# Is "Put the kibosh on..." a regional phrase? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 28, 2024, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-put-the-kibosh-on-a-regional-phrase/1008209 "2024-09-28T18:37:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-put-the-kibosh-on-a-regional-phrase/1008209/1 "2024-09-28T18:37:11Z")
I hear it every now and then in the NE Ohio area. Is it used across the US or elsewhere? ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-put-the-kibosh-on-a-regional-phrase/1008209/2 "2024-09-28T18:40:03Z")
I’ve heard this phrase for my whole life, and I’m a lifelong resident of the western half of the country. So not regional, I don’t think. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-put-the-kibosh-on-a-regional-phrase/1008209/3 "2024-09-28T18:42:59Z")
I hear it here in the NY/NJ area often enough. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-put-the-kibosh-on-a-regional-phrase/1008209/4 "2024-09-28T18:44:09Z")
Certainly common in the UK ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-put-the-kibosh-on-a-regional-phrase/1008209/5 "2024-09-28T19:03:39Z")
We say it in Florida too. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-put-the-kibosh-on-a-regional-phrase/1008209/6 "2024-09-28T19:05:44Z")
According to the book, [Origin of Kibosh](https://news.mst.edu/2017/12/st-etymologist-co-authors-book-on-origin-of-put-the-kibosh-on/#:~:text=The%20phrase%20%E2%80%9Cput%20the%20kibosh,University%20of%20Science%20and%20Technology.), the earliest documented use is 1834, in a court case in London. So it’s been around. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-put-the-kibosh-on-a-regional-phrase/1008209/7 "2024-09-28T19:13:12Z")
I think you put the kibosh on this question! Very impressive. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-put-the-kibosh-on-a-regional-phrase/1008209/8 "2024-09-28T19:18:10Z")
I can’t believe there’s a whole book on the history of that one phrase. I wanted to buy it until I saw the price. The kindle version is still a possibility. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-put-the-kibosh-on-a-regional-phrase/1008209/9 "2024-09-28T19:26:45Z")
GoogleNgram gives a graph as in the URL below. The word “kibosh” has gone up and down in popularity. It appears that it’s now as popular as ever: > **[Google Books Ngram Viewer](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=kibosh&year_start=1800&year_end=2022&corpus=en&smoothing=3)** > > Google Ngrams: kibosh, 1800-2022 ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-put-the-kibosh-on-a-regional-phrase/1008209/10 "2024-09-28T20:15:46Z")
I’ve lived in Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Maryland. And that was a familiar saying in all those places. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-put-the-kibosh-on-a-regional-phrase/1008209/11 "2024-09-28T20:17:50Z")
I’ve heard it use pretty frequently in the parts of Illinois and Missouri where I’ve lived. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-put-the-kibosh-on-a-regional-phrase/1008209/12 "2024-09-28T20:19:22Z")
I’ve heard and used it up here in Canada as well and I’ve lived in four different provinces. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-put-the-kibosh-on-a-regional-phrase/1008209/13 "2024-09-28T20:19:49Z")
I’ve lived in the Northeast, mid Atlantic, Great Plains and Southeast of the US, and it’s been commonly used in all those places over the last 30 years. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-put-the-kibosh-on-a-regional-phrase/1008209/14 "2024-09-28T21:23:56Z")
I’ve heard it on both US coasts. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-put-the-kibosh-on-a-regional-phrase/1008209/15 "2024-09-29T05:21:52Z")
I have heard and used it in Australia for many years. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-put-the-kibosh-on-a-regional-phrase/1008209/16 "2024-09-29T05:40:13Z")
Well known, if a bit dated, in the UK: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/XVWXws6KBjs/maxresdefault.jpg ""Belgium Put the Kibosh on the Kaiser" - British patriotic song about WW1") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVWXws6KBjs) (A variant, also from WW1 i assume, is “put the tin hat on…”) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-put-the-kibosh-on-a-regional-phrase/1008209/17 "2024-09-29T06:35:35Z")
I’ve never heard anyone use it in person. I heard it on an episode of Seinfeld and use it sometimes, though. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-put-the-kibosh-on-a-regional-phrase/1008209/18 "2024-09-29T10:21:02Z")
Until now I’d assumed it was a Yiddish phrase and would have a regional distribution like other originally-Yiddish now English terms like schmuck and dreck. So used more heavily in the northeast and more urban areas, but understood pretty much everywhere in the USA. Interesting to learn that’s a completely wrong idea. I still use it and hear it occasionally. Not rare, just seldom used. My impression is it was much more popular in my parents’ heyday. It was still common 30 years ago in my 30s but has since been fading fast. It doesn’t (yet) sound Olde Tyme-y to me, but give it another 10 years and it may well. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-put-the-kibosh-on-a-regional-phrase/1008209/19 "2024-09-29T11:41:51Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I still use it and hear it occasionally. Not rare, just seldom used. My impression is it was much more popular in my parents’ heyday. It was still common 30 years ago in my 30s but has since been fading fast. It doesn’t (yet) sound Olde Tyme-y to me, but give it another 10 years and it may well. Supporting this idea, a breakfast table of a dozen 18 year olds at one of the world’s top universities (I’m pretty sure they all had SAT scores above 1500 and were the valedictorian or salutatorian of their class last year) turned up not one person who knew what it meant. I was surprised. They also have no idea that kibitz and schlep, which some of them did know, are of Yiddish origin. Worse still, some of them don’t even know what Yiddish is. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-put-the-kibosh-on-a-regional-phrase/1008209/20 "2024-09-29T20:24:06Z")
I’ve always assumed it came from Yiddish and it came into the English lexicon either via New York or one of the other big US cities (where I think most Yiddish loan words came from in late 19th or early 20th century) or London (where some came from eg. Rozzer or Kosher meaning legitimate) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-put-the-kibosh-on-a-regional-phrase/1008209.md?page=2)