Paying the tax was "paying trough the nose." They took a census (by counting noses) and levied oppressive sums on their victims, forcing them to pay by threatening to have their noses actually slit. When the Danes conquered the Irish, they imposed an exorbitant Nose Tax on the island's inhabitants. Origin: Comes from the ninth-century Ireland. Meaning: To pay a high price to pay dearly. He angrily exclaimed, "That is my thunder, by God the villains will play my thunder, but not my play." The story got around London, and the phrase grew out of it. Soon after, Dennis noted that another play in the same theater was using his sound-effects device. Origin: English dramatist John Dennis invented a gadget for imitating the sound of thunder and introduced it in a play in the early 1700s. Meaning: To preempt to draw attention away from someone else's achievement in favor of your own. If the victim figured out the trick and insisted on seeing the animal, the cat had to be let out of the bag. A trickster tried to sell a cat in burlap bag to an unwary bumpkin, saying it was a pig. Origin: Refers to a con game practiced at country fairs in old England. He was ultimately demoted, and Washington prostitutes were jokingly referred to as "Hooker's Division." Origin: Although occasionally used before the Civil War, its widespread popularity can probably be traced to General Joseph Hooker, a Union soldier who was well-known for the liquor and whores in his camp. The expression 'pull the wool over his eyes' came from the practice of tilting a man's wig over his eyes, so he couldn't see what was going on." The word wool was then a popular, joking term for hair. Origin: "Goes back to the days when all gentlemen wore powdered wigs like the ones still worn by the judges in British courts. If you're living high on the hog, you've got the best it has to offer. Origin: The tastiest parts of a hog are its upper parts. If one flew off while being used, it was a dangerous situation. Origin: Refers to axe heads, which, in the days before mass merchandising, were sometimes fastened poorly to their handles. The following is reprinted from The Best of Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.
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