 |
 |
On 8 Sep 2000, at 14:10, Hawkins, Darwin wrote: > And you continue to eject some fun. > > Could some English whiz out there tell us the origins of "petered out"? > I know it is commonly used, even in polite company, so maybe it doesn't > originate from where I suspect. Similar Arkansas expression is "plum > tuckered out" and that means more than just tired. > Hi Darwin, I'm hardly an English whiz... but... This from the WWWeb... "peter out" It seems unlikely that disappointed American miners during the '49 gold rush derived the expression to peter out, 'to taper off or come to an end,' from the French peter, 'to break wind.' This would indeed have been an expression of their disappointment when a mine failed to yield more gold, but there were ample American words available to express the same sentiment. Another guess is that the 'peter' here refers to the apostle Peter, who first rushed to Christ's defense in the Garden of Gethsemane, sword in hand, and then before the cock crowed thrice denied that he even knew Him. Most likely the expression springs from the fact that veins of ore in mines frequently petered out, or turned to stone. The gunpowder mixture of saltpeter, sulphur, and charcoal, commonly called peter by miners, was used as an explosive in mining operations and when a vein of gold was exhausted it was said to have been petered out. http://www.cam.org/~jennyb/lasto3.html To "peter out"--to taper off or come to an end--has a couple of possible origins. Religion, that bottomless fount of fun terms, offers that "peter" refers to the apostle Peter, who first rushed to Christ's defence in the Garden of Gethsemane, but later disclaimed any knowledge of the fellow when the chips were down. His support "petered out". Another explanation comes from American miners during the 1849 gold rush. The gunpowder mixture of saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal, commonly called "peter" by miners, was used as an explosive in mining, and when no amount of exploding turned up any more gold, the mine was "petered out". http://www.writersblock.ca/summer96/origins.htm Cheers ....... murray [log in to unmask]