I was wondering what this phrase means? I know it means to know something really well or to be proficient, but what the hell does this “pat” stuff mean?
Was there some guy talking to his secratary and the secretary’s name was pat? And he said “You got that down ,Pat?”
please advise.
blade
It’s just two adjectives put together. From http://www.m-w.com:
down: 4 : completely mastered
pat: 2 : learned, mastered, or memorized exactly
“pat”'s just a word.
Wow that is a big surprise to me! I always thought that pat meant to tap something lightly. Do you know the etymology of this word? I could not find it.
blade
A really good dictionary will show the usage of “pat” as an adverb from 1578 to mean aptly, perfectly.
As an adjective, 1646, with the meaning that smackfu supplied.
Of course, that doesn’t show how it came to be used with “down”.
“Down” can be shown to have been used in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s in British Underworld slang to mean aware or wise. But it was often used in a phrase such as down as a nail(or hammer) , which would give it the meaning of extreme awareness. One can see that the combination of the words “down” and “pat” might be used to refer to a situation which was absolutely perfect.
I’d think that the meaning of “down” in the sense of “mastered” was derived from the phrase “down pat.” I’d also think that “down pat” would be derived from card games, like many other phrases. When it comes time to take a card, someone who is satisfied with their hand often puts it down and pats it–and that may be a very old gesture.
Gosh, I guess this one is sussed.
VERY old joke: Richard Nixon has seen Deep Throat a dozen times, but he still can’t get it down pat.
Years ago I worked as a barmaid at a huge beer festival in London. All of us were instructed to look as sexy as possible: Big hair, makeup, very tight little T-shirts. We had to wear name tags on our right boobs. One of my coworkers was named Pat, and endured numerous attempts by inebriated people to do just that.
Down, Pat!
