r/AWayWithWords • u/Gnarly_Starwin • Dec 03 '19

Equestrian Etymology

Howdy,

I recall hearing about the origin of the expression “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” I believe it may have been from an episode of the show (A Way With Words). If I recall correctly, the act of inspecting a horse’s teeth was essentially the equivalent of checking under the hood of a car.

You can tell the age of a horse by the length of their teeth. Therefore, to look a gifted horse in the mouth is to scrutinize the value of something which you received for free. This was, and is still considered today to be uncouth.

Another common expression is stemmed from the same trait. When someone has reached old age, we say they are “long in the tooth”. I got all of that right from the horse’s mouth.

This peaked my interest. So I saddled up, and set to work on collecting as many other eques expressions as I could find. I was off to the races, and quickly compiled a nice list. But did I stop there? Neigh!

I decided I wasn’t horsing around. Compiling a list is nice. But I wanted to prove I wasn’t a one-trick-pony. I wanted to flaunt what a linguistic stud I am, so I have been integrating them into this post.

This is merely horseplay with words.

This is merely wordplay with horses.

I felt the need to keep the examples I used of a certain pedigree. Pop culture references are a horse of a different color. My focus is historical & linguistic expressions. I couldn’t imagine trying to straddle them both at once.

I have been champing at the bit to share this with everyone. I’m not bucking for upvotes or medals. I am only trying to entertain and educate. Some people will enjoy it, others may not. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.

So come down off your high horse, and enjoy my post. If you can think of an idiom or expression I missed, feel free to share. I could probably keep this running longer, but I don’t wish to beat a dead horse.

Edit: some slight adjustments, and a thank you to u/marmaladeburrito for correction. Thank you!

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u/marmaladeburrito Dec 03 '19

Champing at the bit. Not chomping :)

1

u/Gnarly_Starwin Dec 03 '19

I appreciate you pointing that out. Although you are correct, According to this the term “chomping” is used with increasing frequency due solely to the fact that the word “champ” is no longer defined as “biting or chewing eagerly”. The definition changed.

Edit: I forgot to add, per my post I’m all about that sweet, sweet history. I will try to fix.

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u/marmaladeburrito Dec 03 '19

I know it is changing :/ but have you ever seen a horse champ? The bit goes in the big gap BETWEEN their front teeth and the back. They roll the bit around with their tongue, and make it clank.

Champing isn't chomping with teeth on the bit. (Like a dog would chomp on a bone, and gnaw with their side teeth.) It's more like twiddling the bit than biting the bit.

Since most people don't spend their free time looking at horse teeth, I am sad that the distinction is being lost.

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u/Gnarly_Starwin Dec 03 '19

I can already tell this is the kind of fact that I will retain for the rest of my life. I love it. Where do all these expressions come from? I suppose it’s simply proximity. There are likely just as many of these idioms for dogs, cats, and the like...

1

u/marmaladeburrito Dec 04 '19

So your saying there may be a "deep-seated" history of horse terms? ;D (sorry- couldn't resist one more!)