Thursday, January 20, 2011

Stood in Bed

Everyone knows you're not supposed to stand on the bed.  It's not a bad as jumping but it will definitely get you in trouble.  So why would we use the expression "I should have stood in bed"?  No I shouldn't have.  Not only is standing in bed silly, it would quickly become tiring.  But this is one phrase we have an origin for!  Joe Jacobs was a well-known boxing manager in 1935. One day when he was sick, he got out of bed to go to a World Series baseball game. Jacobs watched the Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago Cubs and announced "I should have stood in bed".  Doesn't that just make you happy?  The idiosyncratic phrasing of Mr. Jacobs leaves us with that entertaining saying.

Source: Look 10/24/1961 p. 70b

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