Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Wednesday Wisdom - Beating around the bush

I must have lost any vestige of wisdom I ever had.... Or the ability to "quote" someone else's wisdom. It has been FOREVER since I've taken the time for Wednesday Wisdom. Please forgive me. I actually do have a reminder on my phone. I've decided reminders are very easy to ignore... Anyway, I should stop "beating around the bush."

Did you ever wonder where the saying "beating around the bush" came from? I know, probably not but it fascinates me to learn what our sayings mean.

Noble men and gentry who enjoyed the sport of boar hunting were  more than happy to let others do the dangerous work.  They would employ young males who fanned out through the woods and swamps, making noise in order to head the animals to the hunters. They called these young men beaters. The beaters were unarmed because the hunters didn't want them to shoot the prey before they could. So these unarmed beaters would often stay out of the dangerous undergrowth - for safety reasons - but they would go around this underbrush beating the ground - making noise so the animals would go towards the hunters.

Young males were also employed while others were bird hunting. The young men would beat about the bush then, too.

This became known as an evasive technique and the saying "beating around the bush" became popular. - And we still use it today because so many of us evade so many things!!!!



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