Word Origins and Phrase Origins to Make You Smarter

The True Stories Behind Famous and Infamous Words and Phrases, Part Deux

Ever "knuckled under" to someone's demands or to the pressure? Ever wonder how someone could make you do something just by using their knuckles? There actually is some disagreement on how this particular term originated. 

According to one theory, the term has to do with an old custom involving striking one's knuckles underneath a table as a way of admitting defeat in an argument. Another origin story has it that the word knuckles originally referred to knee joints as well as finger joints and so knuckling under was a reference to bowing down on your knees before a master or one who had conquered you. Either way, you're coming away with bruises on some part of your body.

Have you eaten any "humble pie" lately? I have. Well, I've eaten Godfather Pizza's Humble Pie pizza and that's good eats, with apologies to Alton Brown. I hope I won't have to eat humble pie if my story of the origin of this phrase turns out to be untrue. From what I've learned, the origin goes back to the Dark Ages-the Middles Ages, not the years under President Smirk W. Bush-and has to do with the fine art of British deer hunting. 

Apparently, one of the many lords of the manor-types returned from a deer hunting expedition and feasted merrily and well on the best parts of the deer, the parts commonly used to make venison. His servants, however, were left with the heart, liver, guts and other rather unenviable parts of the animal. In other words, the humble parts of the deer. They made a pie from these parts and, more importantly, made a phrase that has lasted for centuries, though it remains to be seen if common usage of it will make through the end of this century.

This next phrase origin could be explained "at the drop of a hat," but I'll make it quick. It used to be that many sporting events from horse races to prizefights were commenced not upon the shooting of a gun or the ringing of a bell, but the dropping of a hat. Makes perfect sense, doesn't it?