Background
It was common practice in late 15 century England to punish individuals who broke contracts or oral agreements. The preferred punishment was to hang individuals upside-down for extended periods of time.
The reason for this punishment was to place the mouth, considered a clean vessel, at the level of the feet, which were considered the most unclean part of the body. This signified that the mouth was no longer clean because the individual being punished had spoken a lie.
By the mid 16th century, the practice of placing oath breakers on their heads began to shift towards monetary fines. This shift towards monetary restitution was happily accepted by the business community. The wronged party finally received compensation for their losses instead of the simple gratification of seeing the offending party black out and drool into their nostrils.
The practice of monetary settlement never transitioned into the social aspect of British life. It was often hard to accurately gauge the amount of damage that one might have caused for breaking an oral agreement that was social in nature. This was most prevalent when dealing with marriage.
When a man or woman broke off an engagement, this could often lead to a life of solitude for one or both parties. The damages could not be accurately assessed since no one could accurately predict if the offended party would truly remain single for the rest of their lives. So the tradition of making ex stand on their heads continued for well into the 1980’s is some areas of England and even mote notably in the United Sates in New York City (the practice ended in the U.S. in the landmark case of Sullivan VS. Loveless in 1987.)
Creation of phrase
It was around the end of the 16th century that suitors began to only propose if they truly meant it. If they decided after being engaged, that they no longer wanted to marry their betrothed, they would go through with the ceremony any way to ‘Keep their heads above their heels’.
In the mid 1640’s, the phrase ’Keep your head over your heels’ took on the meaning of an individual or groups that followed through on an action to avoid punishment or embarrassment.
Modern uses of the phrase has been reduced to “showing distain or disagreement”
Uses in literature
Aside from historical documents, this phrase appeared in literature in 1649. A young author, named Homer, decided to pen his first novel titled The Iliad. The book uses the phrase
“Jason had his head over heels for Medusa, else his fate was stone. 'Tis from this union whence the generations of the Venetian Trolls came to be.”
Homer, who was best known for his comic book interpretations of Shakespeare’s plays, later suffered the treatment of having to be suspended by his heels for 17 hours for his breakup with the then unknown Helen from Troy.
More modern uses of the phrase come from Dr. Seuss’s classic Green Eggs and Ham. It is in this book that Mortimer tells Sam-I-Am that he is “Head over heels for spiders and eels, and I like green eggs and ham as much.”
Definition
To show distain or dislike for something.
It was common practice in late 15 century England to punish individuals who broke contracts or oral agreements. The preferred punishment was to hang individuals upside-down for extended periods of time.
The reason for this punishment was to place the mouth, considered a clean vessel, at the level of the feet, which were considered the most unclean part of the body. This signified that the mouth was no longer clean because the individual being punished had spoken a lie.
By the mid 16th century, the practice of placing oath breakers on their heads began to shift towards monetary fines. This shift towards monetary restitution was happily accepted by the business community. The wronged party finally received compensation for their losses instead of the simple gratification of seeing the offending party black out and drool into their nostrils.
The practice of monetary settlement never transitioned into the social aspect of British life. It was often hard to accurately gauge the amount of damage that one might have caused for breaking an oral agreement that was social in nature. This was most prevalent when dealing with marriage.
When a man or woman broke off an engagement, this could often lead to a life of solitude for one or both parties. The damages could not be accurately assessed since no one could accurately predict if the offended party would truly remain single for the rest of their lives. So the tradition of making ex stand on their heads continued for well into the 1980’s is some areas of England and even mote notably in the United Sates in New York City (the practice ended in the U.S. in the landmark case of Sullivan VS. Loveless in 1987.)
Creation of phrase
It was around the end of the 16th century that suitors began to only propose if they truly meant it. If they decided after being engaged, that they no longer wanted to marry their betrothed, they would go through with the ceremony any way to ‘Keep their heads above their heels’.
In the mid 1640’s, the phrase ’Keep your head over your heels’ took on the meaning of an individual or groups that followed through on an action to avoid punishment or embarrassment.
Modern uses of the phrase has been reduced to “showing distain or disagreement”
Uses in literature
Aside from historical documents, this phrase appeared in literature in 1649. A young author, named Homer, decided to pen his first novel titled The Iliad. The book uses the phrase
“Jason had his head over heels for Medusa, else his fate was stone. 'Tis from this union whence the generations of the Venetian Trolls came to be.”
Homer, who was best known for his comic book interpretations of Shakespeare’s plays, later suffered the treatment of having to be suspended by his heels for 17 hours for his breakup with the then unknown Helen from Troy.
More modern uses of the phrase come from Dr. Seuss’s classic Green Eggs and Ham. It is in this book that Mortimer tells Sam-I-Am that he is “Head over heels for spiders and eels, and I like green eggs and ham as much.”
Definition
To show distain or dislike for something.
3 comments:
Interesting explanation! :D I LOVED it! I have one problem with it though - head over heals in love is a positive thing - like madly in love, not a negative thing, at least in it's modern connotation.
Lois,
The media moguls are all laughing at us because, like Christmas, we have forgotten the true meaning of 'Head over heels'. They are telling us what to think. It’s time to break free and let our individual true definitions shine.
This is just so interesting. I have just shared it with my class at school as they LOVE idioms and the meanings thereof. Thanks for sharing this. You write SO well, and you're so intelligent Rog. Hence, your sense of humor. I've always felt people with a great sense of humor were, at root, extremely intelligent. Keep up this writing! Chuck
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