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Sitaram · Site Admin Joined: 14 Sep 2005 Posts: 1079

Date: Sun Jul 27, 2003 10:10 am
Subject: Gadzooks! Ods Bodkins! Abracadabra! Hocus Pocus! om_namah_shi...

http://www.sulekha.com/chpost.asp...creative&show=0&cid=67522

The expression "Gadzooks" is a variation of the expression "God's
hooks!" which is a reference to the nails of the Crucifixion. Until
two years ago, I assumed that four nails were used in the
Crucifixion. Then I learned that there were only 3 nails, which was
considered by theologians to be symbolic of the Trinity. Only one
nail was used for the feet, piercing both heals (placed one upon the
other). Archeologists actually found the remains of a victim of
crucifixion from circa 8 AD, near Jerusalem, with the single nail
still piercing the heal bones. The nail had apparently stuck so
firmly in a knot in the wood that they could not extract it, so they
cut off the legs.

Another interesting word is "Hocus pocus" which comes from the Latin
Mass "Hoc est corpus" (This is the body).

Yet another such term is 'Odds bodkins' which is a variation
of "God's body" (the eucharist wafer).

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/origin.html

Origin of the Word 'Hoax'

The word hoax first came into popular use sometime in the middle to
late eighteenth century. It is thought to have been a contraction of
the word hocus from the conjuror's term hocus pocus. The term hocus
pocus itself first appeared in the early seventeenth century. It
might have derived from the assumed name of a conjuror in the time of
King James who called himself 'The Kings Majesties most excellent
Hocus Pocus' because with the performance of every trick he used to
call out the nonsense phrase, "Hocus pocus, tontus talontus, vade
celeriter jubeo" (later magicians were known to use the phrase "Hax
pax max deus adimax"). This phrase was itself probably an imitation
(or mockery) of the phrase used by priests of the Church of Rome when
they performed the act of transubstantiation, "hoc est corpus."

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990326.html

Hocus-pocus has been around since the early 17th century. The Oxford
English Dictionary tells of a conjurer called Hocus-Pocus who used
the phrase as part of a faux-Latin incantation during his act: "Hocus
pocus, tontus talontus, vade celeriter jubeo." It's been plausibly
suggested that hocus-pocus is a corruption of the genuine Latin words
hoc est enim corpus meum, "for this is my body," spoken during the
consecration of the Roman Catholic Mass when the wine and wafer are
said to be transformed into the body and blood of Christ. Some
experts, presumably non-Catholic, think hocus-pocus itself was then
corrupted into the word hoax.

Abracadabra is a much older term, turning up first in a second-
century poem. It was used by the Gnostics, early Christians who
placed great stock in esoteric knowledge. The term has been explained
as (1) a combination of the Hebrew words ab ("father"), ben ("son"),
and ruach acadosch ("holy spirit"); (2) a derivation of the name of
one Gnostic leader, Abrasax; or (3) a derivation of Abraxas, a
Gnostic word for God, "the source of 365 emanations." Allegedly the
Greek letters for Abraxas add up to 365 when translated according to
numerological principles. If you wrote abracadabra on a parchment in
a triangular arrangement--
A B R A C A D A B R A
A B R A C A D A B R
A B R A C A D A B
--etc., and hung it around your neck, you'd supposedly be cured of
the ague (fever). The over-the-counter remedy of the day, I guess,
and probably worked equally well.

Presto, Italian for "quickly," has been used by conjurers for
centuries to command the unseen demons. A possibly related term is
prestidigitation, or sleight of hand, which is probably derived from
the Latin words for "quick fingers." Sounds a lot like what
pickpockets do, and if you've ever seen one of those three-card-monte
guys do his thing, you know the result, as far as your wallet is
concerned, is about the same.

http://www.rueskitchen.com/archives/000114.html

http://www.skygaze.com/content/facts/magic.shtml

http://www.etymologie.info/zz/zz-Hoax__.html

http://www.brompton-oratory.org.uk/articles/odd.htm

`To laugh up one's sleeve'

This most likely comes from monastic sources. When some poor monk
made a gaff while singing the Office in choir, the other monks would
have tried to hide the fact that they were laughing by burying their
faces in the long sleeves of their cowls (monastic choir dress);
hence the expression.

`Short shrift'

This expression has a medieval and legal origin. To give
someone `short shrift' now means to deal with someone briskly. The
word `shrift', as in Shrove Tuesday, comes from the old English word
for confession, `shrive'. The `short' in the expression relates to
the short time given, which would be sufficient for a condemned
criminal to make his confession before being executed.

`The weakest must go to the wall'

This expression was literally true for in the medieval church there
were no seats, except for the aged and crippled who sat at a bench
along the walls of the nave.

`To kick the bucket'

The `bucket' a dead person metaphorically kicks is the bucket of holy
water placed at the foot of his bed when the dead person is laid out
for the funeral wake. The wake, then held in the dead person's home
for all but the most important, included friends and family coming to
pay their last respects by praying for the deceased and sprinkling
his body with holy water.

`Tawdry'

A corruption of Saint Audrey, otherwise known as St Ethelreda. A fair
was held in her honour every year where fair laces and bright toys
were sold.

`Touch wood'

This expression is now used to guarantee that something unpleasant
which has not so far happened will never happen. Originally, though,
this expression referred to the pilgrim touching a relic of the True
Cross (the Wood or Rood) in order to gain protection before he set
out on pilgrimage.

`The wedding breakfast'

This meal is now nowhere near breakfast time, but its origin has to
do with the old fast laws for communion. Under these rules (in force
until the 1950s) the couple wishing to receive communion at their
nuptial Mass, could consume nothing from midnight before the day of
communion. Thus it was that feast after the wedding, at least for
bride and groom, would truly have been the breaking of the fast.

`Jack-in-the-box'

This seems like a harmless, and rather stupid, child's toy, but in
fact has unpleasant origins. The `Jack' is a blasphemous reference to
our Lord. The popping up of the `Jack' from the box is meant to
represent the elevation of the Host at Mass. Very often on the lid of
such a box were written the words `hocus-pocus.' In 1547 Henry VIII's
government banned this application of `Jack-in-the-box' to the
Blessed Sacrament used by the most radical reformers.

`Walking under a ladder is lucky'

Walking under a ladder is in fact lucky for two reasons, however the
Puritans wished people to forget these. Firstly, the ladder is one of
the instruments of the Passion, it inclined towards the Cross from
whence flowed the Precious redeeming Blood. The second is that a
ladder propped against a wall also forms a triangle and so is an
image of the Trinity.

`Thirteen is a lucky number'

Thirteen is the number one gets when one reckons our Lord with the
twelve Apostles. For this reason thirteen was considered a lucky
number in the middle ages and was commonly the number of these who
were to benefit from the founding of some almshouse, `thirteen poor
men' being a common expression in many a foundation charter. The idea
of thirteen as lucky number survives, despite the attempts of the
Puritans, in the `baker's dozen,' which is, of course, thirteen and
not twelve.

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