THE CAT'S PAJAMAS XXI

Tad Tuleja

A collection of the  (mostly) true origins of familiar phrases

PANHANDLER

Settlers on the American frontier, having no access to permanent stores, relied on traveling peddlers for household supplies. These enterprising eccentrics stocked their wagons with everything from axle grease to window glass and adorned the sides of the vehicles with kitchen goods. Not only did this save space, but the clattering of the pots and pans announced their coming. Hence the 19th century synonyms for peddler: pot merchant, skilleteer, and panhandler. The latter expression acquired its current meaning of "beggar" just after the end of the Civil War. It was a tendentious term, and quite unfounded - invented by newly established shop owners who wished the public to associate their nomadic competitors with penury and dependence - so they could do the pan handling themselves.

DRESSED TO THE NINES

This phrase, meaning sartorial excellence, comes from the French. The French word neuf means both "nine" and "new." To s'habiller de neuf means to dress up in new clothes. Evidently, a person not familiar with the French idiom gave us the expression "to dress to the nine."