October 20, 2003, 22:09
Hic et ubiquePhrase: "Carry his can"
While scrolling through
wordnerd's link to find one of the defined terms, my eye came across this:
carry the can: To take responsibility for a mistake. E.g."I'm not carrying the can for your inability to control your kids." {Informal}
Now, I'd heard the phrase only once, in an epitath, but with the entirely different meaning of "to drink alcohol."
quote:
Upjohn Adams lies here, of the parish of Southwell,
A carrier who carried his can to his mouth well;
He carried so much, and he carried so fast,
He could carry no more, so was carried at last;
For the liquor he drunk was too much for the one,
He could not carry off, so he's now carrion."
Can anyone cast light on this phrase?
October 21, 2003, 02:08
arnieTip: when curious about the origin of a phrase or saying, always check the World Wide Words site out first.
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-car1.htmEDIT: I just realised I forgot to mention the "carry
his can" phrase.
I suspect that is nothing more than a punning reference to the usual phrase, and is unique to the epitaph cited.
[This message was edited by arnie on Tue Oct 21st, 2003 at 10:42.]
October 25, 2003, 12:17
Hic et ubiqueArnie, you've prompted me to do some research about "carry the can". Not to disagree with World Wide Words, of course, but:
One of the meanings of "
can" is "a vessel for holding liquids;
specifically: a drinking vessel." (in link, click to "²can")
"Fill the cup and fill can, Have a rouse before the morn." -- Tennyson.
"And let me the canakin clink, clink; / And let me the canakin clink / A soldier's a man; / A life's but a span; / Why, then, let a soldier drink." -- Shakespeare;
Othello II, iii
The epitaph I cited, using that sense of "can" came from memory enhancd by finding it on the web in
John Ploughman's Talks by C. H. Spurgeon (1834-92).
That work was published in 1869, so the epitaph and cited phrase also go back quite a way.
Another website attributes the epitaph to Lord Byron, who died in 1824, but I cannot vouch for the attribution.
None of this is contrary to World Wide Words, but adds another dimension.