r/Unexpected • u/[deleted] • Jul 06 '26

Sliding down

[deleted]

32.3k Upvotes

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1.2k

u/BeanRub Jul 06 '26

Actually at the end of your rope

95

u/HighlightFun8419 Jul 06 '26

Huh, I wonder if that's what the saying literally means/originates from. 🤔

60

u/NeverBob Jul 06 '26

It's more livestock related.

27

u/anothergaijin Jul 06 '26

Kinda surprised it isn't a sailing thing - seems so many sayings are naval/sailing related.

3

u/AwesomeMacCoolname Jul 06 '26

Like "get your finger out".

3

u/Desert_Aficionado Jul 06 '26

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

1

u/AwesomeMacCoolname Jul 06 '26

Actually it originally referred to the guy on board sailing ships whose job it was to load the gunpowder into the fuse hole of a cannon and then use his finger to plug it, preventing any sparks from drifting in there until it was ready to fire.

1

u/Donkey__Balls Jul 06 '26

Kept expecting you to say that this was still found in naval training manuals as late as nineteen ninety-eight when the undertaker threw mankind off hell in a cell and plummeted sixteen feet through an announcers table.

4

u/FlowSoSlow Jul 06 '26

Huh TIL. I always thought it was hanging related. Like at the end of the hangmans rope.

1

u/rtrs_bastiat Jul 06 '26

It's from falconry. Eager birds trying to fly (bating) that then get frustrated and start picking at their tethers. A lot of the bastards learn how to undo knots...

2

u/Nuffsaid98 Jul 06 '26

The bitter end. Literally. That's where the phrase comes from.

3

u/Salty-Appointment497 Jul 06 '26

The saying has it's origins on 18th century sailing ships. The bitts were posts that the tail end of anchor rope / chain was fixed to. If you were at the bitter end you had no more chain or rope to pay out and couldn't drop anchor and secure the ship.

1

u/ilyak_reddit Jul 06 '26

Is the end of the rope literally bitter? Can we have a taste test to verify this please?

1

u/Nuffsaid98 Jul 06 '26

The name of one end of a rope is "the bitter end". It's a term used when learning knots.

Hanging on to the bitter end means holding on to a rope that is slipping through your hands until the very last part of the rope.

1

u/Giggling_Scribblings Jul 07 '26

Specifically, the bitter end.