Amusing comment

[litmlove]

Yeah, "visit with" is a perfectly commonplace colloquialism for "chat with." That comment is bizarre.

Not in the Queen's English. Having said that it didn't bother me; I guessed "a visit" meant there was going to be a physical encounter of some kind like a fist fight or sex.

Try making sense of cockney rhyming slang

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Many years ago VISIT meant comfort or afflict, as with epidemics or Cupid.

Made me think of another oldie. No one ever CUT THE MUSTARDS, they CUT THE MUSTER. CUT meant passed or succeeded.

 

[Handley_Page]

Mebbe it's not known in modern British English, but if you ever read any late eighteenth/early nineteenth century novels, 'ladies' would frequently invite other ladies to 'take tea with' them, ie. to visit.

I suspect, as is often the case, American usage has retained the older expression whilst the Brits have dropped it

Forgive me, please, but I think you missed an important part of the process of "taking tea" with someone. It was part of normal social behaviour among a certain strata of society.
The guest was invited to take tea with the hostess during a visit for that purpose.

 

[ishtat]

Forgive me, please, but I think you missed an important part of the process of "taking tea" with someone. It was part of normal social behaviour among a certain strata of society.
The guest was invited to take tea with the hostess during a visit for that purpose.

I don't think so, the invitation to 'take tea with' someone was issued initially before the event. This usage is attested in at least two of Ann Radcliffe's gothic romances.

Now if you had referred to taking wine with someone, I think you would have been right. This referred to the rather earlier eighteenth century habit of formally taking a sip of wine with another guest - a sort of private toast.

 

[Athalia]

Go to ground is of Army extraction, I believe.
Round here, it is taken to mean 'keeping a low profile' and generally not making a fuss which might make you the subject of attack.

I thought it was from fox hunting; when the fox has "gone to ground," he's found his burrow and the chase is over, because he won't be coaxed out of it.

 

[slyc_willie]

I stand (sit, actually) humbly chastised.

From my experience, using the term "visit" as in, "sit and visit" or, "we're just gonna have a drink and visit" was always a southern thing. I've heard it almost exclusively from southern belles and women from my generation and older in the southwest. I never thought it was heard -- or used -- further north than Virginia, mainly because the few times I've heard people be perplexed about it, they were always from the Midwest or a northern state.

The origins of words and phrases are always fascinating to me. One of mine and my wife's favorite shows is America's Secret Slang, which goes into the origins of some of our most common phrases. A few of the ones I find most interesting:

"Get your goat:" in horse racing circles, it was common for horse owners to have a goat in the stable with their prize pony, to keep the horse calm and ready for the next race. If a horse acted skittish or performed sub-par for the race, it was said that someone must have "got their goat." In some cases, apparently, someone really would sneak into a horse's stable at night and take the goat so that the horse would not perform well. Today, we use the phrase to mean someone has irritated someone else. "He really got his goat, didn't he?"

"Bite the bullet:" We use the phrase to indicate an acceptance of a bad turn of events or painful situation and just deal with it. Originally, it came from the practice of giving a soldier a bullet to bite on while surgery (usually an amputation) was performed on the battlefield.

"Freelancer:" We use the term to describe someone who works without ties to any particular organization or company, like a freelance photographer. Originally, it meant a rogue knight or mercenary who was available for hire; he was a "free lance" to anyone willing to pay for his services (the term "free" in this case indicated that his lance was not in service to any particular lord, not that the knight worked without pay).

"Bought the farm:" The most likely origin of this term dates back to WWII and became popular later, especially during the Korean War and Viet Nam. Many US soldiers were from rural areas and grew up on farms. At the time, the families of soldiers killed in action would receive an insurance payout from the government or insurance agency, which would then (presumably) be used to pay off the mortgage on the family farm. Thus, when a soldier died in combat, he was said to have "bought the farm."

(I've found other theories regarding the origin of this phrase as relating to pilot trainees who died when they crashed their plane into someone's farmhouse or barn. But since there's no definite consensus, I like the origin I described above.)

"Jump the gun:" we use this phrase to indicate that someone has acted impulsively or, to be more precise, has done something before they were expected to do it, usually with negative results. Originally, it comes from track and field foot races in which the start of the race was indicated by the firing of a starter pistol. Because the first step from the racing block is actually a leap, a runner who took off just before the starter pistol was fired was said to have "jumped the gun" and was either disqualified, or the race would have to be re-started.

Anyway, I'll stop there. I could go on and on about phrase and word origins. But I think I'll just pass the buck and see who picks it up.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Go to ground is of Army extraction, I believe.
Round here, it is taken to mean 'keeping a low profile' and generally not making a fuss which might make you the subject of attack.

I thought "go to ground" was from hunting, especially fox hunting, and it meant the quarry was hiding, rather than running away.

I grew up in WI (Yay Badgers!) and "visit with" was a fairly common expression among older generations. It meant to chat and/or gossip and talk abut things that were mostly of little consequence. A "visit," as opposed to an appointment or discussion was a get-together where people did this. As in: "I had a nice visit with Mrs. Jones today."

 

[sr71plt]

Yeah, I thought it had to do with a fox too.

 

[lovecraft68]

Yeah, I thought it had to do with a fox too.

You should resurrect that thread you had in the EF that explained the origins of old expressions.

 

[Handley_Page]

Sorry Chaps,
I'd forgotten about the Hunting Lobby. . . .

 

[robertreams]

coloquialisms

I spent eight years in the south after having been raised in Chicago area. I heard all kinds of colloquialisms;

lebenty-three. As in: If I telled you oncet, I telled you lebenty three times. .

. Damnyankee (all one word)

(fixin') as in: fixin' ta go down town.

Carry me (meaning give me a ride)

Sodee, meaning soft drink

But the weirdest of all, southern boys said: Ahm gonna get me some cock. (cock, believe it or not meant pussy?)

 

[Handley_Page]

I stand (sit, actually) humbly chastised.

The origins of words and phrases are always fascinating to me. One of mine and my wife's favorite shows is America's Secret Slang, which goes into the origins of some of our most common phrases. A few of the ones I find most interesting:

"Get your goat:" in horse racing circles, it was common for horse owners to have a goat in the stable with their prize pony, to keep the horse calm and ready for the next race. If a horse acted skittish or performed sub-par for the race, it was said that someone must have "got their goat." In some cases, apparently, someone really would sneak into a horse's stable at night and take the goat so that the horse would not perform well. Today, we use the phrase to mean someone has irritated someone else. "He really got his goat, didn't he?"

. . .

Anyway, I'll stop there. I could go on and on about phrase and word origins. But I think I'll just pass the buck and see who picks it up.

It always puzzled me.
This is what I found:-
Given the meaning of 'get your goat', we might expect to find goat as a slang term meaning anger or annoyance. That meaning is recorded in the US book Life in Sing Sing, 1904, which goat is given as a slang term for anger.

 

[slyc_willie]

It always puzzled me.
This is what I found:-
Given the meaning of 'get your goat', we might expect to find goat as a slang term meaning anger or annoyance. That meaning is recorded in the US book Life in Sing Sing, 1904, which goat is given as a slang term for anger.

Possibly. But I could easily see the term 'goat' used as a slang term for anger as having risen out of the racing term I mentioned above. Horse racing, after all, is one of the world's oldest spectator sports and has been an increasingly organized industry in the USA since the mid-seventeenth century. It's association with gambling makes it naturally conducive to illegal activities; it's not much of a leap, then, to think that racing jargon, or terms gleaned from it, would be used among criminals incarcerated in prison (especially one in New York, where US horse racing has its modern origins).

 

[sr71plt]

When in doubt, we could just google it:

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/get-your-goat.html (although you probably still can find several different explanations for it there.)

 

[slyc_willie]

When in doubt, we could just google it:

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/get-your-goat.html (although you probably still can find several different explanations for it there.)

No doubt. In the absence of a clear, definitive origin, I guess we just go with personal preference.

 

[sr71plt]

Truth be known, I don't think any reader who hasn't been living the depths of a cave for the last thirty years would misread what "get your goat" was meant to convey.