driving in the car with some friends, we were wondering where the expression, “get the lead out” (i.e., go faster) comes from. anyone have any ideas?
babarello
LateInTheAfternoonWAG:
In racing, sometimes cars are weighted down with weights to make them conform to a weight restriction. Get the lead out = lighter car = faster.
Me talk pretty one day.
I’d think that even before this, it would refer to horse races, where the official handicapper assigns weights that each horse is to carry, to try to make them all even. In the weigh-in, the total weight was made up of the weight of the jockey & saddle, then with lead plates added until it came up to the handicappers assigned weight. This would have been common for many years before there ever were any car races, or even any cars.
I think the expression is only documented back to the 1920’s or perhaps the teens. While the car/horse theories are plausible, perhaps it was nothing more than a person(such as a coach) simply suggesting that the player ran as if he had the heavy metal lead in his legs.
“Get the lead out” is a politer form of “get the lead out of your ass”. The implication is that you are moving so slowly that you must have some lead up your ass that is weighing you down. So get the lead out!