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The Kitchen Table

Phrase of the day 4/3

jim_1 (Zone 5B)

3 years ago

last modified: 3 years ago

Land on your keister

The keister is the buttocks. A fall on the keister (also called “pratfall”) is a device as old as show business and virtually guaranteed to draw laugh. In turn-of-the-century burlesque, one of the celebrated comedians was “Sliding Billy” Watson. He was known for his prodigious slides from one side of the stage to the other, always ending with – you guessed it – a pratfall on his keister.

Before the word keister became a part of backstage argot it had a variety of meanings in the underworld. Pickpockets spoke of a gent’s keisters, meaning his hip pants pockets – the easiest ones from which to snatch a wallet. Sidewalk peddlers called the valises or suitcases in which they carried their merchandise keisters – especially the kind of bags equipped with folding legs for quick set-up at curbside.

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Comments (8)

Lars
3 years ago
You still have time to change "gthe" to "the."
nickel_kg
3 years ago
My parents & grandparents would say "keister" when referring to a rear end in an amusing way. I assumed it came from a German surname, but never thought to verify. I wonder, do any other countries use 'keister' like we in the USA do?
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When I was learning Russian, we were taught that a large portion of Russian is idiomatic and cannot be translated literally. For example, дождь идёт translates literally as "rain takes a walk," but really means "It is raining." This makes learning Russian even that much more difficult than English, not to mention the complex grammar in Russian with multiple declensions and cases for nouns and adjectives (even more than in Latin) and multiple ways of conjugating verbs, not counting all the irregular verbs. We were also taught that most Russians do not speak proper Russian - mainly because it is too difficult. English is much simpler and easier, and still native English speakers often do not speak proper English. It's too bad that Latin is not taught as much in schools as it used to be.
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I just noticed that there doesn't seem to be a way to 'like' the OP's post, I think one used to be able to do that. So thank you Jim. There must be different configurations of The Kitchen Table, because I am able to "like" OP posts. One other person liked his post besides me.
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Wow did I learn something from this! I always thought "take a powder" was like "take a chill pill" and it referred to snuff or smelling salts or other things they'd use to calm down "hysterical" women in Victorian times. So much for what I know!
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That phrase now reminds me of the scene in Chinatown when Jack Nicholson has his nose slit. I've read several books about Irish history and a few mentioned that when the Danes controlled Ireland they did a 'nose' count and levied taxes accordingly. If you didn't pay on time they would 'slit your nose.' Most of the authors discounted the historical accuracy but it's still a part of Irish lore.
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chisue
3 years ago
My DH was shocked to hear the very proper German-American mother of one of his playmates tell her boy he was being 'a pain in the heiner'. I'd assumed that keister was also German. Maybe Yiddish?
nickel_kg
3 years ago
My grandfather had an Uncle Heinrich, that apparently everyone called "Uncle Heinie" (pronounced 'hiney'). It made us giggle as kids.
Elmer J Fudd
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
"I'd assumed that keister was also German"

In German, when there is an ei or ie sequence, the first letter is ignored and the second letter is pronounced.

If keister is the right spelling, that would sound like k eye ster, as in eye. Like the German word meister

To have the ee sound, it would be spelled kiester.
nickel_kg
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Could be when the word was taken into English, we mispronounced it. Or maybe it was from a language other than German. Still sounds like an Old Country last name to me.

eta: Okay I caved and looked it up. The origin probably came through the Old English, German, or Yiddish word for "chest", spellings (and opinions) vary.
Annie Deighnaugh
3 years ago
Kiste in German is chest or box.
Elmer J Fudd
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
That would be pronounced kiss-te, with neither syllable stressed.

Plural (I think) would be kister - kiss-ter, again neither vowel stressed.

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