However, some English expressions are so unusual that it is impossible to guess where on earth they originated from unless you know the history. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the English king ruledDublin, and the surrounding area was known as the pale. A ton can refer to a whole lot of different measurements, many of which are outlined on its Wikipedia page, and some of which are formally defined in the OED as well. You were totally loyal to your side. The racers would start from the scratch. How can I make inferences about individuals from aggregated data? His name is "J-Crush" he is a journalist and the cousin of Axe / Celebrity from the Outsidaz. ", Final reckoning, just deserts after death, Used to describe the afterlife according to Native Americans, To be close to death because of illness or age. For marriageable girls, the Season was an intense period of social networking in which a faux pas could affect their marriage and social prospects within the ton. Like many old sayings in the English language, this one comes from the Bible. Heaven), The final curtain at a dramatic performance, The act of killing by removing a person's head, usually with an axe or other bladed instrument. Are you suggesting that "ton" is a similar remnant of a phrase that rhymes with "hundred" or is it a piece of straight slang without a rhyming element (like boozer = public house)? The majority of Cockney rhyming slang terms are formed using two distinct words with the second word being the rhyming word - for example 'butcher's hook' which means 'look.'. Butchers used to set up benches to sell meat from. This means to have no choice at all. 2 Answers. In the past coins were actually made of gold, silver, or other metals. When it was too late for the victim to escape they would show their true colors-the jolly roger! They were held prisoner in St Johns Church and the local people shunned them and refused to speak to them. By a New Yorker. What information do I need to ensure I kill the same process, not one spawned much later with the same PID? This old saying comes from the Bible. Historians now think its a myth, or at least it was unusual but thebeliefgave rise to the saying. Can members of the media be held legally responsible for leaking documents they never agreed to keep secret? Another possible source could be from ancient Egypt, where liars and blasphemers tongues were cut out and fed to the cats. Several celebrities attended her funeral, with Wonder serving as a pallbearer. When the verb "croak" entered English in the 15th century, it meant to "utter a deep, hoarse, dismal cry, as a frog or a raven," according to the Oxford English Dictionary. According to legend, a man named Leofric taxed the people ofCoventryheavily. There he found Washington in bed having difficulty breathing. Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. Grammarly can check your spelling and save you from grammar and punctuation mistakes. The guy was running, had a heart attack and carked it. This old saying is said to come from the days when bakers were severely punished for baking underweight loaves. The language of the Regency - the period of time roughly earmarked as 1795 to 1820 in Britain when the reigning King George III was deemed unfit to rule and his son took over as Prince Regent - was as varied, sharp-witted, and creative as any of the slang being formed today. When the anchor was lowered a ship would tend to move about on the anchor cable so it was important to give it a wide berth to avoid collisions. Also see shite. This comes from John Miltons poem Paradise Lost. This old saying is probably derived from the days when people who sold piglets in bags sometimes put a cat in the bag instead. How did a "ton" come to mean "one hundred" of something? This gesture showed affiliation and understanding between two territories. If you let the cat out of the bag you exposed the trick. Other people would then catch the birds. Daniel interpreted the dream to be about a series of empires, all of which would eventually be destroyed. If the wind suddenly changed direction a sailing ship stopped moving forward. Sometimes we can only give the most likely explanation. I commented not to claim when the myriad extended senses came into being, but just to say such usages were still virtually unheard of outside the south-east until much more recentlywith the exception of the speed example I quoted. I have never heard that 100 mph is a ton. Grammarly helps you communicate confidently Sometimes all things did not go to plan and the petard exploded prematurely blowing you into the air. 1. a. The only time they would let their hair down was when they came home and relaxed. This one comes from Jeremiah 13:23 Can an Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard his spots?. You probably recognize this word as "strawberry", but in Mexican slang, "fresa" is used to describe a person who is a snob, stuck-up and basically, thinks that they are better than everyone else. Both these nicknames for policemen come from Sir Robert Peel who founded the first modern police force in 1829. "Crossing the Rainbow Bridge. Wack is an adjective that means bad, stupid, or unusual that originated in the hip-hop slang of the 1980s. 15.10.2022: Its about time to do some updates for the site! This old saying first appeared in 1866 in a play by Dion Boucicault (1820-1890) called the Flying Scud in which a character makes the excuse that he is going to see a man about a dog to get away. Black slang and AAVE (African-American Vernacular English) have long been considered inferior to so-called "standard" English, and the black people who use it seen as uneducated or unintelligent (forcing many to master the art of code-switching).So when suddenly words and phrases that have strong ties to the black community are adopted and warped by non . ", "Your guide to the vocabulary of 'Bridgerton,' from pall-mall to promenade", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ton_(society)&oldid=1136578829, This page was last edited on 31 January 2023, at 01:25. Wind separated the edible part of the grain (wheat) from the lighter, inedible part (chaff). The receiving country would send small ships to break the ice to clear a way for the trade ships. : Back when road transportation was not developed, ships would be the only transportation and means of trade. Climbing the social ladder could take generations, particularly into the aristocracy, which did not readily accept those perceived to be of inferior birth. To utter a low hoarse sound. Weapons were literally buried and made inaccessible. The Mad Hatter Disease was marked by shyness, irritability, and tremors that would make the person appear mad., Meaning: Asked to a person who is at loss of words, Origin: The English Navy used to use a whip called Cat-o-nine-tails for flogging. If you nailed your colors to the mast you had no intention of surrendering. Inhaling mercury vapor could cause mental illness. So if you were a bit mad you were up the pole. In 1727, at 84, Sir Isaac Newton died in his sleep and was buried with pomp and ceremony in Westminster Abbey in London. Hamilton and Burr both carried .56 caliber, single-shot dueling pistols. This comes from the days when craftsmen used their thumbs for making rough measurements. This is derived from the days when salt was rubbed into wounds as an antiseptic. If you were lily-livered your liver was white (because it did not contain any blood). She is so hilarious. The king sometimes gave a white elephant to a person he disliked. Meaning: To accept something difficult or unpleasant. We are not told what the thorn was, perhaps it was some form of illness. Following a law of 1715, if a rowdy group of 12 or more people gathered, a magistrate would read an official statement ordering them to disperse. If anyone mispronounced the word the Gileadites knew he was an enemy and killed him. I've heard of it being used for darts before as well, but the main meanings would be as weight or speed, with the latter being colloquial. A long shot is an option with only a small chance of success. The devout would throw butter balls at the statues of their gods to seek favor and forgiveness. This phrase comes from a play called The Birds by the Greek dramatist Aristophanes (c.448-385 BC). Not only that, but they also bathed in the same water without changing it! (Daniel 2:27-44). In Middle English this was commonly spelt, as in French, tonne; in 1617th cent., more often tun; from c1688 the two spellings have been differentiated, tun being appropriated to the sense cask and the liquid measure, and ton to the senses here treated, which, it will be seen, are partly measures, and partly weights. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. In Siam (modern-day Thailand) white or pale elephants were very valuable. : To be caught in the act of doing something wrong. This old saying comes from the Bible. This comes from the Saxon word moot or mote, which meant a meeting to discuss things. : You wont believe this one! The spile was sometimes called a cock. To mutter discontentedly; grumble. A span was a wood shaving. Slang To die. ", Send one to Eternity or to the Promised Land, Usually referring to the death of a pet, especially if the owners are parents of young children e.g. See more words with the same meaning: to fall, hurt, injure one's self. Updated. Come to a sticky end It was a container of gunpowder with a fuse, which was placed against a wooden gate. This is another Biblical phrase. This phrase is fromKing JohnbyWilliam Shakespeare. Which origin most surprised you? In the Middle Ages, saints days were marked in red on calendars. Car crash, lung Cancer, pulmonary embolism, car crash, one other I forget. This is the only 'official' use of 'ton' as a measure which equates it to a 100 (of something). In the early 1600s, Thomas Hobson was a man in Cambridge who hired out horses. In the 17th century, a biter was a con man. as do a ton v., to drive at that speed. Ton society was intensely class-conscious and the social hierarchy was rigid. Acceptable social behaviours differed for men and women; they were based on a system validated primarily by the patronesses of Almack's, who determined who could be admitted to its functions. So a long shot (fired over a long distance) only had a small chance of hitting its target. Pull the string (of the shower bath) (1893), 30. Or, alternatively, as slang for greatly impressing or amusing someone (as in "you slay me with your jokes"). Her latest TikTok is from March 27 (at . Haut means high, and so haut ton means high fashion or people of high fashion. I'm sure the OED has it right, and I accept the ton=100 idea is now pretty ubiquitous. Truck originally meant barter and is derived from the French word troquer. If a jockey was a long way ahead of his competitors and sure to win the race he could relax and put his hands down at his sides. A ton is 100 (half a ton being therefore 50). A: People who die are said to "croak" because of the croaking sounds they make on their deathbeds. became firmly established 18c. 2. Browse other questions tagged, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site. This comes from the days when workmen carried their tools in sacks. So if you were very tense, like stretched cloth, you were on tenterhooks. In Luke 6:29 he told them that if somebody strikes you on one cheek turn the other cheek to him as well. Leofric said he would end the tax if she rode through the streets of Coventry naked. Describing something in a large amount. This measuring of ship capacity was defined in 1854 in units of 'register tons' which was equivalent to 100 cu ft. 2. However, a child born in a rich family did not have to wait. figurative sense of what you come down on someone like is from 1884. Anais John is a specialist in English Language and loves to share her expertise on online communities. This was originally a nickname for the poet Ambrose Philips (1674-1749) who was known for writing sentimental verse. In Ecclesiastes 10:1 the writer says that dead flies give perfume a bad smell (in old versions of the Bible the word for perfume is translated ointment). Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window), Histories of British towns, villages and cities, Histories of countries and key towns and cities around the world, Brief histories of famous people across the world and ages, Articles of the key dark historical events across the world. 5. if it killed and ate a man. "This album is dedicated to Salih Ibn Al Bayyinah Scaife aka Slang Ton (25.03.1974 - 05.09.1999)." It comes from the old belief that a crocodile wept (insincerely!) Ships that had sailed past the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn were said to have turned the corner. or Gosh! It probably comes from an actual story about a cock and a bull that is now lost. To knuckle under meant to kneel in submission. DID. The receiving country would send small ships to break the ice to clear a way for the trade ships. : Dont get rid of valuable things along with the unnecessary ones. The modern word 'tonnage' is a measure of the cargo-carrying capacity of a ship and is used to assess fees on commercial shipping; historically it was the tax on 'tuns' of wine. "Cark-it Meaning | Best 1 Definitions of Cark-it", "The sordid history of the first sanctioned suicide forum", "How did the expression kick the bucket come about when someone dies? Credits Media Credits The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The second definition given in the OED (after "cask") mentions one meaning specifically referring to "100 cubic feet," so to some extent I wonder if the meanings referring to 100 in colloquial use in the 20th century have some relationship to the meaning referring to 100 cubic feet. WolfyTn 15 min. The Ket language of Siberia is so awesomely irregular as to seem a work . In the early 1500s, people only bathed once a year. The Mad Hatter Disease was marked by shyness, irritability, and tremors that would make the person appear mad., : Asked to a person who is at loss of words, : The English Navy used to use a whip called Cat-o-nine-tails for flogging. The trouble with naming the ton, or the aristocracy, as the "Upper Ten Thousand," is that the phrase is of American origin. 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