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I'm Susan Clark |
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with the Special English program |
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WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. |
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Young Mister Smith |
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had an idea for his employer. |
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It was an idea for saving money |
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for the company |
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by increasing prices. |
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At the same time, |
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Smith suggested that the company |
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sell goods of less value. |
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If his employer liked the idea, |
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Smith might be given more pay. |
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Perhaps he might even |
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get a better job with the company. |
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Business had been very slow. |
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So Mister Smith's employer |
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thought a few minutes |
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about the idea. |
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But then she shook her head. |
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"I am sorry, Smith," |
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his employer said. |
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"It just will not wash." |
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Now, the meaning of |
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these English words should be, |
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"It will not get clean." |
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Yet Smith's idea did not |
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have anything to do |
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with making something clean. |
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So why did his employer say, |
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"It will not wash?" |
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Most word experts agree that |
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"it will not wash" |
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means it will not work. |
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Eric Partridge wrote that |
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the saying probably developed |
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in Britain in the eighteen hundreds. |
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Charlotte Bronte used it |
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in a story published |
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in eighteen forty-nine. |
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She wrote, "That wiln't wash, miss." |
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Mizz Bronte seems to have meant that |
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the dyes used to color |
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a piece of clothing |
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were not good. |
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The colors could not be depended |
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on to stay in the material. |
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In nineteenth century England, |
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the expression came to mean |
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an undependable statement. |
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It was used mainly |
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to describe an idea. |
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But sometimes it was |
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used about a person. |
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A critic once said |
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of the poet Robert Browning, |
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"He won't wash." |
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The critic did not mean that |
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the poet was not a clean person. |
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He meant that Browning's poems |
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could not be depended on to last. |
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Today, we know that |
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judgment was wrong. |
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Robert Browning still |
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is considered a major poet. |
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But very few people remember |
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the man who said Browning |
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would not wash. |
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Happily for the young employee Smith, |
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his employer wanted him |
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to do well in the company. |
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So the employer |
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"talked turkey" to him. |
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She said, |
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"Your idea would be unfair |
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to our buyers. |
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Think of another way to save money." |
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A century ago, |
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to talk turkey meant |
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to talk pleasantly. |
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Turkeys in the barnyard |
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were thought to be speaking |
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pleasantly to one another. |
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In recent years, the saying |
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has come to mean an attempt |
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to teach something important. |
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Word expert Charles Funk tells |
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how he believes |
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this change took place. |
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He says two men were |
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shooting turkeys together. |
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One of them was a white man. |
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The other was an American Indian. |
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The white man began stating reasons |
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why he should get |
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all the turkeys for himself. |
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But the American Indian |
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stopped him. |
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He told the white man, |
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"Now, I talk turkey to you." |
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Mister Smith thought of |
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a better idea after his employer |
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talked turkey to him. |
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He was given an increase in pay. |
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So if your idea "will not wash," |
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try "talking turkey" to yourself |
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and come up with a better idea. |
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(MUSIC) |
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This WORDS AND THEIR STORIES program |
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was written by Jeri Watson. |
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I'm Susan Clark. |
