June 18th, 2010 10:36 pm
There is barely any place or structure on this planet where doors are not needed. From houses to apartments, and from barns to mini storage buildings, doors are used at all places. They are used in different shapes sizes and designs. However, the purpose they serve is quite similar. It provided protection and safety from robbers, housebreakers and animals and even from weather conditions. Also people who live in many exotic areas have doors for their unique dwellings. Going down a city lane, one sees different kinds of doors all over such as glass panels, wooden slabs, roll up doors and many other types also.
Apart from houses and buildings, there is another place where doors are equally used as much. Not practically the door, but you can say literally the ‘door’. Supposedly, It’s in our literature and language. There are many expressions, old and new, which use the word. Many of those expressions have gone obsolete now and many are not used as they should be. If you are born in an English speaking country, there is a wide chance that you have listened to or used one at least once in your life.
The starting point of these expressions is traced back to both England and American literature and history. The usage of many is also found in both cultures also. Listed below are some of these expressions and appreciate the sense and history associated with them.
Foot in the door: This expression is neither a very historic one nor obsolete. Actually it is still pretty much used. It means making an preliminary entrance into something. More commonly, it focuses on getting in by any method and implies on a later development. The history of the expression is pretty biased as some people connect it to door salesmen who put their foot in the door before you can close it on their face. Thus, they can start their conversation or product marketing to be more exact.
As dead as a door-nail: This expression points to a thing that is devoid of life or made ineffective. It is weird to relate this lifelessness to a door nail but maybe the nails were not used to be similar at the times of origin. The earliest use of this expression is from the fourteenth century literature. Shakespeare also used it in King Henry, the fifth. They nails used at that time were hammered and slightly clenched after that. This was to secure the end but it made the nails unusable.
Katy, Bar the door: This one does not seem so familiar as it is not much used these days. This phrase is used as an advice to take care when danger is about to strike. In literal sense it recommends to bar the doors as something bad might be standing outdoors. The source is quite debated on, but the most precise one seems to be connected with the Catherine Douglass tale. Catherine tried to protect the Scottish king and lost her arms while barring the door with them. She is also called Kate Barlass.