# Origin of saying 'hold this 'bout an hour' **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 1, 2014, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-saying-hold-this-bout-an-hour/685048 "2014-04-01T03:20:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![crucible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@crucible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crucible)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-saying-hold-this-bout-an-hour/685048/1 "2014-04-01T03:20:19Z")
My brother used to say that to his younger sibling when I’d be looking over his shoulder as he worked on a car, or whatever. He’d hand me something, and say, “Hold this 'bout an hour.” I said it to my grandson today while helping him get his sneakers on. I untied and loosened the strings, and handed him one, “hold this 'bout an hour”. He giggled, and a lady who was passing by said, “My Dad used to say that to me, too. Wonder where it came from?” ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-saying-hold-this-bout-an-hour/685048/2 "2014-04-01T07:59:00Z")
Partial answer: “an hour” is an expression meaning “the right amount of time”. its a very old literary short cut … of course the amount of time is unknown, variable… Eg Shakespeare said “hour” when he didn’t mean anything like “exactly 3600 seconds”. "Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.” ― William Shakespeare, Macbeth ---
**Author:** ![crucible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@crucible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crucible)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-saying-hold-this-bout-an-hour/685048/3 "2014-04-01T11:38:06Z")
Have you heard anyone else use the expression? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-saying-hold-this-bout-an-hour/685048/4 "2014-04-01T11:48:58Z")
Western Pennsylvania, never heard the expression until today. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-saying-hold-this-bout-an-hour/685048/5 "2014-04-01T12:08:11Z")
Ohio, SoCal, New England, and a Linguist–never heard it. ---
**Author:** ![crucible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@crucible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crucible)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-saying-hold-this-bout-an-hour/685048/6 "2014-04-01T12:22:25Z")
I think mechanic’s argot is fascinating. I wrote a paper about it in college after spending a summer as a mechanic helper/gopher/truck washer. One old hand, working for me years later, had a favorite line he would use when trying to line up bolt holes or somesuch…“Hand me a pencil so I can draw this together”. And, of course, the common one about needing to put a ‘little hair around it’ to get things to line up properly. ---
**Author:** ![crucible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@crucible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crucible)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-saying-hold-this-bout-an-hour/685048/7 "2014-04-01T12:25:12Z")
or, the farmer with the magneto-powered spark plug wire who would disconnect it from the distributor, and have a youngster ‘hold this for me’ while he cranked the engine over. No one ever gets knocked on their rear more than once with that one. You remember. ---
**Author:** ![crucible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@crucible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crucible)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-saying-hold-this-bout-an-hour/685048/8 "2014-04-01T12:27:09Z")
Or, they’d get you to stick your head over the engine to watch for a ‘leak’, then blow the horn… ---
**Author:** ![crucible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@crucible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crucible)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-saying-hold-this-bout-an-hour/685048/9 "2014-04-01T12:29:49Z")
One guy, who serviced our tractors and service trucks, always, the last thing he did before taking the keys back to the key-board, would be to turn the radio up to the highest volume on a top-40 station.