Re: Meanings
and origins
Posted by Gary on January 31, 2002
at In Reply to: Re: Meanings and origins
posted by R. Berg on January 31, 2002
: : can anyone give me the
meanig and orgin of the following prases, "bank teller" "sleep like a top" and"greenhorn"
:
A bank teller is a person who works behind the counter in a bank, serving customers.
An old meaning of "tell" was "count," and tellers count money.
: To sleep like
a top is to sleep very deeply and soundly. I don't know why that's called sleeping
like a top. Possibly the reason is that when a spinning top (the child's toy)
stops spinning, it comes to a complete stop and lies utterly still.
: A greenhorn
is a recent immigrant who hasn't yet learned the ways of his or her new country,
or, more generally, anyone who is inexperienced, immature, or gullible. The word
originally referred to young animals with immature horns, like deer and elk.
Also,
the use of green to denote immaturity comes from the woods. Green timber being
that which isn't yet seasoned. Hence the rhyme relating to ash, which burns especially
well:
Seer or green,
fit for a queen
(seer = seasoned)
or alternatively:
wet
or dry,
fit for a queen to warm her slippers by.
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