Stephen Gilberg (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
deckardcanine) wrote2025-04-06 02:02 pm
deckardcanine) wrote2025-04-06 02:02 pm
Not a Barrel of Fun
I wondered why people say “over a barrel”
For being quite helpless and likely in peril.
My sources have cited two actions at sea.
They’re both rather grim—not surprising to me.
It’s said that a sailor who nearly was drowned
Got draped on a barrel until he came ‘round
From having his lungs cleared of water at last,
Or else, in our late 19th-century past,
The barrel was where one got held down or strapped
For flogging. I must say the image is apt,
But sources keep showing the very same pic
Of a man with a paddle about to give licks
To a man on a barrel who’s wearing just shorts.
I doubt it was common with so few reports.
For my part, I hope that the first story’s true.
If not, well, the phrase is still fine in my view.
For being quite helpless and likely in peril.
My sources have cited two actions at sea.
They’re both rather grim—not surprising to me.
It’s said that a sailor who nearly was drowned
Got draped on a barrel until he came ‘round
From having his lungs cleared of water at last,
Or else, in our late 19th-century past,
The barrel was where one got held down or strapped
For flogging. I must say the image is apt,
But sources keep showing the very same pic
Of a man with a paddle about to give licks
To a man on a barrel who’s wearing just shorts.
I doubt it was common with so few reports.
For my part, I hope that the first story’s true.
If not, well, the phrase is still fine in my view.