# Does the figure of speech "If pressed for an answer" refer to the method of torture? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 18, 2013, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-figure-of-speech-if-pressed-for-an-answer-refer-to-the-method-of-torture/661221 "2013-06-18T00:00:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-figure-of-speech-if-pressed-for-an-answer-refer-to-the-method-of-torture/661221/1 "2013-06-18T00:00:06Z")
Similar to “if you put a gun to my head I guess I’d say…” Does the phrase in the thread title specifically refer to [death by weights?](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peine_forte_et_dure) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-figure-of-speech-if-pressed-for-an-answer-refer-to-the-method-of-torture/661221/2 "2013-06-18T00:06:00Z")
[These guys say it did](http://www.backroadstouring.co.uk/phraseorigins.php): > [@](#): > > ‘Pressed for an answer’ > > Horribly, people used to have heavy weights loaded onto their chests in an effort to squeeze a confession out of them at any interrogation. Quite literally ‘pressed for an answer’. They are just a travel agency though, nothing to indicate their sources. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-figure-of-speech-if-pressed-for-an-answer-refer-to-the-method-of-torture/661221/3 "2013-06-18T00:37:24Z")
**press** , _v_. From [Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/press), the 4th definition is > [@](#): > > a : to exert influence on : constrain > b : to try hard to persuade : beseech, entreat From [The Free Dictionary](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/press), the 5th definition: > [@](#): > > To try to influence, as by insistent arguments; importune or entreat: _He pressed her for a reply._ Unless anyone has evidence of a direct connection, it looks to me as though the connection with the method of torture is indirect at best. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-figure-of-speech-if-pressed-for-an-answer-refer-to-the-method-of-torture/661221/4 "2013-06-18T00:47:25Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > [These guys say it did](http://www.backroadstouring.co.uk/phraseorigins.php): > > They are just a travel agency though, nothing to indicate their sources. Some of their other phrase origins strike me as pretty dubious. For example, the explanation they give for “fortnight” is way more contrived than simply pointing out that a “fortnight” is a shortening of “fourteen nights.” > [@](#): > > Hadrian’s Wall, built to guard the Romans northern England border against the marauding Scots, had forts situated at regular intervals along its length. Every two weeks the soldiers got to sleep inside them and this is where our term for two weeks, ‘Fortnight’ comes from. And the explanation they give for “the whole nine yards” > [@](#): > > This originated in the Great War. A Vickers machine gun boasted a nine yard magazine belt. To ‘give them the whole nine yards’ meant to use up the entire belt on the enemy. has been [rebutted by Cecil](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/504/whats-the-origin-of-the-whole-nine-yards) (see near the bottom). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-figure-of-speech-if-pressed-for-an-answer-refer-to-the-method-of-torture/661221/5 "2013-06-18T01:13:35Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Some of their other phrase origins strike me as pretty dubious. For example, the explanation they give for “fortnight” is way more contrived than simply pointing out that a “fortnight” is a shortening of “fourteen nights”. Well, if you can’t trust a travel agency then I don’t know where we’ll find an answer. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-figure-of-speech-if-pressed-for-an-answer-refer-to-the-method-of-torture/661221/6 "2013-06-18T01:44:41Z")
Most of these are out-and-out wrong. For instance: “'Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey” is exactly what they say is incorrect. “Bloody” – the OED specifically states it has nothing to do with “By God’s blood” or anything like that, since those phrases have never been used as a curse. It also wasn’t used as an expletive until the 19th century, long after that sort of blasphemy had ended. ‘It’s raining cats and dogs’ – the origin given is nonsense. Why on Earth would cats and dogs be up on the roof to get warm, when a fire (or the master’s bed) made more sense? ‘Rule of thumb’ – ah, yes. The old, thoroughly discredited “beat your wife with a stick no bigger than your thumb” story. There is no evidence this is true (though the phrase’s origin is not clear). ‘Mind your P’s and Q’s’ – no definite explanation “Dead ringer” – it has nothing to do with the bells sometimes included in coffins to prevent being buried alive. In this case, “dead” means “exact”; a “dead ringer” comes from horse racing, where you’d secretly substitute a better horse (a “ringer”) for the one entered in the race. A “dead ringer” was one that looked exactly the same. ‘Goodnight, sleep tight’ – the phrase first appeared in 1898, long after Shakespeare. Fortnight – The OED clearly lists “fourteen nights” as the origin, and since there was also “sennight” (i.e., seven nights) for one week, it’s pretty certain they’re right. The page gets a couple of origins correct, but far too many are just urban legends that have been debunked time and time again. These are akin to Michael Moorcock’s saying that the streets of New York city were so narrow that people had to walk sideways, and that’s the origin of the phrase, “The sidewalks of New York.” ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-figure-of-speech-if-pressed-for-an-answer-refer-to-the-method-of-torture/661221/7 "2013-06-18T10:13:39Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > **press** , _v_. > > From [Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/press), the 4th definition is > > From [The Free Dictionary](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/press), the 5th definition: > > Unless anyone has evidence of a direct connection, it looks to me as though the connection with the method of torture is indirect at best. Ditto. Is it really so difficult to explain “to press someone” as meaning “to pressure someone”? OTOH, I suppose some people might have a really low threshold for what counts as “torture”… ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-figure-of-speech-if-pressed-for-an-answer-refer-to-the-method-of-torture/661221/8 "2013-06-18T12:29:59Z")
It’s a fairly common older idiom - I mean, a man who “pressed his suit” with a lady wasn’t torturing her for a yes. Now was he engaging in a spot of laundry 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SpyOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@SpyOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpyOne)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-figure-of-speech-if-pressed-for-an-answer-refer-to-the-method-of-torture/661221/9 "2013-06-18T18:04:06Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Most of these are out-and-out wrong. For instance: > > “'Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey” is exactly what they say is incorrect." What they say for that is very close to what I had heard. No mention of welding, but rather a form that held the bottom of a stack of cannon balls, tather like a rack for pool balls (but shorter, as it didn’t come halfway up the first ball), that was called a “monkey”. All metals will shrink or expand as heated or cooled, but brass does so more than most, so as it gets colder, the monkey will shrink, until eventually it becomes small enough that the balls stacked on top of it pop off. I have often seen it cited as a phrase that _sounds_ dirty, but isn’t. Juxtaposed often with “hung up in traffic”, which sounds fairly innocent, but is a reference to copulating dogs. ---
**Author:** ![SpyOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@SpyOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpyOne)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-figure-of-speech-if-pressed-for-an-answer-refer-to-the-method-of-torture/661221/10 "2013-06-18T18:10:26Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Similar to “if you put a gun to my head I guess I’d say…” Does the phrase in the thread title specifically refer to [death by weights?](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peine_forte_et_dure) No. It isn’t even really a figure of speech. Asking for an answer again and again is called “pressing”. “He tried to ignore the question, but when pressed he admitted the whole affair” does not mean the man was tortured, but aggressively questioned. I am a little surprised at the question, as I hadn’t realized the term had fallen into disuse. The idea that someone might be an adult and native speaker of English and never said “I pressed him for more information” seems very alien to me. ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-figure-of-speech-if-pressed-for-an-answer-refer-to-the-method-of-torture/661221/11 "2013-06-18T18:18:41Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > [These guys say it did](http://www.backroadstouring.co.uk/phraseorigins.php): > > They are just a travel agency though, nothing to indicate their sources. Also, as far as I’m aware no-one ever used pressing to elicit confessions, as the travel agents say. Only pleas. It was for those who refused to plead at all. Just saying “not guilty” would be enough to stop the torture without confessing. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-figure-of-speech-if-pressed-for-an-answer-refer-to-the-method-of-torture/661221/12 "2013-06-18T19:07:30Z")
To elicit confessions, they used the dreaded Comfy Chair. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-figure-of-speech-if-pressed-for-an-answer-refer-to-the-method-of-torture/661221/13 "2013-06-18T19:25:36Z")
‘Pressed’ had another meaning in the 18th and 19th centuries. Naval ships were always short of sailors in wartime, and it was quite legal to send out a press gang to round up any likely men and boys ashore. If they passed the medical - ie if they could stand upright when sober, and didn’t have any obviously contagious disease - they became seamen. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-figure-of-speech-if-pressed-for-an-answer-refer-to-the-method-of-torture/661221/14 "2013-06-18T21:02:30Z")
How about “the impressment of seamen”? ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-figure-of-speech-if-pressed-for-an-answer-refer-to-the-method-of-torture/661221/15 "2013-06-18T21:37:37Z")
How about it? ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-figure-of-speech-if-pressed-for-an-answer-refer-to-the-method-of-torture/661221/16 "2013-06-18T23:11:23Z")
> [@blindboyard](#): > > Also, as far as I’m aware no-one ever used pressing to elicit confessions, as the travel agents say. Only pleas. It was for those who refused to plead at all. Just saying “not guilty” would be enough to stop the torture without confessing. [Peine forte et dure](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peine_forte_et_dure).