I love the comment in a previous SDMB thread somewhere, about Bolivia’s big lakes called Titicaca and Poopo: words to the effect of, “It would seem that the first Spanish Viceroy of Bolivia must have been about ten years old”.
The Great Cornholio claimed to come from Lake Titicaca. The people there were very poor. They had no TP for their bungholes. Of course, The Great Cornholio was Beavis when he got too much caffeine or sugar or prescription drugs.
I thought everyone about my age knew that.
Having a lot of German heritage (Southern Indiana) , I always assumed “pull the door to” was from the German “zu” which means “toward” and “closed”
The same way sit down to table was a direct translation of the original German idiom.
I wouldn’t have thought the English relationship of “to” to “toward” required much exploration.
I have a creek, too. I use a generator to run the pump before I hit the creek, though.