Are you out of kilter or just pulling the wool?
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (325255)
Rockingham, Australia
December 3, 2016 3:30am CST
I'm a bit stuck for something to write about but luckily I've been saving common sayings which seem a bit strange if you start pondering on their origins.
One of these is, 'out of kilter' which I used in a comment recently. Where did such a saying stem from? So off to Daddy Google and it seems 'kilter' is a variation of the old English word 'kelter' which means 'good health' or 'good condition'. So if you or things are 'out of kilter' then you or they are out of order or in poor spirits.
Another phrase that has come up recently was 'not for all the tea in China'. I didn't realise China has been a huge grower of tea for many years and still produces about a quarter of the world's supply. So that explains that one.
And because things often go in threes, the other saying I noted down some time ago was to do with 'pulling the wool over someone's eyes' meaning to deceive or hoodwink. This apparently originated back in the 17th century, when people would wear elaborate woolly-looking wigs. If these were placed crookedly on the head the vision would be obscured. Apparently this is the most likely origin of the saying.
And what better opportunity than to post another photo of Herc? Except it's actually Oscar, and Herc was running around below.
18 people like this
18 responses
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
3 Dec 16
@JudyEv It is totally new to me.
My mother used to have a silly saying of "You look like you have lost a shilling and found a penny" meaning that you look unhappy. It would make more sense to just say that you look as though you have lost a shilling.
1 person likes this
@MarshaMusselman (38616)
• Midland, Michigan
3 Dec 16
@JudyEv We use it in the US too, so it's common to me.
2 people like this
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
10 Feb 18
@JudyEv I liked Algebra 1, but got stuck when we got to square roots. I wish we'd been able to use calculators like they do in schools today. Long division was not my forte. I hated it. I liked geometry, though. It was more like working a puzzle.
1 person likes this
@xFiacre (12609)
• Ireland
3 Dec 16
@judyev 'All the tea in China' always conjured up exotic images for me in childhood. I also used to play in a tea real estate in Malawi as a child and stayed a while around t's estates in India. I especially remember a tea caddy mu great aunt had - black and red with a picture of a Chinese man in a rice paddy. And the smell when that caddy was opened was intoxicating.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (325255)
• Rockingham, Australia
3 Dec 16
I admit to being even ignoranter in earlier years. I had no idea China produced tea.
@Happy2BeMe (99399)
• Canada
3 Dec 16
I like reading these random facts. It one of those things you don't think much up when you say it. Great picture of Herc.
2 people like this
@cacay1 (83223)
• Cagayan De Oro, Philippines
3 Dec 16
@Happy2BeMe , Me too, I like the post much.I learned many things.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (325255)
• Rockingham, Australia
3 Dec 16
Thanks. Since I've been on myLot I am more aware that sometimes people have trouble understanding colloquial sayings that I used to use without even thinking. So now if I write 'out of kilter' I tend to think 'that's a funny saying. I wonder how it came about'. I also wonder who will have trouble trying to work out its meaning.
2 people like this
@Happy2BeMe (99399)
• Canada
5 Dec 16
@JudyEv That is true. I know I have had a few comments about saying I used and people didn't get what I meant.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325255)
• Rockingham, Australia
4 Dec 16
You're welcome. There are some strange sayings out there.
@RasmaSandra (73158)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
3 Dec 16
Oscar looks like the king of the hill. I too like all kinds of saying and finding out where they came from. I like elaborate word like he bamboozled them and it means Bamboozled definition, to deceive or get the better of (someone) by trickery,
1 person likes this
@MarshaMusselman (38616)
• Midland, Michigan
3 Dec 16
Your title made me laugh because today I am out of kilter both in the idea of that and the meaning of the term. I'm out of good health or a good condition. I'm not as bad off as some, but worse off than I was before going to work yesterday. Ah, well. It is what it is, I guess. I'm not moping about it, I have the day off work and I don't want to waste it.
I've done some dishes and mopped the floor. Granted our floor is so old that I need to mop it about three times to get it the best. I mop it first with a swifer type mop and then again with either a string mop or something similar to a swifter using solution that gets sprayed onto the floor as I go.
That floor gets out of kilter so quickly that I ususally don't make it to all three moppings. I want to get it there now because my brother will be coming over in the next week or so to replace some plumbing so we can again use or dishwasher.
1 person likes this
@MarshaMusselman (38616)
• Midland, Michigan
4 Dec 16
@JudyEv Yes, it surely is a pain. Maybe a day in the future when all our other bills are caught up we can afford to replace our sixty year old floor. That's mainly why it doesn't clean so well and also because my husband can't take off his shoes while in the house since he has a fake leg.
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
4 Dec 16
Love the photo, there is a sheep farm near my daughter's place, there are dogs in with the sheep, they stand on the bails of hay, when I stopped the car to get out and get a photo they came running and barking at me like I was the bad guy... Scared me back into my car... I didn't know the kilter origin so thanks. The others i knew and I've used...
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
4 Dec 16
@JudyEv I got a photo - I will look for it and leave it here, the dogs just made me get back into my car...They scared me but my daughter said they are trained to protect the sheep and wouldn't come out of the pasture... He looks like he was smiling but his bark was not friendly....
@JudyEv (325255)
• Rockingham, Australia
4 Dec 16
The dogs are probably Maremmas. There are several breeds of dogs which live out with flocks of sheep, goats or even chickens to protect from predators. You must have looked big and bad!! What a shame you weren't able to get a photo.
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
3 Dec 16
Interesting factoids! I never knew.
1 person likes this
@epiffanie (11326)
• Australia
3 Dec 16
That's a cute photo of the sheep ;) .. and thanks for sharing the origins of those sayings ..
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325255)
• Rockingham, Australia
4 Dec 16
Did you find it hard learning some of the strange English sayings?
@DaddyEvil (137145)
• United States
14 Dec 16
Uhm... I've been known to use all three of those sayings when talking to someone, Judy.... They are a bit old fashioned here, but everyone knows what I'm saying when I use them...
shrug!
I was a bit surprised nobody seemed to understand the other day when I said something about coal raking... It is related to "being raked over a bed of hot coals"... It didn't seem too difficult to me.
@Jessicalynnt (50525)
• Centralia, Missouri
5 Dec 16
the fact that there is a sheep ON the hay bale amuses me. What a cute little Oscar
