This is more or less a continuation of one of my earlier posts.
English displays its inimitable idiosyncrasies when it comes to the usage of idioms, phrases and prepositions in more mystifying ways than one. What else can I say, when it rains heavily it is said to rain cats and dogs? Have you ever seen these animals falling in hordes from the skies? I haven't, of course and not even kitten and puppies. The etymology enthusiast that I am, I started exploring the various possibilities for the origin of this phrase. Thankfully, being the handy aid that the worldwide web is, I came across the following link when I googled for the phrase: http://www.phrases.org.uk/. Although the site does not provide any etymological evidence, it nevertheless puts forth a number of improbable folk etymologies to explain the phrase.
And then, if I have to state my frank opinion, I am to give a piece of my brain and I wonder how I could chop my brain into pieces and yet survive. And lo! Here's another. When I'm nervous, it seems, I have butterflies in my stomach. Nervousness is a state of mind, yet, there are butterflies, if at all, in my stomach and not in my brain, how? I haven't swallowed any nor do I have any tickling sensation in my belly. Or, is it, by chance butter flies? But again, I don't gulp lumps of butter when nervous nor do I think butter has the tendency to fly in stomachs.
Dutch Courage means inspired by drunkenness. Does it mean that the Dutch are courageous only when drunk? And what about French Leave - depart without notice? Are the French so rude? I haven't seen you for ages and As old as the hills, isn't there hyperbole in these phrases?
Did you ever see someone turn yellow with jealousy and at the same time green with envy? Anyway, how can two different colours signify the same feeling, if not to confuse? To add to this confusion, Shakespeare attributed green colour to various qualities in man, apart from the feeling of jealousy in Othello (the green-eyed monster). In Love's Labours Lost he meant immaturity, while in Anthony and Cleopatra, he alludes the colour to signify carefree innocence and pleasure of youth. In the drama, Cleopatra says: "My salad days, when I was green in judgement; cold in blood...." The green of salad leaves, which are invariably ephemeral, is an obvious allusion to youthfulness. (Ref: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/salad-days.html)
Green is also used in other expressions to mean unready for use, for example green (unripe) corn, green (unseasoned) timber and greenhorn (an inexperienced recruit) (Ibid). Yet again, notice the colourful play of colours in green fingers (British usage) and green thumb (American usage) both mean the same – a natural skill in gardening, while a brown thumb lacks the skill. Can I, therefore, conclude that brown is the opposite of green like black is to white? After so much confusion, should I turn black with rage at the tyranny of the language? When I say 'tyranny of language' here and express my love for the same elsewhere (in an earlier post), do you find double standards in my expressions? That is the beauty of the language; people suffer its tyranny yet paradoxically cherish it.
Describing the tyranny of usage Deal Alford in his book The Queen's English (quoted by Eric Partridge in Usage and Abusage) says: “Neither grammar nor rule governs the idiom of a people; and there will be a multitude of cases where sic volo, sic jubeo (tr. thus I wish, thus I command) is the only measure of the tyranny of usage.” After reading this, I reconciled myself that the idiom, not just of the English but of all the people worldover, is replete with hyperbole.
Prepositions contribute their own mite in confusing the already confounded learner. Why should I not use, as is wont with many users, up after cope instead of with? I could never learn the reason, but started using the phrase cope with always, meekly following what the rule book says and stopped searching for the logic behind. In what context am I to use the phrases compared to and compared with? Commenting on the peculiar baffling trait of prepositions, Jespersen says: "The idiosyncrasy of English, like that of other languages, is perhaps most strikingly exemplified in the use of prepositions. Prepositional usage in all languages contains ... much that is peculiar and arbitrary; the relations to be expressed by prepositions are often so vague and indefinite, that many times one might seem logically just as right as another. For instance, we tamper with, but we tinker at; we find fault in a person, but find fault with him; we act on the spur of the moment, but at a moment's notice; we are insensible to, but are unconscious of; we say for long, but at length. ...Americans speak of getting on or off a train, the British of getting in or out of it...." (Jens Otto Harry Jespersen: Progress of Language, quoted by Eric Partridge in Usage and Abusage)
As I was going through Partridge's book, my belief - the nuances of English language that I had learnt since my childhood days are just the tip of a massive iceberg - was further strengthened. By the way, how can one go through a book?
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