Research has revealed the sinister history of common sayings such as "paying through the nose", "rule of thumb" and "pulling someone's leg".
'Meeting a deadline' refers to the line
drawn in the American Civil War to stop inmates escaping - and would be
shot in the head if they crossed it.
Examples of common phrases with dark origins include "gone to pot",
which harks back to a time when boiling to death was a legal punishment.
And "meeting a deadline" refers to the line drawn in the American
Civil War to stop inmates escaping - and would be shot in the head if they
crossed it.
Family history website Genes Reunited carried out the study using old
newspapers.
Today, applying a "rule of thumb" suggests a practical approach to
problem solving, but it was actually a violent way to settle marital
disputes.
A judge, Sir Francis Buller, ruled that "a man was entitled to beat his
wife with a stick provided it was no thicker than his thumb", the
Glasgow Herald stated in 1886.
Experts discovered that "paying through the nose" was a Viking punishment of slitting the nose from tip to eyebrow of anyone who refused to pay tax.
Meanwhile "pulling someone's leg" originates from a time when London was rife with "grab and run" thieves who attacked their victims by pulling them to the ground by their leg.
Rhoda Breakell, Head of Genes Reunited, said: "The English language is peppered with unusual sayings.
"We wanted to look back through old newspapers, now fully-searchable online, to discover where they came from and what they really mean.
"It's fascinating just how different our modern interpretations are to the origins of these phrases.
"It goes to show how the lives of our ancestors have influenced our day-to-day lives in ways we do not even realise.
"We hope people will be encouraged to dabble in their own fascinating searches and discover personal nuggets of family history."
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