Happy Wednesday, word nerds! This week’s Word Nerd post has been inspired by a comment I got yesterday on one of my previous posts: Flat Out Like a Lizard Drinking. In that post I made use of the phrase ‘ten to the dozen’ meaning to go at a rapid pace, but a commenter yesterday pointed out that to convey the idea of speed, surely it would be more appropriate to say ‘twenty to the dozen’—or at least, a number that is greater than twelve rather than less than twelve.
I immediately saw his point, but ‘ten to the dozen’ was also a very familiar expression to me, so I decided to do a bit of research. It turns out the original expression is actually ‘nineteen to the dozen’. Why nineteen, you ask? Well, many sources say we just don’t know, but there are other sources that claim it goes back to the Cornish tin and copper mines, which regularly flooded. With advancements in steam technology, the hand pumps they used to pump out this water were replaced by beam engines that could pump 19,000 gallons of water out for every 12 bushels of coal burned (much more efficient than the hand pumps!) Some people question whether such an obscure example could really have given rise to such a well-known phrase, but it’s the only explanation I was able to find.
Considering the phrase is most commonly associated with talking (someone talking nineteen to the dozen), it’s quite possible the expression simply refers to someone who speaks nineteen words for every dozen your average speaker would use, but that still leaves us with the question ‘why nineteen?’ To which I’m going to have to respond with a shrug.
So, getting back to ‘ten to the dozen’, which is the more commonly heard expression in Australia. Of course, we Aussies are known for being laid back, so perhaps ten to the dozen is as fast as we get! 😆 However, there is a similar phrase, ‘a dime a dozen’, which means something that is very common or easily come by. If you can buy twelve of something for only a dime, they’re less than one cent each. Since we don’t use the dime in Australia, it’s highly possible ‘dime’ was exchanged for ‘ten’ and then the original meaning of ‘ten to the dozen’ (quite common or easily come by) became confused with the meaning of ‘nineteen to the dozen’ (at a rapid pace).
Who knows? It’s all a lot of speculation with very few facts mixed in. But I’d love to know if you’ve ever used the phrase ‘nineteen to the dozen’ (or some other number to the dozen) and with what meaning.
I love these Wednesday posts that you do! I learn so much!!!
Yay! Thank you 🙂
So it was originally 10 to the dozen as the initial steam engines could lift 10,000 gallons of water to a dozen bushels of coal, then the Stevensons improved steam engines so you could get 19,000 gallons of water from a dozen bushels of coal and the frase was updated, when the steam engines are at full pace or full bore another well known phrase then they go with a clatter, an onomatopoeia, clatter clatter clatter, also when a wife talks a lot a lot in Cornwall and other industrial areas in Britain they clatter on like a machine so the description of a machine going “full bore’ and a wife talking a lot are transferrable
Wow, thanks for that information! And we’re actually a steam-train-loving family here, so I love this bit of trivia. And I’ve definitely heard the phrase “going full bore,” but never really thought about where it originated from.
Hi Katie. I was reading The Liar, a book by Martin Hansen, and the translator used it in:
“No shortage of hearts here,
they’re ten to the dozen.
a real flock of hearts,
if they were, but equally heartfelt!
But if I consider things thus,
all my card play is to naught,
For the nine of hearts is false
when the ace of hearts is true.
My friend, call pass on hearts
and mind what oft transpires!
Many’s a soul played with
his heart and was cast into the fires
Ah yes, that’s how the poet Ambrosius Stub admonishes us on fooling with hearts.”
As a youngster growing up in Stoke-on-Trent, I heard the phrase ’16 to the dozen’ and it related to the pottery workers creating 16 items but only being paid for 12 – hence their need to work very quickly to make a decent wage