led by the Temperance movement, which was a movement of 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:40.479 uptight people who said you shouldn't drink no one should drink, 0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:43.200 and we're gonna make uh it really hard for you 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:46.960 to drink. So the Temperance Movement was really happening, and 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:51.200 they would go through towns at times preaching abstinence and 0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:55.240 literally like parading through town, and they would almost like 0:04:55.440 --> 0:05:00.480 a church invitation, would call people, uh, to take a pledge, 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:02.640 like come up and take the pledge and say you're 0:05:02.680 --> 0:05:06.680 not going to drink this devil's juice anymore, and sign 0:05:06.760 --> 0:05:10.080 this thing swearing that you're never gonna take a drink again. 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:12.839 And here after you signed it, why don't you just 0:05:12.960 --> 0:05:15.440 jump on this wagon. We're riding around on through town 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:19.279 and you can beckon others to do the same. And 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:24.919 that is where the origin of on the wagon came from. 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:28.119 Always such a good actor. Uh, not quite. It's good 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:30.920 and it's close again, it dances near it, but that's 0:05:31.040 --> 0:05:34.760 not quite right, right right? Uh. It turns out it 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:37.039 did have to do with the Temperance Movement and their 0:05:37.040 --> 0:05:39.760 pledge and people taking the pledge, but it wasn't a 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:42.080 parade wagon that was being referenced. It was what was 0:05:42.120 --> 0:05:45.320 called a water wagon or a water cart. And back 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:47.680 in the day around the time of the Last Turn 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:49.840 of the century. There are lots of towns out there 0:05:49.880 --> 0:05:52.720 that had just nothing but a dusty dirt street. There 0:05:52.760 --> 0:05:56.360 was no pavement, no oyster shells, no cobblestones, something like that. 0:05:56.960 --> 0:06:00.240 And on dry days that dirt could turn to dust 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:02.920 and blow in your face. So the water cart would 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:06.600 be a cart of non potable water, non drinkable water 0:06:06.960 --> 0:06:09.400 that a horse would draw that would just kind of 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:13.520 spray the road down to keep it from being dusty. Yeah, 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:18.160 that's what they call in the film business, a wet down. Sure, 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:20.920 they usually doing on asphalt streets to make it look 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:23.920 cooler at night, right, So, I don't know if they 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:26.719 did it for that, But this was more This was 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:29.760 more practical. But the point was the water in the 0:06:29.760 --> 0:06:32.360 water cart you did not want to drink. So when 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:35.200 somebody who signed the pledge said something like I'd rather 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:38.159 drink from the water wagon or the water cart rather 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:41.839 than take a strong drink. Again, that is the origin 0:06:42.160 --> 0:06:44.360 of I'm on the wagon. That's what they were saying, 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:46.960 is I would rather drink this nasty water than drink 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:50.320 a glass of whiskey. Again. Yeah, that's a good one. 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:53.600 I thought so too. And then water wagon became just 0:06:53.720 --> 0:06:57.080 the wagon, And apparently by four there was an article 0:06:57.120 --> 0:06:59.760 in the Davenport Daily Leader that said a man fell 0:06:59.800 --> 0:07:02.479 off the water wagon, and they felt obligated to say 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:05.000 this was a real water wagon, not the figurative one. 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:08.600 So it was at least right in widespread use by 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:12.200 I like that. I do too. That was a good one. 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:15.960 All right, Uh, this one, I guess we're just gonna 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:17.960 have to get into this because this one bothers me. 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:24.000 That is exception that proves the rule, because I fully 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:26.760 understand what this means and I get it, and I 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:30.200 didn't know anyone had any problem with the phrase the 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:33.440 exception that proves the rule? Oh really, so like the 0:07:33.440 --> 0:07:35.960 the original and proper use of it, that's what you 0:07:36.560 --> 0:07:38.680 that's the only one you're aware of. I mean, I 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:42.280 just I know, I feel like I know what it means, 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:48.400 and that I don't understand the confusion of what it means. Well, 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:51.760 let's explain what some people are confused by. So a 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:55.080 lot of people out there think that the phrase the 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:59.240 exception that proves the rule is talking about like an outlier, 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:03.680 an exception that by its very existence it shows that 0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:07.840 the rule that it's breaking is generally true. But that's it' 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:11.760 that's not it though. That's not correct, and it's actually 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:14.680 kind of nonsensical if you dig into it. I don't 0:08:14.720 --> 0:08:17.000 think so. I think that's how modern people use it. 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:20.040 I think this is a case of changing language. Yes, 0:08:20.320 --> 0:08:24.080 and I think it's very easily understood. Like if I 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:28.000 say I hate all mushrooms, but I like portobellos only, 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:32.040 then that is an exception that that generally proves the 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:35.240 rule that I hate all other mushrooms. Okay, but let 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:38.200 me under let me explain why it's actually nonsensical. Like, yes, 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:40.800 you're absolutely right, So so so many people use it like 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:43.520 that that it has come to mean that as well. 0:08:44.040 --> 0:08:46.840 But we're talking about like the original version, which is 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:49.520 still holds the same meaning to It's still a useful 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:52.880 way of using it. It's not like archaic or anequated, right, 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:55.160 But what I'm saying is, don't get your hopes up 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:58.640 that you're convince me that it's nonsensical. Okay, that's not 0:08:59.280 --> 0:09:02.280 perfect sense. Let me explain why you're wrong. So, um, 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:04.880 there's a there's an adage that you only have to 0:09:04.920 --> 0:09:08.520 find one white crow to disprove that all crows are black. 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:12.680 But does that mean that that one white crow also 0:09:12.840 --> 0:09:16.720 proves that crows in general are black. I would say no, 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:20.800 because how many white crows are out there? Right, it 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:24.840 doesn't mean anything. It just means the one thing that crows. 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:27.840 Not all crows are black. It doesn't. It doesn't show 0:09:27.960 --> 0:09:31.320 also that crows are generally black. That's why it's generally 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:35.720 considered nonsensical. Yeah, I'll buy it. There's a second way 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:38.640 to do it too. Um that that says, Um, that 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:43.160 really emphasizes the proves part. The exception proves the rule. 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:45.480 But they don't mean prove isn't like I proved it. 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:48.520 It's it's uh, it's inarguable. They meet it in the 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:52.480 scientific term of of test the validity of Yeah, that 0:09:53.000 --> 0:09:55.560 makes sense, but that's not what it was originally intended 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:59.120 to mean either though, Right. No. And another good example is, um, 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:02.720 let's say you have a rule that says you shouldn't 0:10:02.760 --> 0:10:06.840 put pants on horses, and an exception to that rule 0:10:06.920 --> 0:10:10.040 might test the validity the viability of that rule. So 0:10:10.280 --> 0:10:15.000 there's one guy who puts pants on a horse. Yeah, 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:18.880 that guy, the horse trips breaks a leg, and that 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:22.320 horse has just shown that that rule is pretty valid. 0:10:22.480 --> 0:10:25.120 That you shouldn't put pants on a horse, because that 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:29.440 rule protects horses makes sense way more sensical than the 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:33.199 one that that you subscribe to. But finally we reach Chuck, 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:38.080 the the original version, the original meaning of the exception 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:40.520 that proves the rule, and I think it's beautiful in 0:10:40.559 --> 0:10:43.040 its elegance. Well it is, and and I guess this 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:44.800 is how I used it with the mushrooms, and this 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:47.400 is how I always took it to mean, which was 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:51.480 the use of the phrase is basically that the presence 0:10:51.559 --> 0:10:58.000 of an exception proves that a rule exists. Okay, okay, yeah, 0:10:58.040 --> 0:11:01.120 I could see how you. There's an interpretation of your 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:06.079 mushroom statement that that that follows mushrooms. I hate them, 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:09.839 but I like Portobella's. That basically proves that I hate 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:15.200 all other mushrooms if I only like one. Yeah, okay, 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:17.920 so yeah, I think it's the phrasing of it that's 0:11:17.920 --> 0:11:21.640 throwing me off, because typically when you're using the exception 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:25.000 that proves the rule correctly, um. An example of it 0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:29.800 is UM free parking on Sundays like this one. This 0:11:29.920 --> 0:11:32.680 made my brain hurt. Okay, but listen, that's an exception 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:36.480 that suggests that, uh, there's a rule that all the 0:11:36.520 --> 0:11:38.319 other days of the week you have to pay to park. 0:11:38.800 --> 0:11:44.599 There's an exception that's posted that proves that a rule exists. Okay, 0:11:44.600 --> 0:11:47.640 no shirt, no shoes, no service. The fact that a 0:11:48.080 --> 0:11:53.000 store would feel obligated to post that sign suggests that 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:58.560 elsewhere you can wear go without shoes or a shirt. See. 0:11:58.600 --> 0:12:00.560 I don't know if I buy that. That to me 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:03.400 doesn't mean that. That to me means that at some 0:12:03.480 --> 0:12:07.120 point someone came in there without a shirt and people complained, 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:10.079 so they said, well, we gotta have a rule now, right, 0:12:10.120 --> 0:12:17.080 But that anything about other restaurants, I disagree. So, um, 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:19.120 that's but that's how that's how you're supposed to use. 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:21.679 And the reason why this is the original version is 0:12:21.720 --> 0:12:25.880 because it's actually it actually comes from medieval law. Yeah 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:29.240 it was. I believe there was a Latin phrase. I 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:36.400 love reading Latin acceptio probat regulum and cassibus non accept us. 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:40.960 The exception confirms the rule, and the cases not expected 0:12:42.040 --> 0:12:48.400 accepted accepted. What I say expected. I got a question 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:50.319 for you. Let's go back to no shirt, no shoes, 0:12:50.320 --> 0:12:53.040 no dice. Alright, So you're saying, if you walk into 0:12:53.080 --> 0:12:55.679 a restaurant and says no shirt, no shoes, no service. 0:12:56.240 --> 0:12:58.760 You would say, hey, I didn't see a sign at 0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:01.320 uh that so that must mean you can go in 0:13:01.320 --> 0:13:06.040 there without a shirt on. Uh. If I stopped and 0:13:06.080 --> 0:13:09.000 thought about it, yes, that logically makes sense, But I 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:11.320 don't think. I think you don't have to fixate on 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:14.480 other restaurants. It can just mean that other places in 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:17.320 public you could be without a shirt and a shoe 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:20.040 and you're not going to be arrested for it or 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:23.000 something like that. Okay, so like you got your shirt 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:26.679 tied around your waist your roller blade, and you stop 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:28.600 to go in to get some food. You take off 0:13:28.600 --> 0:13:31.800 your roller blades and you're now barefoot, but you gotta 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:34.280 put on that shirt and fish the flip flops out 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:39.439 of your back. Back excuse me, I My The point 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:42.160 was that this was supposed to be more understandable. I 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:44.920 think we made it at least ten times less understandable. 0:13:44.960 --> 0:13:47.079 All right, that's perfect. I think that means we should 0:13:47.080 --> 0:14:11.119 take a break. Alright, let's take a break, kids, sk' 0:14:12.360 --> 0:14:16.600 all right? That was fun. I think from here on 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:19.040 out it's gonna be pretty pretty easy going. I think 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:23.160 it's smooth sailing ahead because we move on to one 0:14:23.160 --> 0:14:25.800 of my favorite things that I said as a kid 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:28.600 that you don't say as much as an adult. I 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:31.240 don't feel like. But as a kid, when you smell 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:34.320 something that's a nasty a lot of times you'll go P. 0:14:34.840 --> 0:14:38.200 You you don't say that as an adult. Home No, 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:42.200 I say who farted? But I don't need to ask 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:46.560 because my daughter already had announced it. That's as PU 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:50.480 as in the letters PU. But they don't even mean anything. 0:14:50.520 --> 0:14:54.840 They don't stand for anything, right, yeah, which is pretty interesting. Um. 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:57.840 And if you think about PU, it's it's totally unnecessary. 0:14:57.880 --> 0:15:00.960 You can just say that smells awful, but by adding PU, 0:15:01.120 --> 0:15:03.880 it just puts a whole luster on it and really 0:15:03.920 --> 0:15:08.560 says that smells really bad. Um. So they don't stand 0:15:08.560 --> 0:15:12.280 for anything but P. And you in that order have 0:15:12.400 --> 0:15:18.120 a long standing association with something offensive or disgusting. Um. 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:21.080 And it goes all the way back to Latin. Actually 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:24.720 before Latin. There's a Latin word called puteo which means 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:27.840 I stink, which is probably not said that that frequently 0:15:27.880 --> 0:15:31.200 back then. And then um there's an even more ancient 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:36.440 word and from proto Indo European Um language, which is 0:15:36.680 --> 0:15:40.320 really really old p U h P. That meant rotten 0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:43.920 or foul, so that word has been around a really 0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:48.320 long time. Um, but again, PU doesn't stand for anything. 0:15:48.400 --> 0:15:52.200 It's just a total coincidence that those two letters put 0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:56.520 together in the English language make the same sound that 0:15:56.640 --> 0:16:01.240 humans typically make when we encounter something gross and nasty. Yeah, like, 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:04.480 you know, you think of the word putred has PU, 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:09.240 But it's all just coincidence. People say pew you know, 0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:11.440 spell it however you want, p y o O or 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:15.520 p e W. I guess even you can throw an 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:20.680 h in there. pH e w and PW just came PU. 0:16:20.760 --> 0:16:23.080 And I think this is a great thing to keep 0:16:23.080 --> 0:16:26.480 in your hip pocket. Like, I think it's genuinely interesting 0:16:26.520 --> 0:16:29.960 that PU is just a coincidence with the Latin and 0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:33.960 the proto Indo European such that you could even drop 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:37.840 some wolf bait at a dinner party and very quickly 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:41.360 like get out of the embarrassment by saying, well, here's 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:44.720 an opportunity, actually, did you know? And then all of 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:48.040 a sudden everyone's like, I don't even remember that you farted, right, 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:52.040 what's awesome to PU has only been in use since 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:55.960 like the nineteen fifties. Yeah, and it's in the O. E. 0:16:56.080 --> 0:17:02.120 D Rights in the Oxford English Dictionary spell pew and 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:04.439 that's where p you generally just thought to sort of 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:09.320 come from. That's right, Pugh. I like that one too, Chuck. 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:12.880 I'm gonna bring it back. Let's start, Okay, I think 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:16.000 we should because it is really great. Uh so too 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:20.640 is the next phrase, Chuck, burry the hatchet. Burry the hatchet? 0:17:20.680 --> 0:17:25.479 Now what does that mean? Uh? This is a really 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:30.080 good one. This is something that you say if like, 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:32.159 let's say you and I are having a big fight 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:35.600 and that eventually we're having a fight over what the 0:17:35.640 --> 0:17:39.400 exception that proves the rule? We're at logger heads, we say, 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:42.480 oh god, we gotta take a commercial break, which is 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:44.359 when we do our best fighting. And then in that 0:17:44.400 --> 0:17:46.960 commercial break, I might listen. Man. No, actually you say 0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:49.960 it because you're the peacemaker. You say, let's just bury 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:51.960 the hatchet here. This is a dumb thing to fight over, 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:56.000 And I say fine, and then that's it. We move on. 0:17:56.240 --> 0:17:58.920 Everything's good from that point on because the hatchet has 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:02.359 been buried. Yes, this him. It's a symbol of getting 0:18:02.480 --> 0:18:07.520 over an argument. Letting bygones be bygones. Right, Um, what's 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:10.600 interesting is that it actually started out with a really 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:14.679 literal meaning to the phrase bury the hatchet. Uh. And 0:18:14.720 --> 0:18:18.960 the whole thing comes from the Iroquois language family, better 0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:22.560 known by their own term the hawt in O'shawnee, which 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:26.600 means people of the long house. Iroquois was the French 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:29.399 name for for this group of people that included a 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:38.480 number of tribes up in the northeast, the Cayuga, Cherokee, Huron, Seneca, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, 0:18:38.560 --> 0:18:43.159 and Tuscarora, and their whole jams stretched from Lake Ontario 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:45.640 over to Pennsylvania and New York and all the way 0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:48.560 up to Ontario and Quebec, which means that they were 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:51.440 rubbing elbows with the French, British and the Dutch after 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:54.080 the Europeans started to come over, which also means that 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:57.080 ideas were able to spread among this group, which is 0:18:57.119 --> 0:19:00.600 why we're talking about bury the hatchet today. That's uh. 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:02.880 And if you and I think this is a very 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:08.480 great story, according to Iroquois legend um, there was a 0:19:08.560 --> 0:19:11.080 treaty for it by some members of this Iroquois family, 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:14.520 and they actually got it wrong. For many years. They 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:18.960 placed it at fourteen fifty one, but researchers at the 0:19:19.040 --> 0:19:24.760 University of Toledo go rockets, rockets almost said, mud, hen's 0:19:24.840 --> 0:19:30.840 not right, that's the team. Yeah. Uh. They got together 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:34.320 and used oral history and astronomy data and all sorts 0:19:34.320 --> 0:19:38.080 of great documentary resources and said, actually, hey, we know 0:19:38.119 --> 0:19:42.040 what it is. It was August thirty one, eleven forty two, 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:46.560 so much earlier than it was believed. But in this treaty, 0:19:46.600 --> 0:19:51.119 it's very cool what happened. They got the five original signatories, 0:19:51.119 --> 0:19:55.600 which were the Cayuga, the Oneida, the Mohawk, the Seneca, 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:58.960 and the Onondaga, and they formed what was known as 0:19:59.080 --> 0:20:05.200 the a josh Confederates hot in O'shawnee hot in Oshawni Confederacy. 0:20:05.880 --> 0:20:09.879 The French called it the Iroquois Confederacy, but it was 0:20:10.359 --> 0:20:14.160 it was an early model of democracy in action. Yeah. 0:20:14.200 --> 0:20:16.919 And if those University of Toledo scholars are right, and 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:19.800 the whole thing was established in eleven forty two, that 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:23.960 makes it one of the oldest continuously functioning democracies in 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:27.480 the world. It's up there with the Government of Iceland, 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:32.240 the Swiss Cantons, and I said, continuously operating. It's still 0:20:32.280 --> 0:20:35.040 functions as a government entity in Upstate New York and 0:20:35.119 --> 0:20:39.000 issues passports. So it's been going since possibly eleven forty two. 0:20:39.440 --> 0:20:41.600 And the whole reason we're talking about this is because 0:20:41.880 --> 0:20:45.120 at that meeting in eleven forty two of those five 0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:48.800 nations that came together to form a treaty to to 0:20:49.080 --> 0:20:53.119 the leaders of this um, this treaty UH meeting, I 0:20:53.160 --> 0:20:57.800 guess uh dagana Widah who is a Huron, and Hiawatha 0:20:57.840 --> 0:21:02.400 who is either a mohawk er and onondaga Um. They said, hey, everybody, 0:21:02.600 --> 0:21:05.200 just to kind of keep everything peaceful and on the level, 0:21:06.000 --> 0:21:09.080 let's all bury our weapons under this white pine tree 0:21:09.600 --> 0:21:13.399 and just leave them there during this meeting and we 0:21:13.440 --> 0:21:16.639 can dig them up afterward. But they couldn't dig them 0:21:16.760 --> 0:21:19.960 up chuck, could they. Now they thought this is a 0:21:20.040 --> 0:21:22.560 nice symbol, and it also has the side benefit that 0:21:23.080 --> 0:21:27.520 no one's gonna get murdered probably, And a river, an 0:21:27.600 --> 0:21:31.360 underground river, came and washed them away. And so they 0:21:31.400 --> 0:21:36.119 all said, hey, this is like kismet. I don't even 0:21:36.160 --> 0:21:38.720 know what that word means, but this was meant to be. 0:21:38.800 --> 0:21:42.280 We buried, literally buried our weapons and they were washed 0:21:42.280 --> 0:21:46.480 away underground. So this is a charmed treaty and a 0:21:46.560 --> 0:21:50.600 charmed joining of nations. So that whole practice spread pretty 0:21:50.680 --> 0:21:55.639 quickly among the Iroquois language family tribes. UM. Where Like 0:21:55.680 --> 0:21:58.000 if you were having like a peace treaty meeting like 0:21:58.040 --> 0:22:02.320 the two, the two groups would bury their their weapons 0:22:02.359 --> 0:22:06.440 of war. UM. And then like I said, the proximity 0:22:06.480 --> 0:22:09.320 of the Europeans allowed ideas to spread. And this was 0:22:09.400 --> 0:22:14.520 definitely one of them. Um, the Brits, the French, the Dutch, uh. 0:22:14.640 --> 0:22:18.240 Later on the Americans, they all actually like buried weapons 0:22:18.320 --> 0:22:22.000 when they were engaged in peace treaty talks with different 0:22:22.080 --> 0:22:25.680 Native American tribes. And what was interesting is that some 0:22:25.800 --> 0:22:28.719 Native American tribes that had nothing to do with the 0:22:28.760 --> 0:22:32.720 Iroquois had never probably even met iroquire hot in O'shawnee, 0:22:32.720 --> 0:22:38.240 I should say, Um, the Americans buried the hatchet with 0:22:38.480 --> 0:22:41.360 those tribes as well. So in that sense, the Americans 0:22:41.400 --> 0:22:45.639 actually spread Native American idea from one group to another 0:22:45.680 --> 0:22:48.359 group of Native Americans who had never even met. I 0:22:48.440 --> 0:22:51.440 find that fascinating totally Down here in the Southeast with 0:22:51.480 --> 0:22:55.440 the Chickasaw they were burying hatchets in Alabama and Mississippi. 0:22:56.240 --> 0:23:00.919 And yeah, it's pretty interesting how custom can spread like that. Uh. 0:23:01.440 --> 0:23:04.639 The seventeen nineties was basically when it became sort of 0:23:04.680 --> 0:23:09.280 a common phrase in North America among English speakers, and 0:23:09.760 --> 0:23:12.440 everyone still uses it, like people still say bury the hatchet. 0:23:13.119 --> 0:23:17.840 Why not bury the tomahawk. Well, that's a good question. Uh, 0:23:18.280 --> 0:23:20.000 you would think that a tomahawk would be a little 0:23:20.000 --> 0:23:25.000 more correct. But the tomahawk was I believe Algonquin. We 0:23:25.119 --> 0:23:29.000 talked about the Algonquin hotel recently, right, yeah, by Hyatt, 0:23:29.320 --> 0:23:38.720 that's right. Uh was a man this very symbolic. Uh, 0:23:38.720 --> 0:23:44.200 it was not an Iroquois word at all, so right, no, um. 0:23:44.359 --> 0:23:47.520 And apparently the Seneca um had a word godji wa, 0:23:48.280 --> 0:23:51.480 so you would probably more accurately say bury the goji wa, 0:23:51.880 --> 0:23:55.360 bury the godgi wa. So there you go, bury the hatchet. 0:23:55.560 --> 0:23:59.720 Literal stuff. How about the next one, Chuck, I love 0:23:59.760 --> 0:24:03.880 this one, short and sweet and it has Shakespeare, that's right. 0:24:04.240 --> 0:24:09.480 And the phrase is in a pickle, yeah, which means 0:24:09.520 --> 0:24:12.239 you're in a tight spot, a tough situation, you've got 0:24:12.320 --> 0:24:16.040 a problem, there's a difficulty over your head, something like that. Right, 0:24:17.040 --> 0:24:18.960 that's right. And it always struck me as odd. And 0:24:19.000 --> 0:24:21.359 I think I might even mentioned this before that you 0:24:21.400 --> 0:24:23.159 can be in a pickle, in a jam, and in 0:24:23.240 --> 0:24:26.000 a stew and that's all kind of the same thing. 0:24:26.000 --> 0:24:29.800