This was explained by Po Madeleine Salvetti in her talk to the monthly meeting of Chichester Probus Club at Crouchers on May 8.
She said that many of the idioms we used regularly – but when examined seemed to make no sense – were based in history.
A baker’s dozen, for instance, was due to a regulation that, if a batch of 12 items was under as certain weight, they would face a large fine. To ensure they were legal, a baker would make 13.
Referring to the black sheep of the family came from the wool trade. Black was hard to dye while light colours were not.
Among many other examples given was the reason behind referring to the top dog. A sawmill term, it came from two men cutting a huge piece of timber, one man on top of it and the other below in the sawpit.
The talk ended with a more modern idiom arising from Montague Burton, the tailor who supplied the full Monty: a suit comprising jacket, trousers, and waistcoat.
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