I came across another phrase with a fun origin this weekend: "over the transom."
A transom is cross-beam, such as the beam at the top of a door.
Here's the quotation from an editor at "Atlantic Monthly" that Etymonline has for the origin:
"Mr. Weeks once said that some very interesting material comes from writers who, too shy to walk in and talk to the editor, just toss their manuscripts over the transom and run."
https://www.etymonline.com/word/transom#etymonline_v_16895
#etymology #WordNerd
Mignon Fogarty /
npub146…fha7e
2023-11-06 16:52:14
Author Public Key
npub146282sc495cyj3zvjvxz6ddqahrarxjw297wuq0arwsrsazrwujqnfha7eSeen on
wss://relay.noswhere.comPublished at
2023-11-06 16:52:14Event JSON
{
"id": "db80e74fb90c454049f11c3fe5d53ccaac5077e1852f79694d662c3d65b86d33",
"pubkey": "ae947543152d3049444c930c2d35a0edc7d19a4e517cee01fd1ba03874437724",
"created_at": 1699289534,
"kind": 1,
"tags": [
[
"t",
"etymology"
],
[
"t",
"wordnerd"
],
[
"proxy",
"https://zirk.us/users/grammargirl/statuses/111364638958173389",
"activitypub"
]
],
"content": "I came across another phrase with a fun origin this weekend: \"over the transom.\"\n\nA transom is cross-beam, such as the beam at the top of a door. \n\nHere's the quotation from an editor at \"Atlantic Monthly\" that Etymonline has for the origin:\n\n\"Mr. Weeks once said that some very interesting material comes from writers who, too shy to walk in and talk to the editor, just toss their manuscripts over the transom and run.\"\n\nhttps://www.etymonline.com/word/transom#etymonline_v_16895\n\n#etymology #WordNerd",
"sig": "e4e0a1222a0b72861bf63fbe7f03e1b0250d7c1953847a5312e34ff02319c5d497dd00e3decf9c1d1da574fb67327ec96cf89d9b3a7850b5ada265a8b9c99096"
}