By Jacquie Foote Perhaps you have read the explanation of…
By Jacquie Foote Perhaps you have read the explanation of the beginning of the phrase Mind your own beeswax that has been going around in…
By Jacquie Foote
Perhaps you have read the explanation of the beginning of the phrase Mind your own beeswax that has been going around in the net. It says that this phrase (as well as the phrases, Crack a smile and Lose face) was based on the fact that women, at some unspecified, pre-Botox time in history, actually applied beeswax to their faces to cover scars and wrinkles.
Well, although women throughout history have coated their faces with various substances, there is no proof they ever used beeswax for anything other than hair removal. Mind your own beeswax seems to have first appeared in the mid-1930s and was a playful way of saying, mind your own business. Notice the similarity in sound between beeswax and business.
Crack a smile is likely related to crack a joke and in the 1300s meant to do it with flair. Loosing face (or saving it) came into the English language in the mid-1830s when trade was opened with the Chinese and the British traders became aware of the Chinese concerns with self-image and social prestige. The two Chinese words for these were translated into English as face.
Then, there is the explanation that the phrase, Not playing with a full deck, originated with people buying incomplete decks of cards to try to avoid paying the tax on the 52nd card, the Ace of Spades. This explanation points out the foolishness of people and is funny but likely not at all true.
Yes, playing cards were taxed in England at various times in history beginning in the late 1500s. The tax was imposed on the entire deck, not one special card. It was the practice that one card from the deck be stamped when the tax was paid. The card found at the end of a new deck at that time was usually the ace of spades and it was the card at the end of the deck that was the one to get stamped.
Not playing with a full deck became a saying the same way two bricks short of a load or (more recent) A couple French fries short of a Happy Meal and for the same reason simple observation, leading to a catchy, funny phrase that enters common usage through repetition.
Next time an explanation of a famous saying that may or may not be true but that is elegantly done in any case.
For information on the events at the Geauga County Historical Society’s Century Village Museum, call 440-834-1492 or visit www.geaugahistorical.org.
