Handing Someone Their Lunch
distantear...@yahoo.com
I'm curious what the origin is of the expression "to hand someone
their lunch". I've heard it used to mean something akin to
figuratively beating someone badly. Where did this come from and what
is the image it is supposed to conjure up which would convey that?
Gary Vellenzer
distantear...@yahoo.com says...
Their lunch comes back (becomes visible again) as a result of your
action.
Gary
Brian Wickham
I've never heard it. But I have heard "eating someone's lunch" which
means to, figuratively, beat someone badly. The usage would be:
"Was he beaten?"
"Beaten? They ate his lunch!"
The analogy is to the schoolyard bully who takes the lunch away from
his victim.
To me the expression "to hand someone their lunch" sounds like a
conflated "ate his lunch" and "handed him his head."
Brian Wickham
Evan Kirshenbaum
> On 1 Dec 2002 05:23:23 -0800, distantear...@yahoo.com wrote:
>
> >Hi:
> >
> > I'm curious what the origin is of the expression "to hand
> >someone their lunch". I've heard it used to mean something akin to
> >figuratively beating someone badly. Where did this come from and
> >what is the image it is supposed to conjure up which would convey
> >that?
>
> The analogy is to the schoolyard bully who takes the lunch away from
> his victim.
>
> To me the expression "to hand someone their lunch" sounds like a
> conflated "ate his lunch" and "handed him his head."
I've heard it, but more often as someone getting their *hat* handed to
them. Google confirms both, but they're both reasonably rare. My
sense is it's sort of a here's-your-hat-and-what's-your-hurry
reference to someone being dismissed, say, from a competition.
--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
HP Laboratories |A specification which calls for
1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |network-wide use of encryption, but
Palo Alto, CA 94304 |invokes the Tooth Fairy to handle
|key distribution, is a useless
kirsh...@hpl.hp.com |farce.
(650)857-7572 | Henry Spencer
coach...@gmail.com
hardrock...@gmail.com
> Hi:I'm curious what the origin is of the expression "to hand someone their lunch". I've heard it used to mean something akin to figuratively beating someone badly. Where did this come from and what is the image it is supposed to conjure up which would convey that?
Mike Lalonde
Sudbury, Ontario
Evan Kirshenbaum
> In message <6e6d99eb-f84a-4698...@googlegroups.com>
>
> But I have no idea where "hand someone his lunch" comes from. I guess I
> always assumed it was somehow related to "send him packing" though I
> can't say why.
My reading has always been that the only personal items most people
would bring with them to a job (other than things they were wearing)
would have been a hat and a lunch box/bag/pail. So if they were
fired, they would be told to take their stuff and and get out.
--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
Still with HP Labs |In the beginning, there were no
SF Bay Area (1982-) |reasons, there were only causes.
Chicago (1964-1982) | Daniel Dennet
evan.kir...@gmail.com
http://www.kirshenbaum.net/
Tony Cooper
<evan.kir...@gmail.com> wrote:
>Lewis <g.k...@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> writes:
>
>> In message <6e6d99eb-f84a-4698...@googlegroups.com>
>> coach...@gmail.com <coach...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> On Sunday, December 1, 2002 5:23:23 AM UTC-8, distantear...@yahoo.com wrote:
>>>> Hi:
>>>>
>>>> I'm curious what the origin is of the expression "to hand someone
>>>> their lunch". I've heard it used to mean something akin to
>>>> figuratively beating someone badly. Where did this come from and what
>>>> is the image it is supposed to conjure up which would convey that?
>>
>>>I have heard this phrase rather frequently, and distinctly from
>>>"handing ones head" or 'hat'. I have no idea of its original etymology.
>>
>> Hanging you head and hanging your hat are entirely different.
>>
>> But I have no idea where "hand someone his lunch" comes from. I guess I
>> always assumed it was somehow related to "send him packing" though I
>> can't say why.
>
>My reading has always been that the only personal items most people
>would bring with them to a job (other than things they were wearing)
>would have been a hat and a lunch box/bag/pail. So if they were
>fired, they would be told to take their stuff and and get out.
involved a violent send-off when someone has been handed their lunch.
Like a fist sandwich.
--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida
Curlytop
continuum:
>> But I have no idea where "hand someone his lunch" comes from. I guess I
>> always assumed it was somehow related to "send him packing" though I
>> can't say why.
>
> My reading has always been that the only personal items most people
> would bring with them to a job (other than things they were wearing)
> would have been a hat and a lunch box/bag/pail. So if they were
> fired, they would be told to take their stuff and and get out.
or his "P45". These expressions refer respectively to the old National
Insurance cards that the employer stamps to indicate that tax has been paid
on the wages, and the form that the person takes to his new employer.
--
ξ: ) Proud to be curly
Interchange the alphabetic letter groups to reply
Harrison Hill
into the UK, it remains an Americanism.
Mike L
--
Mike.
Robert Bannister
Robert Bannister
Robert Bannister
like that.
--
Robert Bannister
Evan Kirshenbaum
> In message <96gbh81v32s02j4ef...@4ax.com>
> being handed your lunch means you got beat badly.
That's the main context. If not getting fired, then maybe just being
metaphorically told that you're not good enough to play. Take your
lunch and go over there with the little kids.
Surprisingly, I don't see it attested in the _NY Times_ until 1990:
"We just had our lunch handed to us," [Phoenix Cardinals' coach
Joe] Bugel said. [12/23/1990]
"I mean, the only place I could've done it was here with Tony,"
Eckersley said. "Because he does it right. You can't overuse me
at my age, or I'll get my lunch handed to me." [10/7/1996]
Wayne Gretzky, who scored one Ranger goal and assisted on the
other two, said "We got our lunch handed to us". [12/17/1998]
The first hit in Google Books is from 1991, in a baseball context:
We had our lunch handed to us tonight, 16-2. None of our pitchers
escaped unscathed.
Fireovid & Winegardner, _The 26th Man_, 1991
I first see it outside a sports context that year:
Market characteristics aside, most experts stress that investing
in commercial real estate is generally a high-stakes game that
should be played only by veterans. "Unless you're a big player,
don't get into commercial buying or you'll get your lunch handed
to you," warns Chicago Title's Pfister.
_Black Enterprise_, June, 1991
If someone has the 1999 _New Dickson Baseball Dictionary_, they might
want to look in there. Google Books implies that there's an entry,
but neither it nor Amazon will show it. I've got the original, 1989,
edition, but it's not in there, which again lobbies for an origin
around 1990. I would have bet money that it was a fair bit older.
--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
Still with HP Labs |"Are you okay?"
SF Bay Area (1982-) |
Chicago (1964-1982) |"I'm made of felt....Add by dose
|cubs off."
evan.kir...@gmail.com
http://www.kirshenbaum.net/