Image:
If someone is the spitting image of someone else, then they have a
great similarity, but why "spitting"? The only suggestion that I found
was to say that the two are so similar that it is as if one could spit
out of the other's mouth. I don't like this explanation and I think the
saying could well be based on the expression that a man "is the very
spit of his father", which, in turn, may come from "the very spirit and
image of his father". A further alternative, which is very possible, is
that it's based on a corruption of 'split image', meaning the two
identical, but mirror, images produced when a piece of wood is split.
In July 2004 Sean McHugh from Liverpool sent the following:
"May I suggest that spitting image comes from the ancient custom of
spitting as a gesture of warding off evil. If two people were too much
alike it was considered spooky. Many cultures in the past killed
identical twin babies".
Iron: To strike while the iron is hot is to act at just the right time
to achieve a desired end. The analogy here is to that of a blacksmith,
whose experience and knowledge enables him to know exactly when to
start hammering on a horseshoe to form the correct shape.
Irons: To have too many irons in the fire probably has the same root as
just described. Here one can imagine a blacksmith with so many
horseshoes on the go at one time that it is impossible to strike them
all at the ideal time. Alternatively, it is possible for a laundress to
be the basis. If she kept too many irons in the fire then some would be
too hot or too cold and the ironing would suffer.
Jack: Jack Tar: Jack of all Trades; etc., See Tar
Jeopardy: To be in jeopardy is to be in danger or peril: at risk. The
origin of this phrase is found in the Old French "jeu parti", literally
"divided game" and hence of uncertain outcome.
Jiffy: Something done in a jiffy is done very quickly. I can find no
recorded origin of this one. The Oxford English Dictionary says "Origin
unascertained". The earliest use it gives is from Munchhausen's Travels
(1785): "In six jiffies I found myself and all my retinue . . . at the
rock of Gibralter [sic]".
I'm told that the term was taken into the scientific community late in
the 20th century and was actually applied as a unit of time; however
the unit seems to vary from discipline to discipline!
Jot: I don't give a jot is said when someone really doesn't care about
what is going on. The Jot here refers to the letter Iota, which is the
smallest in the Greek alphabet and came to imply the least of anything.
The same occurred with the Hebrew yod which later came to be translated
as Jot.
Jug: If you're in jug then you're in prison. Why "jug"? This comes from
the Scottish Jougs which was a pillory or, more properly, an iron ring
fastened to a wall and used as a pillory. The name in turn derived from
the Old French Joug (yoke). There is also a suggestion that the
Mexican-Spanish word juzgado (prison), simplified by early English
speaking settlers to jug, was the source. The Scots origin seems to
outdate the Mexican.
Keep: If someone has to continue with a difficult task then they must
keep it up. This is a very common phrase but what is the "it" that has
to be kept "up"? Modern language has lost the basis of this saying, but
it comes from shuttlecock. The shuttle, naturally, had to be kept up in
the air.
Kibosh: If someone puts the kibosh on something then they have
adversely affected it; killed it off; put an end to it. The word has
been used throughout much of the English-speaking world for at least
150 years. It has been suggested that the phrase is based on the Irish
"cie bias", the "bias" being pronounced "bosh". This translates into
"cap of death" and is thought to be derived from the executioner's mask
or the cap worn by the judge when passing sentence. Possibly the first
printed examples of "putting the kybosh on it" are in Charles Dickens's
Sketches by Boz. In 1836 he used the form "kye-bosk", which
suggests that he heard it as two words and so supports an Irish origin.
Gary Davis of Mound, MN, USA wrote in January 2002 to say that he
thinks a better probable source for the word is from Hebrew, which he
ran across during study of the Bible. The Hebrew word transliterated as
kabash means "bring into bondage, force, keep under, subdue, bring into
subjection" according to the The New Strong's Dictionary of Hebrew and
Greek Words, published by Thomas Nelson Publishers.
In late August 2004 the following suggestion was published in the
Q&A section of The Times:
"Kibosh is of Irish.origin. It is Cork City slang coming from the Irish
for cabbage, cabáiste, pronounced ki-boshta. From about 1750 to 1914
there was a large cabbage market in Cork City in the Kohl Quay (now
known as Coal Quay); large amounts of cabbage were exported to the
German states and the Low Countries. The cabbages were auctioned off
and bought by the various merchants and brokers in a large warehouse.
To start the auction a large hollow silver cabbage (the Cabáiste) was
placed on the auction block and next to it a sample cabbage from the
lot to be sold. When the auction was finished the Cabáiste was then
placed over the cabbage on display. This was known as putting the
Cabáiste on it. Over the years this came to be pronounced "kibosh" on
the streets and meant the finish or the end of something. Up until 1922
many English regiments served in Cork City and many West Country
regiments of foot must have been there. They would have used the slang
and taken it with them to their native shore.
Alas, the cabbage market had the kibosh put on it at the commencement
of the First World War, as this meant an end to trading with the
Continent of Europe.
Donal Og O'Hescain, Lissardagh, Co Cork.
Subsequent debate about this suggestion on the SHU Phrase Origin
internet forum said that the word 'cabáiste' is not pronounced
'ki-boshta', but rather 'ka-bashta' thus casting some doubt on this
cabbage origin. This was also supported by response in The Times as
follows:
Your correspondent, hailing from so close to Blarney, naturally tells a
good story. But there never was a cabbage market as such in Cork
(although there was one in Limerick, and there was a potato market in
Cork quite near Coal Quay). Coal Quay was so named because from around
1690 it was where coal was landed for local heating and power; prior to
that it was called Ferry Quay. Although it has occasionally and
temporarily held other names too, it has never in its existence been
called Kohl (or even, as we English would say, Cole) Quay. The kybosh
is undoubtedly Irish in origin (see Q&A, August 31), but let us
not confuse green cabbage with black cappage.
Mike Darton, Preston St Mary, Suffolk
Other suggestions come from Heraldry, Middle German and Yiddish. No one
really knows. You may take your pick, but the 'cap of death' seems the
most likely.
