Language reflects our history, culture and daily life. It evolves constantly, shaping itself around society’s changes. Over time, many phrases that once sounded familiar have fallen out of use, leaving younger generations bewildered by these old-fashioned words.
These sayings once carried vibrant stories, stories now forgotten. I find it fascinating to uncover the origins of words, for they reveal much about social change and attitudes. Take the word ‘snob.’ Its history is surprisingly rich. In the 18th century, it referred to a shoemaker. Today, it describes a person obsessed with social rank, often looking down on others. This evolution relates to a practice in the 19th century at Oxford and Cambridge universities, where admission tutors would reject applicants whose families lacked noble blood. They would write ‘sine nobilitate’, Latin for ‘without nobility’ and sometimes abbreviated to ‘s.nob.’
Such applications were often rejected. Over time, this shorthand was linked with aspiring social climbers, giving the word its current meaning. The phrase ‘to come a cropper' has its roots in the days when horses were the main form of transport. The word ‘crop’ referred to a horse’s neck. When a rider was thrown headlong from his horse, it was said he ‘came a cropper.’
Time broadened the meaning to any sudden failure or mishap. Then there’s ‘to bite the bullet.’ It originated on the battlefield, where soldiers facing surgery without anaesthetic would bite on a bullet to endure the pain. The phrase now signifies enduring hardship stoically, a reminder of a time when suffering was terrible during surgery.
Equally grim in origin is ‘to kick the bucket’ now meaning to die. In slaughterhouses in the 18th and 19th centuries, animals were hung from a ‘bucket', and pigs, especially, would sometimes kick as they were hanged. The expression ‘mad as a hatter’ comes from Victorian hat-makers who used mercury to stiffen felt. Mercury poisoning caused many hatters to behave eccentrically, and the phrase gradually became associated with insanity itself.
Then there’s ‘raining cats and dogs', still occasionally used to describe heavy rain. The phrase’s origin is uncertain, but some believe the streets, filthy and overflowing, were sometimes washed by storms that carried away dead animals, giving the phrase its vivid image. Most of these sayings, however, are no longer part of common speech among the young. They seem like relics, confusing or meaningless to those unfamiliar with their stories.
Fortunately, in Oxford, my hometown, there is a dedicated department that works tirelessly to preserve these phrases. They record new expressions and track those becoming obsolete. Their work ensures that these linguistic ghosts are documented in the Oxford English Dictionary, a reminder that language is always changing.
Language connects us with stories from the past: tales of horses, trades and ordinary life centuries ago. Words and expressions evolve and fade but they can remind us of our history. Our words can reveal about the moments and lives that first gave them breath.
As new slang and idioms emerge, I wonder about which will survive? Which stories, of horses, hangings, street life, will be lost with time? For ultimately, language is an echo, a living testament to who we were and perhaps, who we are still becoming.
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