July 24, 2018--Pussyfoot
Recently I have been having dreams that take place at my last employer, the Ford Foundation.
Night after night I am being drawn back to the building on 43rd Street, mainly to meetings for which I am embarrassingly unprepared. Sometimes, to humiliate myself further, I show up for these meetings in my pajamas, or less.
In a dream from late last week, I was again at a meeting, this one I initiated and at it were the foundation's president and her most senior Vice President and my favorite colleague, Barry Gaberman. Unusually, this time I was fully dressed and I thought, for once, in command of the situation.
Knowing I was eager to share some insights about the foundation's function and was having difficulty gathering my thoughts and forming my words, to be helpful, calmly, Barry said--
"You're beating around the bush.
Get it off your chest.
Say what's on your mind.
No need to pussyfoot."
In spite of his help and, I never did manage to share my ideas coherently, but this time Barry did what he could to help me work my way through it. That alone offered some measure of consolation.
After waking, reviewing the dream material in an attempt yet again to understand why I continue to be obsessed with the Ford Foundation, I was struck by the series of idioms as the dream's scriptwriter I assigned to Barry. Wondering about their linguistic history I did a little research--
Beating around the bush seemed obvious--what porters and servants do with sticks to flush out from their hiding places animals hunters hope to shoot. Its first appearance is thought to have been from the Middle Ages.
Get it off your chest is not as vivid but from the 18th century on there have accrued a number of idioms that are derived from physiological sources. Having a lump in one's throat is an example. To get something (a weight) off one's chest first appeared in 1902. And then there is the all-too-familiar having something weighing on one's mind. Clearly, the source of many dreams. Which brings us close to the origin of getting something off one's chest. Again, something heavy. And why not consider to have half a mind to ___ and in the back of one's mind, to be of one mind, and the more recent, psychedelic, blow one's mind.
Most interesting by far of Barry Gaberman's stream of idioms is pussyfooting.
In this Trumpian Stone Age I could only imagine its source but was relieved to learn that it has a benign though unexpected origin.
William Eugene "Pussyfoot" Johnson (1862-1945) was an American Prohibition advocate and law enforcement officer. In the Oklahoma Territory, in pursuit of his campaign to outlaw booze, he went undercover, posing as a habitué of saloons in order to collect information against their owners. And, likely, a shot or two.
He gained the nickname "Pussyfoot" due to his cat-like stealth while tracking down suspects.
Isn't our language wonderful! At least I'm getting something from all these sleep-depriving dreams.
Night after night I am being drawn back to the building on 43rd Street, mainly to meetings for which I am embarrassingly unprepared. Sometimes, to humiliate myself further, I show up for these meetings in my pajamas, or less.
In a dream from late last week, I was again at a meeting, this one I initiated and at it were the foundation's president and her most senior Vice President and my favorite colleague, Barry Gaberman. Unusually, this time I was fully dressed and I thought, for once, in command of the situation.
Knowing I was eager to share some insights about the foundation's function and was having difficulty gathering my thoughts and forming my words, to be helpful, calmly, Barry said--
"You're beating around the bush.
Get it off your chest.
Say what's on your mind.
No need to pussyfoot."
In spite of his help and, I never did manage to share my ideas coherently, but this time Barry did what he could to help me work my way through it. That alone offered some measure of consolation.
After waking, reviewing the dream material in an attempt yet again to understand why I continue to be obsessed with the Ford Foundation, I was struck by the series of idioms as the dream's scriptwriter I assigned to Barry. Wondering about their linguistic history I did a little research--
Beating around the bush seemed obvious--what porters and servants do with sticks to flush out from their hiding places animals hunters hope to shoot. Its first appearance is thought to have been from the Middle Ages.
Get it off your chest is not as vivid but from the 18th century on there have accrued a number of idioms that are derived from physiological sources. Having a lump in one's throat is an example. To get something (a weight) off one's chest first appeared in 1902. And then there is the all-too-familiar having something weighing on one's mind. Clearly, the source of many dreams. Which brings us close to the origin of getting something off one's chest. Again, something heavy. And why not consider to have half a mind to ___ and in the back of one's mind, to be of one mind, and the more recent, psychedelic, blow one's mind.
Most interesting by far of Barry Gaberman's stream of idioms is pussyfooting.
In this Trumpian Stone Age I could only imagine its source but was relieved to learn that it has a benign though unexpected origin.
William Eugene "Pussyfoot" Johnson (1862-1945) was an American Prohibition advocate and law enforcement officer. In the Oklahoma Territory, in pursuit of his campaign to outlaw booze, he went undercover, posing as a habitué of saloons in order to collect information against their owners. And, likely, a shot or two.
He gained the nickname "Pussyfoot" due to his cat-like stealth while tracking down suspects.
Isn't our language wonderful! At least I'm getting something from all these sleep-depriving dreams.
Labels: Barry Gaberman, Dreams, Etymologies, Ford Foundation, Idioms, Prohibition, Pussyfoot, William E. Johnson
posted by Steven Zwerling at
4:41 AM
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