To get a cob on - co to znaczy?
To get a cob on... what does it mean and where did the expression come from?
Po prostu, - get a cob on - to znaczy wpadać w złość / być w złym humorze.
Most English people will be familiar with this expression, to get a cob on is to be annoyed, to be in a bad mood.
The word cob is an old word to describe something rounded or globular, a lump of something. This explains the use of cob in the expression
I'm sweating cobs
which means the beads of sweat are large.
Cobble stones on old roads owe their name to this meaning too.
Cob also describes the cylindrical shoot on which grains of maize / corn grow, hence: corn on the cob.
How about the origin of the expression to get a cob on? Well, I guess there will be plenty of theories, but the official line from the Oxford English Dictionary is that the origin is unknown. It has been seen in print as early as 1937, in E. Partridge's Dictionary of Slang.
very interesting , cob seems to be cognate with kłąb which can be also source of other words like - clue , globe , club , combe .
ReplyDeleteInteresting. The etymology of cob is not fully known. It's use goes back to cobbe in Middle English in the 16th century. I did wonder if it came from 13th century OLD French gobe, for a lump or mouthful. K and G both being velar sounds produced in the back of the mouth, or should I say gob?
ReplyDelete