THE CAT'S PAJAMAS XXXII

Tad Tuleja

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

TAKE DOWN A PEG

Regular customers in the more traditional British pubs keep their own beer mugs behind the bar. This custom, which saves on glassware and provides a personal touch to the service, derives from the Restoration period, when customers' pewter tankards would hang above the bar, their handles looped over pegs. The arrangement of tankards on the "peg line" was entirely up to the landlord, although the general rule was one of convenience: the pegs that were closest to the tap would hold the tankards of his most frequent patrons. To have them move your tankard "down" the peg line - that is, away from the tap - meant you had fallen in his favor. Either because of the infrequency of your visits or because of personal disaffection, he no longer considered you important enough to merit his immediate attention. Thus to take someone down a peg (or two) was to puncture his sense of self importance.