Facile Friday - My beam ends

Happy to say that I am no longer on my beam ends and Facile Friday is back on Fridays, as it should be.
I used the term "on my beam ends" the other day and got a couple of raised eyebrows.  So I was thinking that I could explain what it means so as to lessen the eyebrow cramping when someone pulls this saying out at random.

I used this archaic saying to describe that I was in an uncertain or unstable feeling situation.  When the conversation stopped completely and silence gripped the group I had to explain myself.  How embarrassing to say something that is so out in left field that no one, not one person gets the reference.  I scrambled to try and explain that the saying referred to a ship listing far to one side and thus leaning on the ends of the beams that crossed the deck of the ship for support.  Can you picture it?  Does this help a little?

Photo from City of Art 

See the horizontal beams that are supporting the cannons in this picture?  Now picture the ship listing far over on one side and you will have a ship on it's "beams ends".

What about the term "red herring"?  I have used that a few times fairly recently and decided to look it up since I really didn't know what it's origins are.

Red herring, red herring, hummmmmm.  Found it!

Herrings were made red through a salting/smoking process and the stink was as strong as the color.  When bad guys; poachers, thieves, and generally seedy characters were running from the law they would drag these malodorous, cured, soft-finned, bony fish behind them to throw off the dogs that were tracking them.  Feeling like you need a little alone time away from the kids and the pets and the husband?  Maybe get yourself some smoked herring.

Another Facile Friday and another little tidbit of information.  Learn something new every day.

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