Idioms, Phrases, and Acronyms of the English Language

[chown33]

To follow through, I looked up turnpike. It's derived from turning and from pike, which is a sharp-pointed weapon. Now I'm left wondering what a toll road has to do with a sharp weapon. I obviously need to "get the point!"

A pike also refers to a long pole. That's basically what was placed across the road as the "barrier" which had to be turned in order for the traveler to pass.

Turnpikes are much older than cars (automobiles), and I suspect it didn't need to be an especially strong barrier if one was only blocking horses (ridden or driven). Horses will naturally stop when you place a barrier in front of them that they don't think they can walk over. They also don't like crossing narrow ditches. It takes a courageous horse to jump some things that a human would simply hop over or duck under.

Since "pike" also refers to a type of fish, I've always thought of the toll-keeper keeping a mounted fish as a barrier. Of course, the really wide roads would need something longer than a pike, maybe a blue marlin.

 

[Doctor Q]

Since "pike" also refers to a type of fish, I've always thought of the toll-keeper keeping a mounted fish as a barrier. Of course, the really wide roads would need something longer than a pike, maybe a blue marlin.

That explains this. It must have been a toll road.

 

[Huntn]

I wondered why, when something is expected soon, people say it is coming down the pike.

So I looked it up and learned that it's a metaphor for a car coming down the turnpike. A turnpike means a major toll road. I don't know why the phrase refers to a road that you have to pay to use. It could just as well have been coming down the road.

To follow through, I looked up turnpike. It's derived from turning and from pike, which is a sharp-pointed weapon. Now I'm left wondering what a toll road has to do with a sharp weapon. I obviously need to "get the point!"

My guess without investigation, a guess is that a turn pike, a road with a fee to travel on, was originally a post (pike) with a gate that was turned or lifted after you paid the toll.

 

[Huntn]

• Smart as Paint- The phrase smart as paint is said by Long John Silver to Jim Hawkins in Treasure Island. It was only one of many versions that have been invented from the 1850s onwards, among them fresh as paint, snug as paint, clever as paint, pretty as paint, and handsome as paint. They’re all similes that draw on some special quality of paint, but smart as paint punningly combines two senses of smart— the idea of new paint being bright and fresh in appearance and that of a person who is quick-witted and intelligent. https://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-sma3.htm