Horse-play:
If someone indulges in horse-play then they behave boisterously. The
background here is one of the English Morris dancers. These were often
accompanied by players riding wooden hobby horses and such horses were
expected to perform many antics and move about uncontrollably.
Humble: If you eat humble pie then you apologise deeply for a taken
stance when it is proved that you are wrong; you're in a position of
great inferiority. The expression is really a play on words and is
based on medieval feasts. The well-to-do fed off the best pieces of the
roasted animals and gave the left-overs to the servants and other lowly
people. Much of the left-overs consisted of offal and the contemporary
name for this was numble from the French nombles in turn from the Latin
lumbulus, a "little loin". A pie made from such flesh was, naturally A
Numble Pie; however it soon turned into An umble Pie, being easier to
say. It was therefore Umble for the humble.
Humbug: You're full of humbug is said as a means of implying that a
person is bigoted, somewhat deceptive and unpleasant. A Humbug is also
a sweet but clearly this is not the origin of the saying. My researches
in modern texts show that the expression was in use in the 18th century
but "of unknown origin". However, recourse to the Etymological
Dictionary of circa 1880 reveals a probable origin from Old English
hum, to deceive and Welsh bwg, an object that frightens.
Hump: To get the hump is to be upset, in a bad humour, about something.
The only explanation I've come across goes back to Punch and Judy shows
- Mr Punch traditionally had a hump, and he stored all his problems in
it. The saying is said to go back to the 19C.
Punch and Judy shows are also said to be the origin of the expression
'slapstick' comedy. Mr Punch almost always wielded a stick with which
he used to beat some of the other characters, much to the amusement of
the onlookers.
