Ever been 'on tenter hooks', 'had the wool pulled over your eyes' or 'got down to brass tacks'? We’re still using many expressions connected to sheep, wool and textiles in our every day speech, even if we don’t always realise it. Textiles were such an important part of the economy, it’s not surprising that countless sayings relate to the woollen industry.
Spindles were used for spinning wool, usually with a small round weight or stone fixed to the bottom. This was called a “whorl” and made the yarn tension more constant but sometimes took a while to get right. Nowadays we use the expression 'give it a whirl/whorl' to mean 'have a go'.
Spinning was traditionally done by women. Some one who was bad at spinning wasn’t expected to make a good wife, leading to the term 'spinster', meaning an unmarried woman whose only task was to spin.
After cloth was washed it was stretched out on frames and left to dry. It was held in place 'on tenter hooks' to prevent it losing its shape or flying away.
Factory or machine-made clothes or textiles were seen as less special, more ordinary than handmade clothes. These clothes were the 'run of the mill'.
We often describe some one as 'dyed in the wool', meaning someone whose views won't change. This saying originally came from when raw wool was dyed before it was processed or combed, and it was said to hold its colour longer.
'Getting down to brass tacks' means focusing on the detail. It relates to fabric being measured between two brass tacks set into the cutting counter.
When wool was spun on to a reel or “weasel”, it made a sound when a certain length of yarn was reached – as in 'pop goes the weasel' in the nursery rhyme.
White wool can be dyed many colours but wool from black sheep can only be spun into black wool, so you don’t want too many black sheep in your flock, hence the expression 'black sheep of the family'.
Judges were said to have the 'wool pulled over their eyes'. This apparently came from judges wearing wool wigs that slipped over their eyes so they became blind to the facts of the case.
Do you still use these expressions? Or others relating to wool and sheep?