What is the meaning of the phrase ‘let someone off the hook’?
Freeing someone from either an obligation (or a responsibility) to carry out a task or series of tasks, or freeing someone from something unpleasant such as a punishment or a telling-off.
What is the origin of the phrase ‘Let someone off the hook’?
The phrase about letting someone ‘off the hook’ is believed to have derived from the mid 1800s, although it is hard to determine who originally coined the phrase.
The phrase comes from fishing, where a baited hook (a hook on a line with fish food attached) is submerged under fresh water or sea water. The person fishing hopes that a fish of some description will take the bait. When a fish bites into the bait, the hook usually pierces the flesh of the fish, and the fish can be considered on the hook, or caught.
Many people who fish like to return the fish to the water after having been caught. This is referred to as letting the fish off the hook, which is where the phrase originates from, as it represents someone (as being represented by the fish in this analogy) being freed.
Alternative meanings of the phrase ‘off the hook’
Interestingly, there are also other variations of the phrase’s origins and meaning. For instance, some old-fashioned landline telephones would feature a receiver that could be left ‘off the hook’ so that calls couldn’t come through. This meant that if you didn’t want to answer any calls, you could remove the receiver from the hook, and be unreachable by phone. Or in other words be ‘off the hook’.
That said, there is also a much newer version of this that has risen from American rap music and culture, where the phrase ‘off the hook’ is used to describe a party or performance as cool or out of control.
