"Up the pole"

Posted by Victoria S Dennis on August 31, 2009 at 11:22

In Reply to: "Up the pole" posted by David FG on August 31, 2009 at 07:56:

: : "Up the pole" Back in the early 1980s, I was informed that this phrase originated in Fair Mile Hospital, Berkshire, England. Patients in this psychiatric asylum who had broken a leg (perhaps from ECT) were placed on bed rest. For those who would not lie still, a manacle was placed on their good ankle and attached to a metal pole attached to one corner of their bed. A clever inmate would realise that to be free, all you had to do was climb up to the top of the pole and un hook the manacle ring. One could imagine the attendants spotting this and shouting to colleagues that this person was up the pole.

:
: One can imagine it, yes.

: What I find less easy to imagine is how a person with a broken leg would manage this somewhat acrobatic feat.

: I confess that my experience of these things is slight, but I would think that climbing a metal pole requires a fair bit of athletic skill in even an able-bodied person. In someone with a broken leg, encumbered by plaster (not forgetting the 'manacles') it would be quite something.

: DFG

I find this scenario quite *impossible* to imagine, for a whole slew of reasons:
- As DFG says, the chances of a manacled patient with a broken leg managing this feat are tiny.
- I've never seen or heard of a hospital bed equipped with a vertical 'pole' sturdy enough to be climbed, nor can I imagine what purpose it might serve.
- Even if the bed happened to have such a pole, the logical place to shackle someone to a bed is the bed frame itself, or one of the legs, not the top of a pole.
- A leg shackle couldn't prevent a manic patient thrashing about or throwing himself off the bed, so it would be quite pointless. Sedatives or perhaps a straitjacket would be needed.
- Even if this whole improbable scenario took place, and the assistant shouted out "He's up the pole!", this would not of course mean "he's crazy". By definition this patient is considered to be crazy, or he wouldn't be chained up in an asylum! It would mean something like "He's making a break for it/he's getting loose!"
- Collins' Dictionary of Slang gives the primary meaning of this phrase, which originated in the late 19th century, as "drunk". (Could the allusion be to drunkenly climbing lamp-posts?). The secondary meaning is "in error, in trouble, in difficulties"; "crazy" is only a third meaning. (VSD)