Show notes

On this episode of Appraise The Phrase, Mario and Twenty trace the origin of "in the nick of time" and explains how it started out as pudding time. It starts in 1546 with John Heywood's book of proverbs, where arriving "in pudding time" meant showing up right as dinner started — because in the 16th century, pudding was savory, closer to sausage than dessert, and it was served first. Then pudding drifted to the end of the meal, and the phrase stopped making sense. The phrase never changed. The world did. Enter the nick: a notch cut into a tally stick, the wooden receipts the English Exchequer kept for centuries. And in 1834, when officials finally burned the obsolete sticks in the furnaces beneath the House of Lords, they burned down Parliament with them. The thing that gave us the phrase went up in smoke. The phrase survived. Also: Merriam-Webster watching too much Indiana Jones, referential collapse, the leap second being abolished right now, what you still say about yourself that stopped being true, and why we all keep the bags under the sink. 0:00 Indiana Jones, Janice, Drake, And The Nick Of Time 0:51 The ATP Intro Theme 1:37 What's Good: Football Season Is Here 2:34 The Dolphins, Malik Willis, And Quarterback Fit 9:07 Yes, This Is Still A Word Show 10:28 Today's Phrase: In The Nick Of Time 13:14 Twenty: This Phrase Is Janice From Accounting 15:03 Confirm The Meaning: Merriam-Webster vs. Cambridge 16:01 Trim The Fat: What A Definition Should Actually Do 16:53 Merriam-Webster Has Been Watching Too Much Indiana Jones 19:03 Unveil The Origin: Before The Nick, There Was Pudding Time 20:44 1546: John Heywood's Book Of Proverbs 21:46 Pudding Was Sausage — And It Came First 22:53 How Pudding Became Dessert And Broke The Phrase 24:55 Referential Collapse: When The World Leaves A Phrase Behind 26:00 What Do You Still Say About Yourself That Stopped Being True? 30:37 Performative Caring In The Social Media Era 31:37 Mario: I Still Tell People I'm An Athlete 33:43 Twenty Has Been Avoiding Fences On Purpose 36:29 The Tudors Want Something Sharper: Golding, Ovid, And "Nick" 37:58 What Even Is A Notch? The Exchequer's Tally Sticks 39:13 So The Teachers Were Wrong 40:05 The Leap Second Is Being Abolished 42:12 What Would You Let Drift, And What Would You Never Let Go? 46:42 1834: The Nick Burns Down Parliament 49:05 Turner Painted It From A Boat On The Thames 49:24 Infrastructural Afterlife: A Fossil Metaphor 49:54 What Have You Held Onto Past Its Usefulness? 50:38 Keep The Bags Under The Sink, Throw Away The Boxes 52:27 Pop Culture #4: Every Film Called In The Nick Of Time 53:22 #3: The In The Nick Of Time Clock In Newport, Wales 53:51 #2 Charles Dickens / #1 Turner's The Burning Of The Houses Of Lords And Commons 54:59 The Appraisal: Impact 56:04 Speed 57:30 Preference 59:58 Dictionary Of Misinformation: Typhoid Mary 1:00:30 Closing REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE John Heywood, A Dialogue Conteynyng the Nomber in Effect of All the Prouerbes in the Englishe Tongue (1546) · Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia (1732) · Arthur Golding's translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses (1565–67) · Caroline Shenton, The Day Parliament Burned Down (2012) · J.M.W. Turner, The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons (1835) · Charles Dickens, speech to the Administrative Reform Association (1855) · IERS Bulletin C · Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) · Wanted (2008) COMMENT: What do you still say about yourself that stopped being true? And what are you holding onto long past its usefulness — bags under the sink count.