No idea but going off half cocked is about muskets firing before they`re supposed to. Hope this helps. edit: I know a couple of old servicemen who use wallop as a slang for beer. Don`t know whether that`s got anything to do with it.
Neither do I mate. I have no idea why I thought of that apart from volunteering another snippet of completely useless information
Easy. Instead of shouting. Useless piece of ****e and stamping on their gun. They just whispered Codswallop They were gentlemen in the olde days
Saying someone's a loose cannon is another old naval term, from the days of wooden ships. Our language is full of old naval sayings.
Cannonballs used to be stored next to the cannon in a square pyramid system (one on top of four, on top of nine, on top of sixteen). To stop them rolling away, they sat on a base with 16 indentations. This base was called a monkey. It couldn't be made of iron, or the balls would rust onto it. Brass was used, but very cold temperatures would cause the indents to shrink, causing the balls to fall off. And this led to the saying.................... ?
A loose cannon is saying someone can do a lot of damage, intended or not, just as a loose cannon weighing a couple of ton's could also do in confined spaces in heavy seas.
Had away - nautical 'hard away', i.e. go away as fast as possible. Other examples are 'hard a'port' - turn left asap, 'hard a'stern' - reverse engines asap. 'In the doldrums' - when a sailing ship reached the doldrums (abour 5 degrees north and south of the equator) every crew member expected a hard time. It's an area where a little wisp of wind would come from south-east and, five minutes later, would turn to south-west. Crew members were up and down the rigging endlessly, changing the position of the sails. It was backbreaking work in equatorial heat - the very worst part of the journey. Therefore depressed, miserable = in the doldrums.
Four square meals a day - old naval term the meals were served on square ( they were actually rectangular) "plates" another "don't let the cat out of the bag" punishment in the navy involved the cat'o'nine tails which was held in a bag. A lot of our sayings originate from the navy
Seems an odd thing to chomp on, it'd be bad enough being wounded and butchered by a field doctor without waking up to a mouth of shattered teeth.
Son of a gun After sailors had crossed the Atlantic to the West Indies, they would take the native women on board the ship and have their way with them in between the cannons. Some of the women the sailors left behind would have boys, who were called sons between the guns.
not a phrase but you don't hear the term "hinney" any more. My nana always used that word but its seldom used now.
