The house is at sixes and sevens
from morning ’til night over the
child! I want some peace here, I
don’t care how, but one way we
won’t have it is by rushing up and
down the country every time someone
hears of a new quack.
–Captain Keller from the William Gibson play The Miracle Worker
This is the first, and perhaps only time I’ve heard the expression “sixes and sevens” used. Looking at context clues I figured it meant to be in some sort of disarray or confusion. Turns out I’m not too far from my figuring.
History
Apparently in Olde England, even going back to Chaucer’s time, there once existed a dice game that involved throwing the nearly impossible combination of sixes and sevens and was referred to as “on six and seven.” Eventually the phrase turned to “sixes and sevens” meaning the recklessness of trying for something that is difficult to obtain. Today it generally means to be in a state of confusion.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Application
Although it is not a popular phrase today, at least I don’t hear it much, it does make sense. Its use is perfect in The Miracle Worker since it definitely describes the chaos that comes with having to cope with Helen Keller’s frantic and undisciplined state of behavior before Annie Sullivan arrives to become Teacher.
My Thoughts
If a situation starts to get out of hand and sense can’t be found, I tend to say, “I can’t make heads nor tails of this!” or “This is crazy!” Saying the situation is “sixes and sevens” just doesn’t cut the mustard. for me.
Hmm, chasing quacks, making heads nor tails, cutting mustard…I have more research to do about What I Say.
One of those Tome Treasures I own is an old grammar handbook: Understanding and Using English. It’s publish date is 1949 and it is by the Birks, Newman B and Genevieve B, respectively. I am always curious and interested in browsing old grammar books because grammar used to have more active precedence in prior years, especially in English courses. Now, it’s more about writing, but how can one write well without knowing how to put words together? It’s like requiring a person to cook without showing them where the spices are in the rack.
Usually old grammar books are a snore and a half. I was proved wrong. The first chapter “Language and Meaning” introduction floored me with its eloquence:
Modern man lives in a world of words, and the kind of world he lives in depends to a surprisingly large extent on the words that he uses and hears. Words can make or prevent wars, solemnize marriages or invalidate them, form constitutions or destroy them, sell shoddy or superior products or ideas, justify man’s worst actions or express his highest ideals. Because of the immense power of language, or even a few words, advertisers pay large sums for the best phrase or slogan or jingle, and no responsible statesman feels free to depart from the letter of his carefully prepared speech. Lawyers may spend hours in court trying to fix the meaning of a single word, and one of the chief functions of our Supreme Court is interpreting the words of the law of the land.
I am considering opening my initial grammar session with this. Words and their meaning are so important. How they are portrayed is essential, and so it is essential we know the rules of the road. More good stuff:
Since language is so important, it is strange that in our society more people have a reasonably accurate idea of how an automobile works and how to handle it than of how their native language works and how to handle it. Even poor drivers know what the accelerator and the steering wheel and even the brake are for, and have some knowledge of the relationship between the cylinders and the gasoline and the spark. They can use road maps to drive a car from New York to San Francisco and can arrive at Sand Francisco without difficulty.
Okay, when this book was written cars and traveling was probably simpler. However, the analogy remains that people can learn to navigate a car down the road better than they can constructing a sentence. Why?
For one thing, [students] have often been led to accept and to follow uncritically a large number of rules for the writing of “correct” English. Suppose we look, for example, at some of these “rules.”
1. “Never end a sentence with a preposition.” Must we always say, “On which chair do you wish me sit?” and never “Which chair do you want me to sit on?” Of course not.
2. “Don’t use contractions.” Many English teachers have written this as a comment on themes. Are the teachers using incorrect English?
3. “Avoid slang.” Does this mean that a sports writer or a person writing on jazz must avoid all use of slang?
4. “Never begin a sentence with but or and.” Never? But we are doing it at this very moment.
5. “Always use a comma between two independent clauses joined by and, but, for, or, nor.” In “I was there and he wasn’t,” what good would a comma after “there” do? Probably none at all.
6.”Every sentence must have a subject and a predicate.” If this is always true, why do so many able writers–Steinbeck, Dos Passos, Thomas Wolfe, to name just a few–frequently write sentences that are incomplete, and why do such sentences into English texts as models of style?
That came out of 1949! I so applaud how the Birks poke at the conventions of stuffiness. My students come up with the above observations all the time! Here is one of the stellar gems of reflection:
Language has been called “the dress of thought”; like dress it needs to be appropriate. Formality and a certain type of correctness are sometimes necessary and desirable, but for everyday expression (written and spoken) a less formal language is usually appropriate, and a different and less formal standard of correctness apples.
All I can say is: Exactly!
The rest of the book is divided up sections of use: Conventions and Meaning; Exercising Intelligent Choice; Developing an Effective Style; Good Paragraphs; Language in Action plus Some Everyday Uses of English.
I think I will settle in with this as my primer for returning to school. This fall begins the focus on Common Core Standards and last year as I piloted the ninth grade curriculum it became more than apparent that students didn’t give much credence to grammar and were often perplexed by it. Maybe I can stretch out that car analogy since many of my freshmen will be driving by the end of the year *I always tell them to warn me when they get their permits-jk, jk*: “Hey kiddos, if you can read and memorize the driver’s ed manual in order to pass your test, I know you can do the same with grammar!”
Wait–I know. I will morph the sagacity of this little grammar tome with the unequivocal wisdom of The Beatles:
“I tell you, George, my daughter is the cutest little thing. I come home and she runs up and jumps into my arms. She wraps herself around me, gives me a big smooch and says, ‘Daddy!’ Makes me swell up with sheer happiness. She’s a precious blessing–she is the apple of my eye.”
Image: Morguefile
History
According to my reference book, sometime around in the 9th century people began to realize apples were fairly tasty and valued them. Eyes, being valued, somehow drew the same worth as apples, and so, when something was valued it became the “apple of the eye.”
Application
We have all kinds of expressions relaying our appreciation for things, such as”You’re the best!” “You’re one in a million!” Being the apple of someone’s eye? I guess that’s right up there with the “bees knees.”
My Thoughts
The book offers a really weak explanation. Apples have been a loooong time, and seeing as how they are fairly inexpensive and easy to obtain I’m having a tough time grasping that eyes and apples are on the same scale of value. I definitely think eyes are more precious than a Golden Delicous or even a Honey Crisp. However, I do see the connection between apples and eyes in that the pupil looks like an apple in shape. I associate apples with knowledge (ahem, Eve) and seeing someone as being special means you have learned their value.
There must be a better explanation out there? Anyone?
Animated sequence of a race horse galloping. Photos taken by Eadweard Muybridge (died 1904), first published in 1887 at Philadelphia (Animal Locomotion). (Photo credit: Wikipedia) This horse could not gallop so smoothly if it were all balled up.
“Calm down. Don’t yourself all balled up.”
If this is not in your lexicon of sayings, then think about those situations when you get yourself so stressed out you can’t cope anymore. I definitely get there from time to time.
This round of Why We Say is #4: Just what does it mean to get ” all balled up?”
History
Back in the day when people relied on horses for transportation there could be some real downsides. Never mind feeding them, grooming them, stabling them and such. One real problem was winter travel. Horses had to be stopped now and then to attend to the ice that would form in their hooves. Balls of ice would gather in the hoof hollows and this would cause them to lose traction. Having your horse slip on an icy road is much like your car going into a skid–unexpected, unpleasant results could occur.
Story
“Poppa why are we stopping?”
“No worries, Sugar. I just gotta flick out them ice balls so old Thunder can get us on home through on this snow and such. He can’t go no further if he can’t keep his feet under him.”
“Do they hurt him?”
“Nah, but he can’t hardly get where he needs to ifn he’s all balled up. Just snuggle under that quilt and we’ll be back home where your momma is waiting with a nice bowl of porcupine stew for us.”
Getting yourself in a place where there is frustration, confusion, and some tough stuff which prevents you from getting where you’d like to go can get you all balled up. Now, to be honest, I wasn’t thinking horse hooves when I first heard the expressions. I was thinking more about this critter:
We called them roly-polys when I was a kid because they rolled themselves up in a tight little ball when they got in a fret, looking a lot like little grey BBs. Now, to my shame, we kids liked to flick them to watch them roll. But they’re tough little guys and would wait out the perceived threat to eventually unfurl and go their merry buggy way. So when I hear all balled up I think about drawing myself inward to protect myself until the stress passes and then I go to my merry way.
My Thoughts
I think it ‘s a personal choice of wanting to approach life as a horse or a bug.
Pam Webb 