What is the origin of the phrase " Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin." come from. ( I know it’s from the Three Little Pigs" But just what does it mean?
I’ve exhausted several sources and have hit a road block.
What is the origin of the phrase " Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin." come from. ( I know it’s from the Three Little Pigs" But just what does it mean?
I’ve exhausted several sources and have hit a road block.
You’ve actually done research, and I’m just guessing, but this’ll keep your question from dying untouched…
And it might get someone to show up and correct me…
“By a hair” means by a slim margin. You would have a very slight chance of success. “Not by a hair” = “No way, José.”
“Not by a hair on my chinny chin chin.”
fills the line and rhymes with
“Little Pig, Little Pig, let me come in.”
Sometimes Story Guys just throw things together because they sound good. (But I’m standing by me “By a hair” theory.)
-Rue.
I think it’s actually “By a hair’s breadth” or “By a hair’s width”.
I don’t know the definitive answer, but I assumed they were swearing on their beards. Sort of like swearing on your mother’s grave (“I swear on my mother’s grave.”), your word (“By my word, you’ll not lose a penny.”), the gods or God (“By God (the Gods), you’ll never succeed!”) and so forth. People used to make oaths on all sorts of things.
So “not by the hair…” is saying, “By my beard, you are not getting in!” Taking it out farther, it would be assumed that a person who grows a beard is proud of it; thus, “You’ll get into this house when I shave off my beloved beard!”
Just a WAG, but this phrase might mean “No F***ing way!” Remember in the olden days that having a beard was the sign of manhood. To forcibly remove a man’s beard was a kind of symbolic castration (Peter the Great had to use force to convice his boyars to shave). So, when swearing by the hairs on your chin, you’re telling the other person that there’s no way you’ll let them in.
I don’t know if there’s any particular significance. I think that JohnnyL.A. said it best with
You hear people use other phrases of defiance, like “the hell you say,” “my ass,” and (my favorite) “My left nut.” Rather arbitrary without much in the way of etymology.
Sideshow Bob: By Lucifer’s beard!
Chief Wiggum: Uh…yeah.
Hey, Bible study time!
Johnny nailed it–men used to swear “by their beards”, as in “I won’t let him have it, no, not by my beard!”. And people who make up nursery rhymes made it cuter by saying “not by the hair on my chinny-chin-chin”.
Just means “no way”.
Back in Bible times, having a beard was a sign of manhood, of adulthood. Swearing “by your beard” was a mighty oath, because it involved your entire manhood, your social status. Having your beard removed was a great humiliation, or a sign of grief and/or penitence, or a punishment.
**
So Jesus tells people not to swear by the hair on their heads (which I’m assuming includes their beards).
**
Make that, “Johnny and Guy nailed it.”
'preciate the citation, DDG!