The Press Junior THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 1937. Queer Phrases

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22002, 28 January 1937, Page 4 (Supplement)

The Press Junior THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 1937. Queer Phrases

A reader has asked for an explanation each week of some strange phrase or saying in the English language. As an example she gave Hobson's choice. Now this is a very good idea; for as our reader said, many people use such phrases as this daily and yet do not know how they came into the language or how they developed in meaning. They do know that Hobson's choice is no choice at all, but they probably are unable to tell the story of Mr Thomas Hobson (15447-1631), carrier, of Cambridge. And they probably have an idea that this carrier was a very miserly man. This is wrong. Thomas Hobson's father was a carrier before him and left to his son "the team ware that he now goeth with, that is to say, the cart and eight horses, and all the harness and other things thereunto belonging, with the nag." And Thomas began to make the business go very successfully. His stables were well stocked and it has been said that he was the first person to let out horses for hire in England. This is a statement of doubtful truth; but still, Hobson hired horses and hired them well. To save them from unfair use he would put them in the stables in special order in such a way that the horse that had had the longest rest was always nearest the door ready for the next customer. Richard Steele, who with Joseph Addison introduced the famous periodical "The Spectator," wrote in his magazine that by Hobson's method of moving the horses along one as each came in from hiring, "every customer was alike well served according to his chance, and every horse ridden with the same justice." For it was true, as Hobson claimed, that every customer had the choice of the whole stable: but he had to trust to luck that a good horse would be nearest the door when he wanted to hire. And if any horse did not please him he could wait an hour or so till a good horse had been moved up into the right place. Thomas Hobson presented a large Bible to his church and gave lands and waterways to the town and the university. A street was named after him and so was a spinning mill; several portraits were made of him and his death was widely regretted. So it will be seen that it is quite wrong to think of Thomas Hobson as a miseYly old man who tricked people into thinking they were having a free choice when they were not. Everyone knew Hobson's rule, so every-, one should have been satisfied! These phrase histories are inter* esting; we invite readers to senct in any information they may have' and to ask for explanations of any special phrase*