phrases, sayings, idioms and expressions at

The Phrase Finder
Phrases, Sayings and Idioms Home > Discussion Forum

- We are also on

A Phrase A Week - Facebook Group & Follow aphraseaweek on Twitter

Re: Keep your elbows off of the table

Posted by Smokey Stover on March 27, 2009 at 20:22

In Reply to: Re: Keep your elbows off of the table posted by Victoria S Dennis on March 27, 2009 at 15:46:

: : The origin of the saying,"Keep your elbows off of the table". Originally, I just thought this was proper etiquette. Actually, I found out by my father (a history genius), this actually derived from the colonies during the 17th and 18th century. A group of British sailors called "Impressment gangs" would come into taverns, etc. looking for men who had their elbows on the table either eating or drinking. Having one's elbows on the table would mean they were in previous service as a sailor or merchant marine. (Having ones elbows on the table whilst holding a cup or plate, would prevent it from spilling). These "Impressment Gangs" were impressed by the way these men would be eating, and abduct them to serve on British ships. This was completely legal at the time, and this practice occurred in the colonies, Canada, and even Britain.

: I'm afraid your father is no history genius: keeping elbows off tables is indeed just a matter of etiquette, and his tale is pure invention.
: 1. The Royal Navy had "press gangs", organised by the Impress (not "Impressment") Service, authorised to seek out seamen and compel them to serve in the Navy. (This was a rough-and-ready form of conscription; all sailors who were subjects of the British Crown were in theory liable to serve in the Navy when wanted, and as true-born Britons felt it would be despotic and tyrannical to keep a register of seamen so that they could be called up in an orderly way, there was no alternative to simply grabbing them off thew street or from the tavern. Records of the Impress service mention a number of ways in which sailors could be identified: their clothes and hairstyles (sailors' trousers and pigtails were distinctive), tattoos (a purely maritime custom) and language (the jargon of the sea). No recorded case nor any memoirist of the time mentions anything about elbows on tables. This is a fantasy. (VSD)

The press gangs did not confine their attention to subjects of the Crown. American seamen were NOT subjects of the Crown. However, their "impressment" by British gangs has always been listed as one of the grievances that dragged the U.S. into the War of 1812.

Let's not forget the burning of Washington, including the White House, in August of 1814. I can forgive the fire, but it led to something less forgivable, our national anthem, surely the worst piece of public music ever perpetrated, except possibly "Hail to the Chief." (Actually, I'm not crazy about "God Save the King," either, no matter what words are set to it.)
SS