Tow vs. Toe the Line
Posted by Jim on January 04, 2002
In Reply to: Tow vs. Toe the Line posted by Mike Portwood on January 04, 2002
: : : Unofficially, but in my strong opinion, it's only a sign of ignorance. "Toe the line" means to place your feet as prescribed. To tow a line would mean to drag it and doesn't call up any relevant image.
: : Ignorance. But don't underestimate the power of ignorance. Some fine phrases have been created that way. Not that I can think of any right now. I do recall one phrase mangled by a friend. The phrase was "I don't know him from Adam's off ox." She said, "I don't know him from Madam Allfox." That has a nice ring to it.
: : For more dicussion, search under "toe" in the archives.
: After further thinking (sometimes I do that) I can see
: your
point...in it's spoken form, "tow the line"
: to many likely makes more "written
sense" than
: "toe the line", which to many would make no sense.
: The
fact that they both sound the same when spoken
: would contribute to the confusion...and
the assumption.
: Thus the occurance of tow would increase over time,
:
and thus provide positive feedback to more and more
: people that it is 'tow'
and not 'toe'. In the instances
: I have seen this phrase recently, it appears
about as often
: in one form as the other. I would wager though, that
:
if you looked at where the two occurances are found
: one may find 'tow' in,
shall I say, "colloquial" places
: like web sites, general distribution brochures,
ads, newspapers,etc.,
: while 'toe' would be more dominant in "literary" publications
:
like textbooks, novels...or in forums like this ;-)
: If this is the cause
of the growing "dichotomy", we
: may find 'toe' gradually giving way to 'tow'
in popular usage.
: Time will tell I guess! Isn't language wonderful!
:
like
Another variation. "I don't know him from Adam's Apple" meaning, very unfamiliar. Simple word play in the vein of but antonymic to knowing "like the back of my hand"
- Toe the Line. UK vs US offered origins James Briggs 01/05/02