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Forum » Chew The Fat » Retro expressions
shakin steak
Here's a neat article about the origins of certain idioms and phrases including, yes, "chew the fat".


I have heard some of these explanations before, like the baby with the bathwater and raining cats and dogs. How many did you know before? Are there any you find really interesting? Do you know any that weren't included?

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jkatz
questionable article wrote :

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days.

Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial.

They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up.

Hence the custom of holding a “wake.”

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This sounded a bit too...off for me to believe so I did a bit of independent research (aka going to wikipedia).
There I found this explanation, which is a bit more plausible. It has less to do with sitting around and waiting for a person to wake up and more with prayers at a funeral.

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Batty
I thought this was gonna be about sayings like gag me with a spoon, barf me out, etc. 
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shakin steak
Batty wrote :

I thought this was gonna be about sayings like gag me with a spoon, barf me out, etc. 
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Hey, like I said, I would like to hear more. So  even though what's in the OP is archaic, if you know where more modern stuff like  that came from, please, feel free to share!
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