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Beat the tar out of you

Posted by Victoria S Dennis on June 20, 2010 at 21:47

In Reply to: Beat the tar out of you posted by ESC on June 20, 2010 at 14:06:

: : Where did the phrase "To beat the tar out of you" come from?

: Previous discussion: One person said tar = stuffing. So it is another way of saying beat the stuffing/insides out of someone. Another thought since tar (What the tar!) = eternal damnation. Beating the evil out and the good in. www.phrases.org.uk bulletin_board 9 messages 814.html I think "beating the tar out of someone" is a "cleaned up" version of "beating the sh*t out of someone."

I don't believe the "stuffing" explanation. But sails, sailor's hats and many other things were dressed with tar to make them waterproof; prolonged wind and rain could beat the tar out of them, and make them permeable again. (VSD)

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