At first sight, phraseological unit "beat the buck" quite understandable.

But, as often happens with phraseological units that arose in the distant past, its original meaning not obvious.

The meaning of phraseology

To slack off - to sit back, spend time idly, do nothing

Phraseologisms-synonyms: play the fool, chase a lazy person, don't lift a finger, count crows, spit at the ceiling, celebrate a lazy person, sit back, chase elephants, hang around idle, beat the fool, carelessly.

In foreign languages ​​there are expressions with similar meanings. Among them:

• twiddle (one"s) thumbs (English)
• se tourner les pouces (French)
• auf der Bärenhaut liegen (German)

Origin of phraseology

There are several versions of the origin of this phraseological phrase. And this, in my opinion, is the most interesting thing about it.

• According to the main version, originally put forward by V.I. Dahl, baklushki were understood as blanks (chocks) for making products such as wooden cups, and the process of chopping (beating) baklush itself seemed to be a simple matter that did not require special skills. Thus, in Dahl’s “Proverbs of the Russian People” it is clarified that “backwoods” are understood as blocks of wood from which wooden cups are sharpened. More often, baklusha are understood as blanks for making any small wooden utensils. In general, “bucket fishing” meant the following set of operations: initially split the log lengthwise into several parts (blocks), round them from the outside and hollow them out from the inside.
• Later, V. M. Mokienko put forward a version that the baklusha should be understood as a chock, but used when playing gorodki or babki (there is an expression “beat the babki”): these chocks, folded into certain figures, are knocked down (beat) with a bat. Accordingly, such an activity could symbolize idleness, a waste of time.
• It was also suggested that baklushi is a musical instrument that is struck with wooden sticks.
• Finally, another version comes from the fact that frozen puddles or ponds used to be called baklusha. And the expression “break the thumbs” came from the fact that children loved to break (break) the ice on such thumbs.

Let me express the opinion that the most plausible is the first version about beating the back of the head to make wooden utensils. It is based on the following arguments:

• The main argument against the first version, put forward by V. M. Mokienko, is that the meaning of “idle” could not appear on the basis of associations with useful, albeit easy work. But it seems to me important to take into account that splitting and rough processing of chocks (baklush) took much less time than the subsequent production of finished products from them (since the level of mechanization of the work was minimal). Accordingly, it turns out that for a significant part of the time, the bakushechniks had to be idle so as not to disrupt the unified production process “blanks - products”. Therefore, it is quite plausible to imagine that from the outside their work looked like a predominance of idleness.
• There are three objections to the second version: firstly, the game of small towns itself can hardly be called idleness, it is an activity that requires skill and physical effort; secondly, the expression “beating the buck” is clearly associated with idleness as avoidance of adult work, and not with idleness as a game or any other type of idle pastime; thirdly, the strangely active use in the language of two different, but similar-sounding expressions (“beat the thumbs” and “beat the dough”) to denote the same game of gorodki.
• In the third version, the connection between playing this rare musical instrument and idleness is completely unclear.
• The main argument against the fourth version is the adult, working, and not the children's context of the traditional use of the expression “knuckle down.” And again, in this case we are talking not about idleness as such, but about quite energetic “child labor”.

Examples from the works of writers

You can always come to her, and she must receive you with honor; You don’t beat your thumbs, don’t sharpen your lasses; you are minding your own business (A.N. Ostrovsky, “Wolves and Sheep”) - by the way, quotes from Alexander Ostrovsky

Having said hello, dad said that he would beat us with axes in the village, that we were no longer little and that it was time for us to study seriously (L.N. Tolstoy. Childhood)

The man began to beat the aspen logs. I stuffed a lot, a whole bunch. The merman came and was surprised: -What are you doing? - I’m hitting the buckets as you ordered. - What do I need to bother with? - The man scratched his back: - Make spoons out of them (A.N. Tolstoy, “The Water Man”)

After all, he didn’t do anything wrong, he operated for three days, and they injected him with caffeine so that he wouldn’t fall asleep while standing (Yu. German, “My Dear Man”)

The door slammed, the station attendant, escorting the train, went into his closet to beat his head (V. Erofeev, “The Three-Headed Child”)

Beating your thumbs is not working! This is something you can hear addressed to a slacker who wanders around all day out of boredom, without putting his hands to anything. In a word - ! Where did these bigots come from and why exactly are they being beaten? Why do they say this?
Let’s say right away that baklushi is a wooden blank from which spoon makers then cut out their spoons, and other household utensils, both small and larger.

Who is kicking ass in Rus'?

Almost all of Rus', and also nearby Asia, were supplied by wood chippers from the Semyonovsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod province with wood chips, or, as they also called it, “goryanshchina”. Here are shovels, shafts, trays for hawking, scoops, and all sorts of small household items - ladles for kvass, beer, spoons, bowls, tubs, various cups, ladles and buckets - all this is called wood chips.

But, before appearing in his house, someone had to make preparations for the craftsmen - go to the forest, choose the right tree, cut it down, trim it, dry it more than once... This was done by the buffalo fishermen, who were even ashamed of their trade - after all, they did nothing more than knock the bakushnik out of the aspen tree.

All the beautiful utensils that later went to the people were created by more skilled hands, and it was not appropriate for these skilled hands to climb the forest lowlands in search of a suitable stump.

Baklushi were knocked out not only from aspen, but also from birch and maple. The best was maple, then aspen, and birch was the least valued.

The Nizhny Novgorod province was rich in aspen thickets, an inconspicuous and unloved tree among the people. The gray foliage and dull appearance evoke melancholy, and people said that in an aspen forest you could only hang yourself. And the man with the ax has the best craft there - the yellowish aspen wood is pliable, like wax: it’s good to plan it, cut out of it what you want. And at the same time it does not crack or warp over time.

Fool the shabal out of his mind

That expression is so close to profanity. Nevertheless, all these are terms of the work process!

Only a competent tree picker knows how to find the right tree. Cutting each tree almost at the root, he looks at the color and, if he doesn’t like something, leaves the tree to die. A suitable tree is immediately felled, branches and the top are cut down. Here, in the forest, he cuts the tree as precisely as if using a ruler, leaving its third part and the loose core as unnecessary to rot in the damp forest.

The finished blocks - shabals - are stacked in the forest for blowing and drying, and in the fall they are transported home. Then these shabals are duped into the state of that same bigot that needs to be dried out again.

So it turns out that in the intervals from cutting down the aspen to knocking out the bucket, the man seems not to be busy with another craft - he wanders around the village idle. So it started to be said that once There is nothing for a person to do, so that means he is throwing himself away.

But in fact, all spoon and chip craftsmanship begins with the back. And, if the preparations turn out to be bad, then both the jug and the bowl will soon crack and leak.

Therefore, to prepare the right bucks is to have. And even more so if you sell them in the forestless area. It is with this work that turning begins.

In the old days, the phrase “beat the buck” meant making blanks for wooden spoons and other various utensils.

The main material for making household utensils was wood, so beating as a process was very widespread. It was believed that this occupation was not difficult and did not require supernatural skills and knowledge. Like, any ten-year-old child can handle this task.

This work was considered frivolous and was often made fun of, so in modern times this phraseological unit has come under precisely this context: to kick the bucket - to mess around. How did the beating happen? But this work was not so easy that it could be considered idleness. The log split into several pieces. Tell me - nothing special. Then the log was cleared of bark, any growths and slabs, then it was required to make it round on one side. The right tree (mainly linden and aspen) was carefully selected, which was best suited for carving spoons. So what does the word “beat” have to do with it? Next, in the prepared lumps, a recess was made for spoons with a special adze, that is, they were hollowed out. This is what was called “beating the buck”. Teenagers and children easily coped with this work and made 100-150 bucks per day.

With noun with meaning faces: teenager, student... kicking ass; that's enough, that's enough, finish it, stop... beating up your head.

As for my future plans, if I don’t enlist in the military, I’ll try to get a civilian job... so that they don’t say that I’m throwing around. (L. Tolstoy.)

Stop beating yourself up - you need to be useful. (A. Herzen.)

Now you can not think about anything and kick your ass until September. (V. Oseeva.)

(?) The phraseological unit goes back to the name of the game, the main goal of which is to knock down small wooden sticks, or baklusha. From the point of view of busy people, being lazy is a waste of time. Hence the meaning of the phraseological unit - “to do a frivolous, unreal thing” or “to do nothing.”

Educational phraseological dictionary. - M.: AST. E. A. Bystrova, A. P. Okuneva, N. M. Shansky. 1997 .

See what “to kick ass” is in other dictionaries:

kick your ass- Cm … Synonym dictionary

Beat your thumbs.- (blocks from which wooden cups are turned). See WORK Idleness... IN AND. Dahl. Proverbs of the Russian people

KICK THE BACK- who Idle around, spend time idly. This means that a person, a group of persons (X) is not engaged in useful work, is not working. Spoken with disapproval. unformed ✦ X is throwing his hat around. The nominal part is unism. Usually in the role of skaz. Word order of components... ... Phraseological Dictionary of the Russian Language

Beat your head- Simple. Spend time idly; sit back. Having said hello, dad said that he would beat us up in the village, that we had stopped being little and that it was time for us to study seriously (L.N. Tolstoy. Childhood). After all, you are a great official, and what’s more... ... Phraseological Dictionary of the Russian Literary Language

Beat your head- Razg. Disapproved To idle, to spend time idly; loiter around idle. DP, 501, 824; Jig. 1969, 202; FSRY, 36; Mokienko 1989, 18, 66, 82; Mokienko 1990 24, 62, 69, 74, 88, 107, 133, 136; BTS, 55; SBG 1, 26; AOS 2, 27; POS 1, 96; SHZF 2001, 19; ... Large dictionary of Russian sayings

kick your ass- disapproved to idle, to do trifling things, to wander idly. The most common version of the origin of this phraseological unit is considered to be the following. The expression is associated with the handicraft of making wooden spoons, cups and... ... Phraseology Guide

kick your ass- Spend time idly, idle. From the name of rough wooden blanks for spoons, dishes, etc... Dictionary of many expressions

BUCKLES: beat your thumbs- (colloquial) idle [initial. do the simple, easy task of breaking the log into loaves, i.e. chocks for making small products]. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

Beat the bucks- Baklushi (shabalyu) beat (inc.) wander around idle, loiter. To call in bast shoes. Wed. What will we do before lunch? To kick the bucket? Turgenev. New. 17. Wed. The fattened carcasses are brought out, No matter how heroically we eat, no matter how we drink, And even though now we also... ... Michelson's Large Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary (original spelling)

BEAT- BEAT, I hit, you hit, d.n.v. (obsolete) bey, led. hit me, idiot. 1. (absolutely beat, beat) someone or something. To hit someone, to hit someone. Don't hit the child. It hurts to hit. Hit someone on the head. 2. (absolutely kill) someone or something. Beat up...... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary

Books

• Phraseological Dictionary of the Russian Language. A new type of explanatory dictionary is offered to the attention of readers, in which for the first time over 4000 developments of phraseological units of the Russian language are given, that is, expressions like: beat your thumbs, garden...

Beat

thumbs up

Expression - Beat your head- means to idle. Where did it come from ? The most common versionThe origin of this expression floating around the Internet is this:

During her time in Rus', the most common cutlery was a wooden spoon. The semi-finished product for their manufacture was “ thumbs up» small chopped linden logs. According to this version " kick your ass“meant to prepare these very lumps for the craftsmen. This work was entrusted to apprentices; the work did not require qualifications or effort, so it became synonymous with any nonsense activity or idleness.

This version seems unconvincing to me because of the verb “beat”. Why beat, and not stab, chop, saw, finally? Something is wrong here. My version is like this:

in ancient times, night watchmen were required to walk around the protected area and beat on mallets, scaring away thieves and showing that the property was protected. These beaters could well have been called baklushki or baklushki in another way. Baklusha (or baklushka) was the general name for any wooden chock. So they, the watchmen, were kicking ass all night. The work of a night watchman does not require qualifications, skills or special stress; in fact, the watchman should not work, but be present. Hence, it meant not to work, but only to be present at work, essentially idle.

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