Best Foot Forward

Words matter. I am particular about spelling, grammar, punctuation, and syntax, because scrambled sentences scramble meanings.

Take the words of former government official Don Trump, who claimed that because the FBI was allowed to carry weapons while performing the duties of their job, he "nearly escaped death."

Think about what that means. Think about when two airplanes almost collide and people call it a "near miss." Nope. That's a near non-miss, a/k/a a collision. The former president did not nearly escape death. He escaped death. Big difference.

I was reminded the other day of an expression I haven't heard since my working days. In talking about some tasty food, someone said the cook "really put his foot in it." 

That's a Southern vernacular expression, far removed from the colloquial "you really put your foot in your mouth" that people will say when you just talked about some school being a real dump...to the father of a current student there. (I've seen it happen and it was not pretty.)

But the thing about tasty food...some say it came about to build upon the saying "dip a toe in the water," meaning to make a trial effort at something. I guess they're saying that if you put your whole foot in, you are committing to the work.

Some say that great cooking is a great feat, and then conflate "feet" with "feat."

Some say that to cook a great dish is to really kick that dish's @$$, so there goes your foot....

Some say the expression came from standing over a hot oven for so long that your feet began to hurt.

The French have an expression advising against putting your feet in the dish ("Mettre les pieds dans le plat") but that means not talking about a delicate topic, so that can't be it.

We can't go back in history to find out who said it first, and why, so it's up to anyone who uses the expression to let it mean what they wish it to. 

Enjoy your dinner, and put your feet in it! I just thought of something else....maybe this is about stomping grapes to make homemade wine!