# the back of my hand

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-back-of-my-hand/203349>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 23, 2003, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-back-of-my-hand/203349 "2003-09-23T16:48:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![caleb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@caleb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caleb)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-back-of-my-hand/203349/1 "2003-09-23T16:48:47Z")

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How is it that you come to know something “like the back of your hand” Where does this expression originate from?

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**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-back-of-my-hand/203349/2 "2003-09-23T17:37:52Z")

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What do you see a lot of when working on something?

Let’s see: Yep, “Posts: 1”

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**Author:** ![caleb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@caleb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caleb)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-back-of-my-hand/203349/3 "2003-09-23T18:40:55Z")

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Ok,  
I had guessed that allready. I.E. the natural explanation why, for example, the forearms on michaelangelo’s sculptures are so anatomically accurate. I guess what I really want to know is whether or not we can attribute the phrase to a particular country, region, city, discipline, occupation, person etc. How and when did this phrase evolve as a colloquialism?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-back-of-my-hand/203349/4 "2003-09-24T16:30:44Z")

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It looks like no one knows. Anyone care to remind us what those sites are to search for word or phrase origins?

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**Author:** ![caleb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@caleb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caleb)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-back-of-my-hand/203349/5 "2003-09-24T17:59:32Z")

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Ok, I’ve checked: The O.E.D. ,  
Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang,  
Dictionary of Slang and unconventional English, Eric Partridge,  
Slang and Euphemism, Richard Spears,  
Dictionary of Americanisms, U of Chicago and,  
NTC’s Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions.

Nada.

These are all primarily American pubs, and I don’t think it unreasonable to guess that the phrase is not of American origin.  
But there has to be a more comprehensive Linguistic reference that I am not aware of…Anyone???

-c