History weaves turn of phrase

8:37am Monday 23rd August 2010 in

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On Tenterhooks, Wool Press, £6.99

Have you ever “cottoned on” to something, or told someone to “put a sock in it”?

If so, chances are you didn’t know where the origins of those phrases lie. “To cotton on”, indicating that someone has grasped the significance of something, is rooted in textile mills terminology, originally referring to the tendency of cotton fibre to stick to other fibres when it came into contact with them. “Putting a sock in it” derives from the days of wind-up gramophones with large swan-neck horns making the volume control difficult to regulate. The only way listeners could reduce the volume was to place a sock into the horn.

These phrases are among an impressive collection of expressions linked to textiles, compiled by Eugene Nicholson, former keeper of industrial technology at Bradford Industrial Museum. At first glanc, I thought this was a collection of phrases rooted in the textile industry, emerging from slang and phrases used by millworkers. And while some of the words, terms and expressions in the book do come from the mills and factories of the industrial North, others are connected to textiles in other ways, with some originating from other parts of the world.

Some words, like barege – a fabric first manufactured in the town of Barges in the Pyrenees and used for ceremonies such as weddings and baptisms – are simply descriptions.

This is a fun but informative book that can be dipped into for reference. The words and phrases have been amassed over the past two years by Eugene, who says some are still in regular use, while others have fallen out of favour.

“A large number of words and phrases absorbed into the English language were originally used in places of work such as farms, factories and foundations,” he says. “This book is mainly confined to those associated with different kinds of textiles or textile processes. Some had their origins in Bradford.”

Eugene says that weavers seeking names for new pieces of mechanism compared them with familiar objects. Finger-like pieces of metal between the loom’s tappet rods were called “rats’ tails” and the piece of metal holding the reed in position was a “duck bill”.

“No doubt many authors have delved into and written about all aspects of the English language from catchphrases, idiomatic words and dialect to proverbial expressions and slang terms,” says Eugene. “It became clear in the course of my research that nobody had documented words and phrases whose origins were rooted firmly within a textile context.”

Other terms and phrases in the book include “lining the pocket”, originating from tailors in the later 1770s to 1840 hoping for Beau Brummel’s patronage sending him a coat lined with money; “grinning stitches”, a phrase used by millworkers who likened unsightly stitches to a set of uneven teeth; and “make do and mend”, taken from mariners on naval ships who darned their clothes when not on duty.

More modern references include Bart Simpson’s catchphrase “Eat my shorts” and the 1990s youth-speak slang word “pants.”

And of course the phrase "on tenterhooks" also has its roots in textile production, where wet woven cloth was stretched over a wooden frame or "tenter" on hooks to prevent shrinkage.