It’s a new week, so that means more ‘In Search of Why 🤷♀️’. Thanks to everyone that has clicked ‘subscribe’ so far!
To anyone just coming across this newsletter, I’m Louise. As one of those people who never grew out of asking why, I am passionate about understanding the world around us and love sharing what I find out. At In Search of Why 🤷♀️ I attempt to answer interesting questions that I come across. If you have any questions yourself, feel free to comment below.
Welcome to In Search of Why 🤷♀️
My answers are your answers.
In another edition of random things I think about, idioms. What is an idiom? Well the Merriam-Webster Dictionary 📖 defines it as:
“an expression in the usage of a language that is peculiar to itself either in having a meaning that cannot be derived from the conjoined meanings of its elements or in its grammatically atypical use of words”
If that didn’t clear things up, we’re talking about random sayings in that don’t seem to make sense, yet everyone knows what they mean anyway. Like in English we say “break a leg”, “through thick and thin”, or “it’s the best thing since sliced bread” and everyone (native English speakers at least) knows exactly what you said.
While many idioms seem ‘to have a meaning that is unable to be derived from the conjoined meanings of its elements’, some actually did arise from some meaningful historic context.
Like “Bite the bullet”. We know it means something along the lines of “get on with it”. But did you know the phrase actually originated from the practice of having wounded soldiers bite down on bullets during surgery to distract them from the pain. I doubt it was effective. Yet another reason I’m glad to be living in an age where anesthesia exists.
And then comes one of my favs, “mad as a hatter”. Now you may think this came from the character The Mad Hatter in Lewis Carroll’s 1865 classic, ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’. And you’d be wrong.
Photo by Paolo Nicolello on Unsplash
In fact, the phrase was originally coined even earlier in reference to actual people who made hats, and were also mad.
So, why were hatters so mad?
Great question.
Let’s get into it…
What was anger-inducing about making hats?
That hat making industry has understandably changed a lot over the last few centuries, and you almost never see a top hat in the wild these days. But back in the 18th and 19th centuries, hat-making was as burgeoning industry, and felt hats were all the rage. Unfortunately for those making felt hats, the process wasn’t the safest.
And how did you make a felt hat?
That was just an easy five-step process:
Shearing and cleaning - Fur was sheared from your animal of choice (usually a rabbit 🐇 or beaver 🦫) and then cleaned.
Fibre preparation - The fur was processed into fine fibres through a process called carding (WikiHow has instructions if you’re keen to try some carding yourself - I can confirm, that this point in the hat making process is perfectly safe to undertake).
Felting - The freshly carded fibres were then matted together using moisture, heat and pressure to create sheets.
Carroting 🥕 - Surprisingly nothing to do with orange vegetables 🥕. Instead, carroting involves applying mercury compounds to the fibres to make them bond together more effectively.
Shaping and forming - Finally, the fur is shaped into whatever hat shape you desire using more moisture, heat, and pressure.
Photo by Onur Bahçıvancılar on Unsplash
And where’s the danger in all that?
Well the danger is in using mercury for carroting instead of carrots 🥕.
Now mercury has a bad habit of vaporising at room temperature, so hat makers working in poorly ventilated 18th century workshops tended to inhale a lot of mercury vapours. They also tended to absorb mercury through their skin.
And all that would be totally fine, if only mercury weren’t poisonous…🤢
What does mercury do to you?
Mercury poisoning was so common in hat makers back in the day, that it is often referred to as “mad hatter syndrome”. That’s because chronic exposure can cause a person to have hallucinations, delirium, and psychosis, making them quite literally seem like “mad hatters” 😵💫. And psychosis isn’t the only outcome of mercury poisoning. Chronic exposure to the metal can cause a long list of other not so nice symptoms, including:
Tremors and muscle weakness
Numbness and tingling
Mood swings, anxiety, and depression
Memory loss
Headaches
Kidney damage
Respiratory problems
Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea 🤢
So yeah, probably good to avoid exposure if you can….
What if I’m not a hatter, where else might I run into mercury?
Well actually, these days hat making is a much safer trade, with modern occupational health regulations significantly reducing the risk of mercury exposure. Things have changed since the 18th century. Who knew?
That said, human’s ability to cope with mercury poisoning hasn’t changed, and it is still used in many contexts.
If you are still concerned, you should avoid:
Industrial processes, such as chlorine gas and caustic soda production.
Artisanal and small-scale gold mining, where it may be used to extract gold from ore. More established mining operations tend to use more high tech methods, I guess because they can afford them.
Thermometers and barometers - the old school ones, not the new modern digital ones. And the old ones are becoming increasingly hard to find for obvious reasons.
Silver dental fillings, which are not so much silver, but a mix of mercury, silver, copper, tin, and zinc. Such fillings are still in common use, so presumably the risk of mercury vapours escaping and being absorbed into your blood is very very low…. If you’re worried - the white fillings are mercury-free.
Some fluorescent lamps, low-energy light-bulbs, and batteries.
Unfortunately, given that mercury is still used in numerous industrial activities, there is always the chance of environmental contamination. Mercury emissions (vapourised form, the good stuff) can be unintentionally released into the air through industrial processes.
Photo by Alexander Tsang on Unsplash
Improper disposal of industrial discharges or mercury-containing products can also lead to the stuff seeping into our land and our waterways. Once in water, mercury can transform into methylmercury, and accumulate in the flesh of fish and other sea creatures.
This brings us to the biggest cause of mercury poisoning in the modern world:
Fish and other seafood 🐟
Given the decades and decades of environmental contamination (yes, we are again the problem), all fish are likely to contain some level of mercury. However, larger fish (i.e. fish that prey on other mercury-containing fish) have the highest levels.
If you are super worried about your own risk, you might consider avoiding species such as swordfish, marlin, orange roughy, and sharks 🦈. Though I would argue that you should avoid sharks 🦈 regardless, given the circa 100 million we already kill each year…
So what fish are on the safe list?
Well, none.
As I said, all species of fish are likely to contain some amount of mercury. Those with the lowest levels include anchovies, shrimp, herring, squid, lobster, catfish, butterfish, oysters, cod, salmon, and sardines (among others).
Now I don’t know about you, but this conversation is not really giving me any cravings for fish and chips. So why don’t we pivot back to weird idioms!
What other idioms originated from a historical context?
Many, so many. But I’ll just give you three:
“Saved by the bell” - While often used in reference to a school bell saving you from whatever the teacher was about to say, this one actually comes from a 19th century practice of stringing up bells when coffins were buried. Just in case the person in said coffin wasn’t actually dead, and needed to alert those above ground to the situation. I guess I’m glad that this isn’t a thing anymore…
“Pulling out all the stops” - Would you guess it, this one comes from playing a pipe organ, controlled by various stops. Pulling out all the stops lets you unleash the full sound and play (very loudly) to your hearts’ content.
“Feeling under the weather” - This one has nautical roots. Back in the day when boats were the main form of inter-country transportation, if a sailor were feeling ill they would generally go into the protected cabins of the ship in order to escape whatever weather/wave conditions were happening outside. So the sick sailor was quite literally “under the weather”.
What other sayings are you fond of?
After all this, I am still left with one question. If hat makers are called milliners (not hatters), why isn’t the saying “mad as a milliner”?
While you ponder that and await my next newsletter, I’ll leave you to enjoy this guy:
Till next time….